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Continuing Their Excellent Adventure: The Things Come To Rochester, New York

Way back in September, Leanne Shirtliffe (aka: Ironic Mom) asked me when I might want to have the Things make a stop in Rochester on their Excellent Adventure, and I knew I wanted them during the winter. Duh!

There is so much to do here when there is snow. I figured we would go skiing, make snow critters, go sledding and ice-skating, have them help us make snow tunnels, and bring them inside to a roaring fire. You get the idea. When Leanne contacted me in December, I had to decline her offer because there was no snow in Rochester. She asked me again a few weeks later, and while we were still without snow – I figured by the time the Things made it to me, we’d certainly have some white stuff. But as anyone from this part of the United States can tell you, the weather this year has been positively wonky. Here is a pictorial about our time with the Things.

I swear Rochester is usually much more fun than is perhaps depicted here. Maybe.

• • •

In Rochester, this season,

winter’s been strangely mild.

No sledding, no skiing.

for adult or for child.

When one day,

I found I had nothing to do

I opened my door

And found Things 1 and 2.

They were positively chilled

Having spent the night outside

So I brought them in our home

To entertain them, we tried.

We wanted to show the Things

A most wonderful day.

We took off to Great Places

We took off and away.

Lake Ontario. Toronto, Canada is on the other side.

We drove to Lake Ontario.

We drove with great care.

And though I said, “Pull over carefully!”

Hubby pulled over There.

The Things thought this was funny. Hubby? Not so much.

When he parked There in that spot

Hubby rolled over a bolt.

And when his tire popped,

We felt the horrible jolt.

The Things thought tire shopping was fun. Hubby? No so much.

The Things knew stuff like this happens

As things sometimes do

So they didn’t worry,

No, they didn’t stew.

They played in the tires

That had been stacked, just so.

They played until the people

At the tire shop said, “Go.”

Want some bracelets? Check out http://GoGuiltyPleasures.com Julie will send some to you!

The next morning I found the Things

They were quite a sight.

They’d gotten into some trouble.

(I’d suspected they might.)

They’d found some bracelets from GoGuiltyPleasures

and seemed a little low.

But I untangled them and told them

we’d more places to go.

The Things liked learning about Brownie cameras. Hubby? Not so much.

We took the Things to George Eastman House

Home of Kodak fame

I explained that if it hadn’t been for George

Picture taking wouldn’t be the same.

Jim's Diner on Winton. Tell them Renée sent you.

We all began to shiver

So we drove to our favorite diner.

The Things showed good manners and exclaimed:

“This coffee couldn’t be finer!”

We took the Things to Lock 33

On the Canal called Erie.

We had no mule whose name was Sal

And the Things were mighty weary.

What

Still, we took them to Wegmans Market

Best grocery store under the sky,

And once inside the Things perked up

There were so many things to try.

Jimmy from Produce loved The Things

They thought the store was swell.

They hid in the red peppers

And in a pile of lobster shells.

We took the Things to temple.

To show them how services were led.

They were very respectful

And wore one yarmulke on top of their heads.

One night the Things seemed homesick.

I saw a tear near Thing 1’s eye.

I pulled out a postcard of the Rockies

and brought out the Canada Dry.

The next day, miraculously

the snow – it had arrived!

And Thing 1 and Thing 2

seemed amazingly revived.

Happy Things!

They watched Tech Support at Rochester Fencing Club.

And even took a class.

And while they loved their toothpick sabers

They decided to take a pass.

We took the Things skiing

They liked to go vroom

They liked when I went very fast

So I zigged and zagged and zoomed!

The Things at Bristol Mountain

When their stay was over

We said splendiferous goodbyes.

We gave the Things good scrub downs

And gave each other high-fives.

As I shoved placed them in an envelope

addressed for their next temporary stay

We agreed we would miss those Things

and sent them safely on their way!

Fare thee well, Things. We hardly knew ye.

**NOTE: The snow melted the minute I sent the Things overseas to their next destination. Yup, they are headed to Switzerland to begin the European leg of their Tour! {Watch the news for “global weirding” in Europe.}

To read more about where the Things have been so far, click HERE.

So what would you have liked to have done with me and the Things? In Rochester, New York? In February? With no snow? IYKWIM.

Tweet this Tweet @rasjacobson

56 thoughts on “Continuing Their Excellent Adventure: The Things Come To Rochester, New York

  1. Oh. My. SUESS. I’m speechless. This is epic. Even slap bracelets aside!!! Wow. Okay. The Produce Guy and the trip to temple…hahahaha!

    You are a genius!!!

  2. I simply LOVE this! I’m thinking the tire store. I want to play on the tires until I’m asked to leave–preferably wearing one, or many Go Guilty Pleasures slap bracelets. And, in the event you are not up for taking a middle-aged woman to the tire store to jump on tires, the lake looked good, too.

    Fabulous post–

  3. Uh, so I thought, when you said Thing 1 and Thing 2 were staying with you, that you were referring to Ironic Mom’s children! LOL! And I thought, wow, how sweet and cute–and yes, this entire story was sweet and cute and brilliant too. Thanks for the Monday morning smiles. xo.

  4. The liked Wegman’s best, right? I’m sure it was Wegman’s! 🙂

    I’m just surprised you didn’t take them for a visit to CSL, followed by a Dead concert. That would have been AWESOME!!

  5. oh my gosh this is brilliant! ha! I LOVED it. what an awesome rhyme.
    And the pictures were terrific. My favorites were the one with the produce man and the yarmulke.
    what a great way to start the day. 🙂

    1. Jim, the Produce Guy, is the best. He knows everyone. And he knows everyone’s kids. He has known TechSupport since he was an infant. I adore Jim. Everyone does.

      And Carol in Deli.

      And Mark in Dairy.

      I got there kind like…everyday.

  6. HA HA! Loved it! The poem…brilliance. And all I kept thinking was…it’s a damn good thing I haven’t hosted The Things, their stay would have been VERY boring compared to that!

    1. Elena: Seriously, we just did our normal stuff. The only thing was I remembered to tote around a good camera. My iPhone takes cruddy pictures.

      Except for our very special trip to the lake followed by our very special trip to the tire shop… everything was pretty typical. Seriously. I mean, I brought them to the grocery store.

      We just happen to have a really awesome grocery store. 😉

    1. Oh Lizzy: They were fun to have around, but seriously – no snow in Rochester is like… well, no snow in Canada. We’re all a little confused and wondering what to do with ourselves.

      At least now it is cold enough to make snow.

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