I come over to this part of Virginia for two things. A great butcher, which, once discovered, you can not do without, and a place called Swirlies. I can do without meat most days, but, I had a carload today that swore they would die on the spot without a few swirlies. Pictured is Swirlies before we lost our privileges.

Soft serve has made it around the world, faster than a #MarketFriday post! Mister Softee, our most famous ice cream truck, made its way to China where it serves up the regular flavors, plus a few of its local flavors: Green Tea and Red Bean flavored soft serve.

Day or night, people come from near and far to stand in line. And meet up with a friend or three. Not now, but, you know, the old normal.

Oh, for the love of soft-serve ice cream! Over the years, it has found its niche, its place in our food pyramid, of sorts, if you will. I'll bet you didn't see that coming, did you? It was created with a combined effort of Dairy Queen (DQ for short) and Carvel, the experts in all things ice cream. They hit a home run with it. The rest is just history.

Most of the soft serve shops have only chocolate and vanilla or a combination of both flavors called a swirl, this place called it a twist. You can roll it in sprinkles, jazz it up with nuts, or you can cover it with a magic shell, which is a cone dipped in pure chocolate and it hardens, making a hard covering over your soft serve. Oh, for the love of God and all things chocolate. It is pure and delicious. Nowadays, you can get cherry also. Praise God, did I say it was a near miracle of experience?

Why, yes it is.

Rules of the Road

Please leave the link to your post on here so it can easily be found by others. It helps you and me to have them in one place. Where else can you take such a quick trip around the globe? Thank you so much for joining us!! ❤

I went out that way today and Gasp! My Swirlies is socially distancing from me. Plus, tape on the sidewalks and everything. Chained offf the area, lest you try to sit with it.

I have to ask...Do you think this will be the new normal?

A flower. There must always be a flower or three, to color my world. Hail the beauty!

And just like that, this show is over. Come back tomorrow and we will do it again. The market? Oh, yes! Wherever money is exchanged for a service or for merchandise. Be different if you wish! It does not have to be a traditional market! Just remember! #MarketFriday loves you!

Thank you for visiting my post 💖 Because of you, I come back to post again and again. Always. Kindness counts. Wherever you go, whatever you do.

they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?

i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.

later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered,
"where does it hurt?"
it answered,

"everywhere"
"everywhere"
"everywhere"

warsan shire