Leaves and Berries / I'll Fly Away

I've got two pictures for this day. My morning walk yielded the shot above, of colorful leaves and berries along the corner of the road just beyond our house. I took maybe a half-dozen shots. I just liked the way this one turned out. The red berries are pretending they are bokeh.  :-)

I had a lunch date and cookie swap with dear friends at our local Cracker Barrel. I enjoyed a very nice four-piece Southern fried chicken meal, with hash brown casserole and steak fries as my sides. Most of the chicken and casserole came home with me but I ate every single fry. There were also biscuits. I am so fortunate to have such good friends for all these years.

The Cracker Barrel has an amazing gift shop with all kinds of Christmas trees and other stuff to buy. There was a display of lovely sparkly stuff by the checkout, and I had to take a look. There were creatures with crystals on them, and I selected a dragonfly for myself and a peacock for my mother-in-law as a Christmas gift (yes, she collects crystal knick-knacks).

At the last minute, I told the checkout lady I wanted the jeweled elephant as well. She grabbed an item off the display and immediately sat on the floor, opening cabinets, looking for the right box. I waited several minutes as she dug through things. She eventually admitted defeat: she couldn't find the right box; was it okay if she just wrapped it up for me? I said Okay.

Well, between the box episode and me never actually getting a good LOOK at that elephant, you can guess what happened next. I came home and opened the bag and unwrapped it - and discovered that I had the wrong elephant!

I also joined their loyalty club, which means I get a free little appetizer type item the next time I go in. The money I spent in the gift shop and meal earned me enough rewards that I can get a free take-home meal the next time I am there.

Yes, the wrong elephant is going back, and the RIGHT elephant will be coming home with me then! (I imagine this sort of blunder has happened to just about everyone. I mean, Who HASN'T gone to the store and brought the wrong elephant home??)

Anyway, the dragonfly, I bought for myself, and it stays. You may see it in the extras. It is actually a tiny container, about 2 and a half inches wide. If you put your fingers under the left wings and pull up, it opens in the middle so you may put tiny things inside! Isn't it gorgeous?

I have two photos so let's have two soundtrack songs. For the photo above, I've got Cyndi Lauper, with True Colors. For the dragonfly in the extras, I've got Rising Appalachia, with I'll Fly Away. And eventually, you'll get to see that jeweled elephant, but only after I bring the right one home!