Visiting the Newlyweds

Detroit Metro to Midway is such a quick flight that the flight attendants barely have enough time to serve and collect the complimentary  beverages.  I left one adventure and began another before I had time to finish my Coke.

The newlyweds met me at the bottom of the escalator and enveloped me in hugs.

Did I mind going to the mall so that they could return some duplicate wedding gifts and spend some of the cash and gift cards they'd received? Not at all... so off we went to Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn, where pillows were selected

and tested

before they took me to their new home.

They are delightfully house-proud.

The prior owners were full of loud parties and drunken teens.

The neighbors are delighted to have the kids instead.

Fall in the Midwest is much more colorful than that which arrives in the desert Southwest.  

These trees and bushes

 were at the end of the parking lot at Garden Ridge......

which was not the garden supply store we had supposed.

The lack of exterior greenery should have given us a clue, but in we went, anyway.

There were pinwheels

 and palm trees

and giant snowmen.

There were pink chairs

 and hassocks

 and furniture of all colors

and descriptions..... and some that were just indescribable.

 Yes, it's a chair.  

It also comes in leopard if zebra isn't your thing.

And then there was this:

He's a toilet paper holder.

We laughed all the way to the check out counter.

Bulbs were purchased

and planted

 as random roots were clipped

and stray marbles were recovered from the soil

It was a perfect afternoon.