Where To Now?

As I was leaving Holland this morning, I checked two boxes on my GPS settings: Avoid Toll Roads and Avoid Highways. It was time to see a little countryside. One of the things I wanted to make sure I did this time was stop and take pictures of this church in Palmer. It is my favorite building on the way to my friends' home, and I have never taken the time to get a photo. St. Paul's Church was founded as a Universalist congregation in 1876. I guess I just assumed that it was something else first, but after looking into the history I found that it has always been a Universalist congregation. The church building was built in 1879 out of Monson granite, quarried just a few miles to the south of Palmer. Rather than turn north at Palmer to get on I-90, I continued through the town and its historic homes to take Highway 181 toward Bondsville. Passing white-washed fences that skirted red barns and silver-gray silos, I took in the charming Massachusetts countryside. As I near...

If you've ever watched Flea Market Flip , you know from the title of this post exactly what kind of experience I'm here to chronicle. Some of you may cringe at the thought of gathering in the same place with hundreds of other people in a small town in Massachusetts to browse through stall after glorious stall of old stuff. Others, my people, will be envious. As I drove to Holland, MA Thursday evening to spend the evening with the Horn-Eldred family, my route took me right through the heart of the Brimfield Antique Show . Although it was closed at the time, this was my first glimpse of what was in store the next day. I was on the phone at the time, and stopped mid-sentence to say, emphatically, "O. M. G." I said it several times. Kef finally had to say, "Focus," to get me back on topic. I had only seen the TV show once or twice, and I don't know that it really gave me any idea of the scope of Brimfield. I'm not sure what I expected, but the seas o...