As an early celebration, Helen treated me to a road trip to a little town south of here, Volant.

It's a little town with a shop after shop of antiques and country crafts.  Actually, they are the older homes that they renovated into a tourist attraction.

So not only can you see all the merchandise, but  you can ooh and ahh over all the workmanship inside.

  They even have a few restaurants and tea rooms.  Half way through we stopped and shared a pumpkin square with cream cheese frosting.

  Yum!

There was one small shop I know my daughter-in-law would love!

It was a long day and we decided to stop at a local restaurant before heading home.  It was a few miles down the road, not one right there. You can tell it was in a woodsy setting when this greets you!

When I came home that night,  yet another surprise.   Tom had finished the porch!!!