My mom & I started beach-combing entirely by accident. We were walking together along the beach in Port Clinton when she asked, "Have you ever found beach glass?"
"No," I told her, "but apparently there's a ton of it in Lake Erie."
I knew from reading The Dainty Squid & just doing some general research into beach-combing that Lake Erie is the source of a veritable bounty of beach glass, more so than the other Great Lakes. It's shallower & therefore rockier, which means the waves tumble & smooth the glass within - glass that comes from the lake's 2,000+ shipwrecks (yes, shipwrecks!) as well as from litter from boaters, Put-In-Bay partiers, etc.
The gist is just that people... paint rocks & then hide them around the state. Simple & weird, right? But it's so cute. The painted rocks include a note on the back or bottom about the Facebook group, usually accompanied by a hashtag referencing the rock's creator. When you find a rock, you're supposed to post a photo of it in the Facebook group, using the hashtag so its original painter can easily follow its journey.
This activity is obviously great for families with young children, who paint rocks with their kiddos & take a few with them on family outings so they can both look for them & hide them. I don't have kids, but even as a childless adult, I'm having a lot of fun with Northeast Ohio Rocks, staying alert while I'm out & about as I look for my next find.
One day, as I was walking to my favorite coffee shop, I struck up a conversation with a little girl who lives a few doors down & is always rising her scooter around the neighborhood. "Have you found any painted rocks yet?" she asked me; she was upset that she hadn't found any yet. The next time I hid one, I made sure it was close enough to her house that she'd spot it - & she did! There's pretty much nothing as joy-affirming as seeing a little kid so darn happy.
So far, I've found three rocks: The first one was in the little garden area around a tree outside my favorite coffee shop; the second one was in a part next to my house; the third was atop the mailbox on a nearby street corner, & I found it was I dropped a package in the mail. I haven't painted any rocks myself, but every time I'm out & about in my neighborhood, I keep my eyes peeled for the next painted gem!
Have you found any rocks yet? If you live outside the NEO area, is there anything like this happening where you live?
I am 33 years old (as of yesterday!), & I still sleep with a teddy bear every night. His name is Jolly, & I've had him since I was 3 years old. You can see him in the photo above, sitting on my bed.
I don't sleep with Jolly because I need to - I can sleep just fine without him - but I prefer to. Just as some people hold onto a pillow at night, Jolly is the perfect size for me to clutch as I fall asleep. Plus, he's cute. When I was a kid, I called him my brother. (Any other only nerdy children out there? Holler.)
When I was a kid, my mom & I traveled to Disney World... & I accidentally left Jolly in our hotel room. I will never forget the devastation I felt when I realized I'd forgotten him, confined him to some dusty lost-and-found room until he was inevitably thrown out like trash; I sobbed for days. Conversely, I will also never forget the joy I felt, a week later, when Jolly arrived by mail, sent home by some kind member of the hotel's housekeeping staff.
About a week ago, I was on a walk around my neighborhood when I spotted a small, stuffed bear wearing a tutu, wedged into a chain-link fence so that it was propped upright like a tiny, welcoming ambassador. I snapped of a photo of it & posted it to Instagram, just a cute little find to share with the world:
A couple hours later, I got an Instagram DM from Emma, who lives on my street & is a barista at my favorite coffee shop. "Someone is looking for this bear!!!" she wrote, accompanied by a screencap of a post in our neighborhood watch Facebook group.
Whaaaat?!
I had inadvertently located a lost Bear Bear, some kid's beloved stuffed friend! Another resident had already posted a link to my Instagram photo in response to this parent's plea, but I followed up with the location of said stuffed friend (which I got by checking out the photo's metadata - thanks, Apple, for being both creepy & helpful). I crossed my fingers that Bear Bear was still there & waited to see if the original poster would respond with an update.
When I checked back the next day, Bear Bear had been retrieved, & its owner posted to the group with a note & a photo: Thank you so much Kate and everyone for your help. We have bear bear safely home! ❤️"
I wish you could see how adorable & happy this little kiddo looks, but far be it from me to be the jerk who shares a photo of somebody else's kid on my blog. Still, this should give you a bit of a feel for how freaking cute their reunion was. A day or so later, the original poster left a comment on my original Instagram photo, too:
thank you so much for posting this!! This bear was given to my daughter on the day she was born and I was just sick when we thought it was gone forever. To tack on to your post- so maybe the bear was there as a friendly ambassador, but also as a sign that even in a place with a reputation for crime and misfortune, there are still good neighbors and great things happening all the time :)
I just can't express how happy it makes me to have been able to facilitate this reunion. May Bear Bear live a long & happy bear-life with this happy munchkin. Jolly & I wish you lots of joy together!
I've worked from home for the last 3.5 years (!), which means I often work from Starbucks & other various places that seem hospitable to day-long camp-outs. Recently, I've taken to working from hotels, which offer all the desired amenities: a nice space, reliable wifi, clean bathrooms, & some sort of coffeeshop. No one thinks twice about a girl with a laptop set up in a hotel lobby for a few hours (though I've accumulated a mental list of excuses, should anyone approach).
I became enamored of the Marriott Wardman Park in 2009, when I lived two blocks from the back entrance. My roommate thought it was terribly weird that I'd sometimes take a book up to a sunny nook on one of the floors to hunker down for a few hours. Still, I had no idea of the hotel's size until I attended a conference there... a few months ago. Turns out, it's enormous - & perfect for working from home without actually working from home.
I started to take photos of the ornate gold rose twisting up off of the wood because, you know, I gotta Instagram my life. But then I wondered, "Is there anything in these tiny old drawers?" I figured they were empty because hotels in general - & this hotel in particular - are pretty clean placed. It seemed likely that housekeeping swept through the area on a daily basis, no matter how remote or Secret Gardeny it may have been.
I opened three of the tiny drawers, & they were mostly empty. One of them contained a broken gold rose; nothing too exciting. But the fourth drawer? Ohhh, the fourth drawer.
I like to imagine the possibilities behind what I found in the fourth drawer. Did it come from a bored teenage boy, tired of spending time with his family & looking for ways to amuse himself? Did it come from a sneaky employee, communicating a warning message to a fellow staffer who had done something wrong? Did it come from drunk hotelgoers, laughing too loudly in the hotel lobby as they brainstormed a practical joke whose results they could never see? The possibilities are endless.
I thought about taking it with me, tacking it to my mirror to give me a laugh every now & then, but I decided to leave it where it was. I hope someone else finds it & thinks it's just as hysterical & creepy as I did.
Today I found this book, abandoned in the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro station:
I have so many questions as to why this was left behind. For starters, was it left there on purpose by a soul-searching someone who got fed up with His Holiness & decided this gem of a book would be more useful sitting on the filth of a public bench? Or was it forgotten by someone who got home & was devastated to later realize he or she wasn't going to be getting jiggy with Jesus tonight?
PS: Keith says he's keeping track of how many times I mention Jesus in my blog, but seriously, how could I NOT mention this???
