Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
Old Fashioned Sunday Drives
I come from a family of “Sunday Drivers”! You know……people who get in their cars on a Sunday afternoon to just drive around looking at the world around them with no particular destination or goal in mind. My grandmother was the Queen of Sunday Drives – she LOVED them! She didn’t drive, herself – never got her license – but, she would grab her coat and purse and tell my grandfather she was ready to go and he’d warm up the car and take her. When my brother and I were little, we’d get to go with them from time to time. Every Sunday, they’d get in the car and use it as an opportunity to drive to the lake, see the birds, check out the farmer’s crops around the country side, stop at the farm they always got their fresh brown eggs from for the week, stop for an ice cream or milkshake, and sometimes visit family or friends. Like I said, Grandma didn’t drive and she was also totally deaf in one ear and 3/4 deaf in the other, so her world was very small……this allowed her to get out and increase the size of her world, even if just for an afternoon.
My mom used to say she didn’t understand the appeal of getting in the car and going “nowhere”, but in fact, she was quite the Sunday Driver, herself. When we were little, she was a single mother of two and money was tight. She would sometimes entertain us by taking us on a ride….we’d go to Reid’s for hot dogs or go to the pond that had swans that we could feed or go to the lake to skip stones or stop at farmers stands along the ridge and most of the time our rides included an ice cream!
When I was married and we moved to Sanford, NC, my husband, son, and I would get in the car on the weekends and drive around our new town to explore and learn where everything was and what the town had to offer. We’d venture out of town in different directions to discover neighboring towns and make note of things to do and places to go. The drives almost always included ice cream (see a pattern, here?).
Then, when I retired and moved back home to Albion, I often took off in my car to explore, reacquaint myself with my home town and other old stomping grounds, and to rediscover old favorite places and see what was new and different. When I started getting into photography, I’d drive around looking for cool things to photograph to practice with my new camera. And, Sundays became a special time with my mom….she’d meet me after church, we’d go out for lunch, and then we’d just drive around and she would tell me stories and remind me of where things used to be…..and, yes, we usually stopped for an ice cream!
Once I retired and had more flexibility and time on my hands, I re-dubbed “Sunday Drives” as “Any Day Drives”! Cause you can take a Sunday Drive any day you are able and have the desire to get out and explore your world! Since the Covid-19 virus has changed our lives and taught us about “social distancing” and “isolation”, I’ve used my “Any Day Drives” as a means of getting out of the house for a while and see the world beyond what I can see through my windows and from my yard……all from the safety of my car! I like to go to Point Breeze and sit in the car and watch the geese or just drive around making random turns on back country roads to see what I can find interesting to look at and maybe photograph. It helps me to think I’m actually going somewhere – even though I’m not, really – and keeps me from going stir-crazy. I try to do that once or twice a week and it has done wonders for my sanity! LOL
One day earlier this week, I did just that….I think it was Monday…..but, I’m not sure about that cause I really have no idea what day it is until I turn on the TV at night and see what is on to watch – at that time, I think “Oh, it must be Tuesday cause NCIS is on” or “I must be Thursday if I’m watching Grey’s”! 🙂 On this particular day…..whatever day it was earlier this week……I was thinking about the shoe trees down by the lake in Yates. I don’t know what made me think of them, but I thought, gee, I haven’t been by there in a long time. So, I headed that way! I drove down Kenyonville Rd, which turns into Harris Rd, till it dead ends on Lakeshore Rd. Then, I drove west on Lakeshore Rd till I got to where the shoe trees are on an island in the intersection. Here are the photos I took on my big outing to the shoe trees and the critters I saw along the way:
So, that was this week’s “Any Day Drive”…….maybe I’ll go somewhere else this coming week and share what I see on that drive with you! 🙂
Kim's Thoughts 
…I’d love to see the shoe tree.
Next time you’re in the area, let me know – I’ll take you there! Bring Janette – we can have lunch at the Black North at Point Breeze……if we ever get to where we can go sit in a restaurant, again! 🙂
What is the story behind these shoe trees? My brother and I have a cottage at Oak Orchard on the Lake and I have never heard of these.
According to the Orleans Hub: The Shoe Tree craze started in 1986 when the late Earl Baun helped a girlfriend get rid of about eight to 10 pairs of shoes. He threw them into the trees. When he was done, Baun and his then-girlfriend, Diane Bane, coaxed other friends to add to the collection. The Shoe Tree was thus born. (Go to the Orleans Hub web site and type “shoe tree” in the search box and it will bring up several articles Tom Rivers wrote on the subject) You can go see them on the corner of Lakeshore and Foss Roads.