I Got Out Of The House

 It was easier to get up this morning. I knew that I was going to go to Monticello with Jessie and that's always a good time. She's been looking for a dresser to go in her bathroom and has had no luck in Tallahassee. So I got up and got busy and did my little chores and went through my routine of reading blogs and reading the news and doing a crossword, blah, blah, blah. 
She came and picked me up in her silent car and off we drove to Monticello, our little county seat and the only real town in all of Jefferson County. I've posted pictures of the courthouse many times before and that one was taken from an upstairs window in the antique and vintage store where we were shopping. 

Before we started shopping though, we went to eat our lunch at the Mexican restaurant, Rancho Grande. I love this place and I especially love how the owners have survived and thrived in this tiny southern town with their incredibly hard work and good product. They started out in a little funky place, bought the land next to it, and built a beautiful restaurant and cantina. It's always full of customers and I've never had a bad meal there. Our server today was a young woman who barely spoke any English and who looked, as I told Jessie, as if she'd been drawn by a Disney animator. She was so pretty, like a Disney princess, with an almost unbelievably beautiful facial bone structure. 
Our food was good and we ate too much and then began our shopping which was probably not the best order of doing things but we'd been hungry. 

Here's just a random picture of a house in Monticello. 

The whole town is filled with graceful old homes, some of them small and simple, some more grand. I like the one in that picture. It is a large house but not so big that you'd feel completely lost in it. Nice design and straight lines, no fancy trim or doo-dahs, but simple and elegant in my opinion. 

Monticello has been growing, bit by bit over the last decade or so. New restaurants have opened and taken hold, new shops appear to be thriving. There is still Wag the Dog though, the thrift store run by the local animal shelter, the farmer's market where you can buy raw peanuts in fifty pound bags along with fresh vegetables and frozen shelled peas, and the Winn Dixie too. It really is a nice place and everyone seems to be courteous and kind. There's a fine library where our friend Terez works. That guy is in the local newspaper about every three weeks. He's a local celebrity as well he should be. We noticed today that the new restaurant where Glen and I ate a few weeks ago is going to start serving sushi in a separate little part of the place. And there are two coffee shops, one with a bakery that serves breakfast and lunch, and the other with all the fancy drinks. We are getting so sophisticated here! 

Jessie wanted a coffee today so we tried the the coffee shop with the fancy drinks only to find this on the door.

Really, Jason? You had to have your appointment today? Well, we forgive him as we know all about hernia surgeries around here. 

I loved this.

So on we went. We visited a few of the smaller places and saw a lot of cool stuff but no dressers that would have worked. I do have one major complaint about the shops and that is the nasty artificial scents they all seem to have. They are headache-inducing. What is the deal with this shit? It used to just be potpourri but it seems now to have far exceeded what even the most chemically enhanced potpourri could achieve on its own. How do people stand to work in a place that smells like that for eight hours a day? Ten minutes is my limit and they are not a pleasant ten minutes either. 
And the funny thing is, Jessie and I had just been talking about how people don't wear perfume or cologne as much any more. How women used to have their "signature" scent and didn't feel dressed without dabbing a bit on their pulse points. It's become less prevalent as people have become more aware of some people's intolerance for perfumes and perfumed body products. And yet- these places of business have so much smell in them that a scent-o-meter would explode. If there were such a thing. And I think there should be. 

This place doesn't have any weird smells though.

That's the big antique store where I got Dorothy Ann and a few other cherished things. They always have decent stuff there. It's also where I got my bright red tea trolly. They did have a dresser that was not bad and it was a reasonable price but it wasn't quite the one. 

It would have done, you know? 
But there's always the sense that the perfect, right one will appear. 

So it was not purchased. 

Funnily enough, the dresser in my bathroom (Jess and I both have very large bathrooms) is one I bought because it would do until I found the one I really wanted and that was about thirty-six years ago or so. At least. It has "done" for quite awhile and by now, I probably wouldn't trade it for anything. 

All right. I'm about to have a little birthday eve telephone chat with Ms. Lis! Glen's still not home. My god, I've barely seen him in days. I've got our supper mostly ready. I made up a little pan of kitchen sink chicken enchiladas that are going to be a shame and a sin after my lunch at Rancho Grande. Oh well. I'll make some nice guacamole to go with them and it'll be fine. The man is so tired when he gets home that I could serve him gruel and he would not even register what it was. 

Thanks for coming along with me to Monticello. I know I've written about it a lot already but it's part of my world and I feel quite lucky to have such a charming little place to visit right down the road from me. 

Y'all have a nice evening. 

Love...Ms. Moon