Scarce and Becoming Scarcer...

When you are pleased to be awakened by continuous rolling thunder and then an entertaining light show followed by the sound of welcomed rain, you know that 'rain' has been scarce. In fact, it's probably because perhaps like us you have been experiencing a real dry spell and in this summer's case, a heat wave. Rain has been a stranger... We all can use that water and hopefully break in high temperatures. There are other things that aren't always so obvious until we unexpectedly see/experience them again...things that are slowly disappearing from our landscape...

As we visited a couple of little towns earlier this week we saw some sights that almost as scarce as this rain. With today's phone technology and on slaught of cell phone ownership we are raising a generation that might not even know what one of these is/ where to find one better yet. We discovered one such object in Preston at the end of our bike trek outside the public restrooms.

When was the last time you used one?
(the pay phone, not the public restroom.) It's difficult to believe that it only costs 35 cents for a local call. WOW. I remember as a kid having to call my parents to come pick me up from the movie theater using one of these but of course it had a rotary dial. :) Push buttons came later.



Then as we were walking downtown Lanesboro after dinner we came upon one of these. A good ole'phone booth.'

I can't even remember the last time I saw one of these. You'd be hard pressed to know where one might be nearby.

In our B&B suite a small flat screen tv has been added. I couldn't even take a picture since it saddened me that some of the room's charm was diminished by its presence above the antique hand rose carved bureau and that tvs have made their way into bedrooms. It definitely takes away a bit of the the room's charm but it made me think of the big clunky tvs we used to watch. Where did all those tvs go?

We had to stop in Houston (Minnesota, not Texas)for gas.

Across from the station sits the old coffee shop that has been renovated and now called 'Barista' equipped with a drive through. Coffee shops have miraculously made a come back but it's the drive through that was considered progress for our 'hurried' lives even in a small town.

And there hanging above the gas tanks was this sign. A sign of what's happening in every town so that when it becomes rare enough that we have to have a sign...a sign to state that something is 'locally owned.' Is this progress/just a sign of the times?