Buckeye Mike

When I was younger - I mean a lot younger - I spent a lot of time at my grandparents home on the outskirts of Pleasant Plain, Ohio. I have talked about this place before, and how no matter where in the world my travels have taken me. there is no place that I would rather be than sitting on the front porch of that place, swimming in the memories that are all around. There was the blizzard of 1978, when my mom, older sister, and I played in the mountains of snow that covered the front yard. There was the pancake-as-big-as-the-iron-skillet that Mamaw made me one time just because I asked. There was Papaw coming home from work at GE and going straight to the garden, where he would work for hours. And then there was the stuff. The stuff consisted of all the things that were collected over the years that seemed like junk at the time. An old John Deere tractor, the kind with the skinny dual wheels in the front. It sat behind the workshop for years, the same workshop where my grandfather kep...

I am not going to be all apologetic about my extended absence from the blog recently. As it does, life was happening and finding the time to sit down and chronicle my thoughts recently has been a little more difficult than it has been in the past. But on this beautiful Monday morning, I felt the need to sit down and update myself on where the road has been taking me recently. I bought a burlap sack Saturday at a thrift store near my home. I had never bought one of these bags before, but for 59 cents it was too cool looking to pass up. When we got home, Tiffany and I decided the best place for it was on the wall behind the dining room table. We hung it up, and it looks terrific there. But that piece of decoration is not really what this blog is about. I have spent a lot of time in thrift stores recently. They are the kinds of places you can find cool treasures on every shelf. A carved wooden message for just inside the front door, a bright red and gaudy shelf with coat pegs on it fo...