One week after the snow dashed our plans, Kathleen and I were able to go on our little Hallmark Christmas Lesbian Adventure^TM this Saturday!

Although the wind made the temperatures feel quite cold, it all came on the heels of a bit of a warm spell. It even rained quite a bit to the end of the week! This meant that the roads were bare and dry, and it made for a quick and uneventful drive.

We got to Almonte just after 11 am and our first stop was at Ottawa Valley Coffee, where we both had an oat milk *Valley* Fog, which is like a London Fog, but instead of Earl Grey, it was prepared with a sort of apple spice or apple pie tea. Very delicious!

From there, we proceeded to Mill Street Books, which was quite busy with shoppers! While it’s nice to have a shop to yourself, it’s much nicer to see a book store *filled* with people. There’s something reassuring about it. We came away with three books: The Ha-Ha, by Jennifer Dawson, Sunburn, by Chloe Michelle Howarth, and Something In The Woods Loves You, but Jarod K. Anderson.

We then made our way further down Mill Street, stopping in at Almonte Antiques and Collectibles, which is a labyrinthine shop dealing in all sorts of, well, antiques and collectibles. While we did not purchase anything, we had a lovely time looking around.

One of the planned visits was to Darrell Thomas Textiles, where Kathleen was in search of some buttons for a project. Shopping for buttons in person is preferable to shopping for them online because, if nothing else, you get a much better idea of what they’re like than photos tend to provide. And, sure enough, Kathleen found hers in, well, probably under ten seconds.

After that, it was up to Big Vintage at the top of Mill Street, where I found two lovely necklaces: one that is amethyst and rose quartz, and one that is multicoloured faux pearls.

Afterward, it was time for lunch! There was one place that really stood out as being perfect for the occasion: Tea & Cake, a sort of tea house with all sorts of delicious things to choose from! We ended up ordering the same thing (soup and sandwich), and we shared a delicious piece of gingerbread spice cake for dessert.

After finishing up, we had just one more stop planned. More on that tomorrow!

---