Tales of the Traveling Tote #44, Giveaway

Hello, readers, and welcome to Panoply! Happy September, the meteorological start of fall! Of course, the seasons as we know them follow the astronomical equinoxes and earth's orbit, but the notable climate changes generally fall by three month periods on the calendar (starting Dec-Feb for winter, etc); hence, meteorologically, it's fall, y'all!

Today marks the 44th instalment of the Tales of the Traveling Tote, can you believe it? It's all about quarterly tales of ladies connecting friendship and stories of our everyday lives via a MacKenzie-Childs tote we all purchased at one time or another. 

To read more about the origin of this series of posts, you can learn how it started here. A link to all my previous tales can be found here. 

My summer has been somewhat quiet insofar as travel (other than local) is concerned. In June, my high school graduating class of 1975 celebrated its 50th reunion here in my hometown. It was absolutely the best reunion our class has ever had! We had about a 50% turnout of our living classmates, with folks traveling from states including Washington, Colorado, Arizona and Texas, all back home in Almost Heaven, West Virginia. The throne group picture was a tongue-in-cheek move on the fact that our class never had a senior yearbook published (long story), and I was the Homecoming Queen back then. 

Growing up in the parochial school system, it was notable that my grade school had the best representation at the reunion. Our grade school was grades 1 through 8, and high school 9-12. I went through all my school years with the folks pictured below.

One really cool thing as a result of our reunion is that we're going to try to get together for dinner at a designated restaurant each month for locals and whoever may be in town from afar.  We had our first dinner in August, and went Mexican, Two classmates celebrated birthdays, which was a lot of fun.

I've stayed busy in the garden this year, and in July, my girlfriend and I ventured to West Virginia's Blenko Glass for a specific item I was looking to buy for the garden. In the Visitors'  Center, you can often find seconds of any production line item for nearly half the cost of firsts, so that was my goal.

Blenko artisans reintroduced their garden stakes, and they make beautiful, sun-catching decor to tuck into the garden. In the top half of the photo below is their 2025 color wheel of choices, and the lower half are what I now have in my own collection.

Here they are in the garden, placed beneath a piece of art glass a friend of mine made a few years ago.

The funny thing about these garden stakes is I already owned two (the topaz ones). I had used them in my Christmas decor in 2022 as Christmas trees on a bookcase shelf vignette.

Another garden-related venture that is a must do in my town is our Capitol Market. Situated in a revitalized railroad freight station, our market houses vendors both indoors and outside, and is home to the Charleston Visitors' Center (exit 100, I-64/77E). Inside is the West Virginia Marketplace, a smorgasboard of locally made products.

This year the Capitol Market was entered into the National Register of Historic Places!

I love supporting the vendors at the Capitol Market, both indoors and outside. It's where my girlfriends' and my favorite restaurant is, it's where I buy a lot of my annual flowers for my landscape, and it's also the best place to buy fresh produce from June through October. It's open year round, but the outdoor vendors only sell from April through December.

Guess who turned 4 in mid-August? Jacqueline! She had an Elsa (Frozen) themed pool party with eight friends, all of whom wore floaties or vests (except you know who). Look at this kid blast down the slides! Blast it was, and Mimi loved it too. J's bathing suit was even Elsa-themed.

Here's a montage of photos of her I have from the past year. She lights up our lives.

This year I signed up for a local farm's four-week flower bouquet subscription at the Capitol Market, beginning in mid-August. Their farm is located in Spencer, WV - The Muddy Mountain Flower Farm. My first subscription bouquet included peaches and cream & blizzard dahlias, lemon basil, pink gomphrena, hot pink celosia, lisianthus, zinnia, sunflower. Pick up at the Capitol Market is super convenient.

The bouquet below was picked up on August 29, week 3 of my subscription. I love the fall look!

And let me just say this......my blog friend Mary has been preaching the benefits of using Crowning Glory for preserving floral bouquets for years. I finally bought some this year (go to her link shared here to find it). That stuff really works! I've had bouquets of sunflowers for almost two weeks now, and they still look fresh!

Just this past week, Mr. P. and I, along with two of my siblings and their partners, drove about an hour north near Clay, WV to journey on the WV Rail Explorers on the Elk River. If you follow along with my tribe sisters' blogs, you  may remember that Linda took this rail trip in Amador, CA two years ago and wrote about it here. There are currently six locations where these Rail Explorers are set up. 

The trip in WV along the Elk River follows the tracks of what was previously BC&G Railroad (Buffalo Creek & Gauley), operated from 1904-1965 as the Elk River Coal and Lumber Company (ELRICO). The B&O Railroad ran parallel to this rail. It was a coal town, where families lived and worked in encampments all along the rail, and shopping was, for the most part, conducted in the company store.

The trip was a perfect weather day, our first break in the summer temperatures with a morning low of 65° and high temperature of 80°, with sunny skies and a nice breeze. The ride goes one hour each way, with a short break at the halfway mark. All ages can participate with very little energy needed, as the rail cars are battery-driven. Highly recommended if you are ever traveling near one of these six (CA, IA, KY, NY, RI, and WV). 

NOW, ONTO THE GIVEAWAY!

The Traveling Totes Tribe is offering another giveaway and Sarah is our giveaway sponsor this time at Hyacinths for the Soul. One lucky reader who leaves a comment on Sarah's post will have their name thrown into the hat for an opportunity to win this MacKenzie-Childs to go tote.

Be sure to check out my other traveling sisters' posts to see how they spent their summer months. Also, please keep our dear sister Jenna from the Painted Apron in your thoughts, as she's currently focusing on some health issues and working hard in rehabilitation.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Patti with Miss Kenzie and Miss Taylor @ Pandora's Box

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply (you are here!)

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie with Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess de Monet @The Bookish Dilettante

Join us again on December 1, 2025 for another edition of Tales of the Traveling Tote.

Be sure to come back tomorrow, September 2, as I'll be hosting a blog hop of fall tablescapes with fourteen table enthusiasts to welcome the new season!

Thanks so much for your visit. I love reading your comments, and be sure to leave one on my this post for a chance to win our token gift. Happy September! 

Rita C. at Panoply