Sorry I haven’t had time to post anything recently but I have been suffering some writers block along with an attack of sudden “laziness”, so with the nice weather and lying in a comfortable hammock looking up at blue sky, it is difficult to remember that today you had promised yourself some creative activity. My Great Grandson, Carver, (remember the feet), had promised he would write something in my absence but since he has started school, day care actually, he is also kind of occupied. He does have a piece in progress and promised to have it ready in a day or two.
While lying back and napping or doing some other useless inactivity a couple of days ago, I opened my eyes and decided to come out of hibernation. A prod with a broom from my better half hurried that sudden realization that winter was over and that it was time to get going, like it or not. Not being one to boldly rush into things without an appropriate amount of forethought, I simply moved the hammock to a part of the yard where I could not be seen by my nemesis. While lying back thinking what best way was there to start the spring season with, it came to me like a flash, why not a motorcycle ride?
Early yesterday morning I called a friend and asked him if he would like to join in a few hours of relaxation on his motorcycle. He agreed that he was having the same problems as I was with his better half trying to arouse him from a period of hibernation and that a ride just might do the trick. We met for breakfast at, where else, a McDonald’s and stoked the “energy furnace” with some egg biscuits and other “healthy” man food and headed out.
The trip we had agreed on would follow US 127 south from Lexington to a small town named Liberty, Kentucky. If you have been following the news and noted all of the tornadoes that struck Kentucky a couple of weeks ago, a small town named West Liberty was literally destroyed by one of the tornadoes. Liberty is not to be confused with this town. In fact, Liberty is west of West Liberty by quite a distance. Go figure, wonder how that happened.
In traveling US 127 south, one will go through miles upon miles of countryside blooming with dog wood and red bud blooms. There are fields of yellow flowering plants that I have been told produce canola oil. They appear as fields of gold and are quite beautiful. The highway passes through the historic towns of Harrodsburg, KY, Danville, KY, and crosses the beautiful Kentucky River palisades. It passes many neat, white farmsteads and certainly belies the picture of a blighted area of Appalachia that many has presented. The roadway is not heavily traveled and presents no crowded and busy traffic conditions. US route 127 is well known for presenting the worlds longest roadside sale, beginning in northern Kentucky and running several hundred miles into and through Alabama. It happens each year and if the opportunity presents you with and opportunity to attend, take your pickup truck some money and go buy some treasures.
approximately three miles south of the town of Liberty, you will find, out in the middle of the country, a restaurant called “The Bread of Life Cafe”. It is something that everyone who likes food, especially country type food, should experience. They operate both a buffet line and a menu from which can be ordered other foods. The buffet was loaded with things like meat loaf, country ham, fried chicken, fried fish, and even a hamburger helper dish, (something I had never seen before on a buffet). There were large quantities of nice vegetables, an excellent salad bar, and a wonderful assortment of desserts. All breads are home-made, even the hamburger buns. The hamburgers are half pounders and not stamped out by a press or machine but hand formed and presented with at least a one quarter inch slice of a great sweet onion. Prices are reasonable, service good, and waitresses that are most friendly.
Adjacent and attached to the restaurant is a gift shop with a variety of souvenirs and candies that one always buys and then the next day wonders why did I buy that? The shop also sells local quilts and handmade furniture made from tree limbs and such. Whether you buy or not, it is a great opportunity to just look.
This enterprise was all started when a Galilean couple came to the area some thirty years ago and established a home for children of persons who might be imprisoned and/or other reasons that they were abandoned. Many of the children might be handicapped but it appears that no one is turned away. I would recommend that you go on-line and take a look at the group and what and how they have accomplished what they have.
The one thing that I had never heard of much less had ever seen was an object that I saw for sale in the gift shop. It was a cone, perhaps twelve inches long that was perhaps and inch and one half on one end and perhaps one half to one-quarter inch on the other end. It appeared to be made from paper and impregnated with bee’s wax. They were called ear candles. The use was brought about by placing the small end in one’s ear and lighting the other end. The purpose was apparently to melt the ear wax from ones ears. Can you say Qtips. I can imagine all sorts of scenarios while using one of those candles., none of them good, by the way. The company that makes them calls them Hopi ear candles, the practice having been started by the Hopi Indians. The Hopi Indians, being a pretty smart people, vehemently deny this claim. I have heard the term of doing things as if “your hair was on fire”, but this is a totally new one. This allows you to do something as if “your ears are on fire” literally. You can go down the road now if both your hair and your ears are on fire. There is information on-line regarding ear candles if you are tending towards trying one, just don’t tell anyone you heard about it here.
I do urge you to go on-line and take a look at the “Bread of Life Cafe” people, their people, and what they have accomplished through the blessings of God.
The Viking Chronicles 