A Drive in the Country

 I'm still fighting this beast of a New Year's Day cold.

 I'd been on the sofa for two days blowing my nose and feeling like I was losing my mind.  I have a lot of trouble sitting still.

 So, yesterday I picked up my daughter and told her we were going to drive to our closest World Market and get out of the house for the day.

 Nothing lifts my spirits and energizes me more than a long drive through the countryside.

 I particularly love this time of year when the fields are resting until Spring.

 I took all of these pics with one hand as I was driving so they are not all that great.

 I love seeing all of the farms and the animals. We saw lots of cows and horses, sheep, chickens, alpacas and donkeys.  And mini horses, they were so cute!

 I find the austerity at this time of year to be so beautiful.

 The fields look like they have been covered in carpeting.

 I am so lucky to live so close to these beautiful areas.

 I can be in Amish country in less than an hour.

We drove through one little town after another.

 We are always on the lookout for small markets selling local food.

 I love to see how people decorate their homes for all of the holidays.  Most often, the homes out in the country decorate even more than the ones in the city.

 We found a cute Amish shop selling their own eggs for 1.35 a dozen. That is the cheapest we have paid for eggs in a long time.  I bought 10 dozen.

 We finally arrived at World Market.

 Our timing was off.  They had the dregs of what was left from Xmas and did not have their new stock in.

 I still managed to find a few things to take home.

I wish we had one of these stores closer because they carry a lot of stuff you can't find elsewhere.

At least it got me off the sofa for the day.

 We always take a different way home and always on back roads.  You never know what you might see.

 Like an old stage coach stop in a tiny little town.

It was a fun day.