Megan Engelhardt

This was a short walk. It was cold and snowy and frankly, I’m not that dedicated.

There were some cool things on this walk. There were two little parks on either side of the street, and each ran along the Cuyahoga River.

Which, by the way, is extremely high right now.

I look forward to coming back some time when it’s warmer and large portions of the park are not literally covered with water.

(Look at that poor little bench up there.)

I do love the sound of rushing water. When I was growing up we spent a fair bit of time at the crick behind my house (technically spelled creek but that is not how I say it). You had to walk through the woods to get there, and when it ran high it sounded just the same as the Cuyahoga did on my walk.

There was some cool art at the parks, too. This piece is by Catherine Lentini and looked pretty neat on the backdrop of water and snow.

And these pieces are by unknown artists, on the medium of concrete.

I think you see some really fantastic art in graffiti. Like, look at that dragon up there, he’s gorgeous. I bet this under the bridge situation looks less industrial-punk when the river isn’t raging and the foliage is green but I don’t know, I think it suits it to be like this.

(I will try to follow this path another time, when I am not certainly going to kill myself on icy stairs.)

To reward myself for walking when it was stupid cold outside, I finally visited Excelty, which is a plus-size only thrift store in Kent, OH. I kept driving past it on my way to ConCoction this year and was just now able to visit and see what it was like.

What it was like was awesome.

Excelty stocks only items that are XL and up. If you are also zaftig in any way, you know that regular thrift stores are kind of busts for those sizes. I might be able to find some t-shirts sometimes, but that’s about it.

I tried on seven different pieces, and bought three.

(I think it says something that I was smiling more while trying on clothes than while being by myself during my walk. That’s unheard of.)

Excelty seems to be fairly community minded and certainly has some great pieces for all plus sizes at good prices. I will be back. If you are also a person of girth and live near(ish) Kent, this is worth checking out.

Listening while walking podcast update: Exploring the Lord of the Rings episode 95 – We’re finally in Rivendell!