Mark has been working really hard around the yard and in the garage since he got back from Tucson with his bike. He would like to be able to ride it, but somehow, he’s lost his bike keys and had to order a new set which should arrive in a couple of weeks. I have also lost my car keys somewhere around here. We’ve turned the house upside down and no keys have shown up. Fortunately for me, Mark had an extra copy of my car key, so we’ve been sharing that.

I will soon start working nearly full-time at my two jobs, one of which (the welcome center) has already started and then I worked a little at the Noble House this last week. Today, however, I woke up with nowhere I had to be, so I asked Mark if we could do something fun today. I didn’t have any preconceived notions of what that might be, but Mark said, “We’ve been talking about walking through some of the towns in Door County. Maybe we could do that today.” He said he needed to get a part in Sturgeon Bay, so we decided to run a couple of errands and then walk up and down 3rd Street in downtown Sturgeon Bay. It’s a historic street with lots of shops and restaurants. Mark liked the idea of taking the day off to do something fun!

We ran a couple of errands before lunch and then stopped at Mark’s favorite restaurant, Hong Kong Buffet, for lunch. He had been wanting to do that several days ago, but I was too hungry to wait an hour to get to a restaurant, so I suggested we go there today to make up for it.

After lunch, we found a shady place to park and then started walking down the south side of 3rd Street. The first store we went into was an antique shop. I must say here that I didn’t take many pictures today, but I did take one in the antique store.

We walked into a gallery that specialized in art about Door County. Mark and I enjoy going into galleries even if we can’t afford anything. Mark saw a kitchen store and wanted to go in there. He has been looking for a real ice cream scoop to replace the one he’s been using for years that is getting really bad, and he found the real deal in this store. He also found a knife that is specially made for cutting tomatoes as we eat those nearly every day. He bought those items. I saw so many beautiful things that I was tempted to buy, but I didn’t.

We walked into an indoor mall that was in an old building and the whole hallway on one side was a single store that sold books and a whole bunch of other things. I think Jamey and Sage went in there and found some of their kind of games one time while they were visiting and waiting for me to pick up some new glasses in the eye doctor’s office. I never went in when they were here, so now I’ve seen it.

When we crossed the street, the first shop we hit was the ice cream and candy store. Man, it smelled good in there! We each got a sample of fudge that was delish, and then we just walked around the store drooling. We finally got back to the ice cream counter and each ordered an ice cream cone since it was such a hot day. Mark even saw a kind of candy that he remembered from an ice cream store job he had in Oregon when he was young. As we were leaving, Mark said, “We’ll be back!”

But the store I was most eager to see even though I’ve been there a number of times was Barn Door Quilts. It’s the only fabric store in Door County unless you count Walmart, which I don’t. When I first started going in there, there was an elderly woman who owned it and the place was crammed with bolts of fabric and odd little rooms with quilting tools or batting or such. She died a couple of years ago and a young, energetic woman with lots of ideas bought the store. Her name is Katie and she joined the Trillium Quilt Guild. She gives all of us guild members a 15% discount. This winter while I was in Tucson, I saw an announcement that Katie was going to close the store for a week or 2 to remodel it, and until today, I hadn’t seen what she did to the store. It was amazing! She got rid of the weird little rooms and opened the whole area up. She moved the checkout counter next to the door instead of at the back of the room, turned the display tables in a different direction with the bolts of fabric being at a lower level, and had an attractive display of quilting tools on the brick wall. Everything was bright and airy and it just looked very colorful and alive. While I was looking around, Mark sat down in a beautiful hand-hooked rocking chair. It was like a hooked rug but was the covering on the overstuffed rocker. It had squares all over it with a different flower in each square. As I was admiring it on my way out of the shop with my purchases, Katie said that her great-grandmother had hand-hooked that rocker cover. I said, “And you’re letting people sit in it?!”But the store I was most eager to see even though I’ve been there a number of times was Barn Door Quilts. It’s the only fabric store in Door County unless you count Walmart, which I don’t. When I first started going in there, there was an elderly woman who owned it and the place was crammed with bolts of fabric and odd little rooms with quilting tools or batting or such. She died a couple of years ago and a young, energetic woman with lots of ideas bought the store. Her name is Katie and she joined my quilt guild. She gives all of us guild members a 15% discount! This winter while I was in Tucson, I saw an announcement that Katie was going to close the store for a week or 2 to remodel it, and until today, I hadn’t seen what she did to the store. It was amazing! She got rid of the weird little rooms and opened the whole area up. She moved the checkout counter next to the door instead of at the back of the room, turned the display tables in a different direction with the bolts of fabric being at a lower level, and had an attractive display of quilting tools on the brick wall. Everything was bright and airy and it just looked very colorful and alive. While I was looking around, Mark sat down in a beautiful hand-hooked rocking chair. It was like a hooked rug but was the covering on the overstuffed wooden rocker. It had squares all over it with a different flower in each square. As I was admiring it on my way out of the shop with my purchases, Katie said that her great-grandmother had hand-hooked that rocker cover. I said, “And you’re letting people sit on it?!” She said that her great-grandmother would have wanted it to be used, and in fact, always invited people to sit in it when they came to visit. Mark said that it was very comfortable, and it didn’t look the least bit worn! I should have taken pictures of the shop and especially that chair, but alas, I didn’t think to do that at the time. Hindsight is always 50/50.

On the way down to Sturgeon Bay, Mark took Highway 42 on the west side of the peninsula. We usually go on 57 which is on the east side of the peninsula because it’s faster, but it was wonderful to see the west side again! It was almost like I’d never seen it before! On the way home, Mark took a route that follows Green Bay until it reaches Egg Harbor. It’s a scenic road with a lot of mansions on it. Motorcyclists like it because it has a lot of curves, but otherwise, it’s not exactly on the beaten path. Then he took other scenic roads as we wound through Door County on our way home.

The temperature was around 80 degrees and the sun was shining. It was a gorgeous day and a good day for Mark and me to have some fun together!