Today, My Mom and I took to the “backroads of Ontario” as my Dad used to say, heading to Aylmer to start our trek along The Talbot Trail tour of town-wide yard sales. Starting from Aylmer, we went through places like Summers Corners, Seville, Richmond, Staffordville, Froggetts Corners, Vienna and finally coming to Port Burwell.
My folks (back when Dad was still with us, in person, rather than just in spirit) and I had gone along the trail a couple of times in 2017-2019 and while we never got a lot, there seemed to be quite a few sales. This year, once we left Aylmer, we didn’t see anything until we got to Vienna. There were a couple of sales there and quite a few in Port Burwell.
Rather than retrace our steps, we decided to drive on to Copenhagen and back to Aylmer because we had missed one yard sale and I wanted to check out a store (which ended up having gone out of business, I must assume). Believe it or not, the last yard sale we went to was the only time I saw anything NASCAR-related. (A Jimmie Johnson t-shirt celebrating his 2006 NASCAR Championship with no price tag on it, so I passed.)
Over the course of the journey, my Mom got a book and a little pot (a casserole dish, not weed, just to be clear). But while we didn’t get a lot of treasures, it was nice to hit the road and get out of the house. While it might have been a trip along the Talbot Trail, it was also a bit of a trip down Memory Lane for us, especially my Mom remembering previous trips we had taken with my Dad.
We didn’t go all the way down to the lake and my Mom remembered us checking out the HMCS Ojibwa during one of our previous trips. Since a straight run from Thamesford is less than an hour, I have a feeling we may not have taken our last trip to Port Burwell this summer.
As we drove along the Talbot Trail, I was seeing the sights thanks to my brand new pair of glasses. I had gotten a call from my optometrist last weekend and so I headed to Arva on Tuesday after work to pick them up. I only wore them sparingly this past week because I didn’t want to get a migraine. However, with this being the weekend, I figured I could/should give them a try. They are progressives so they take a bit of getting used to but the more I wear them, the more used to them I get. One positive thing is that I can now see things (far away) clearer through my right eye and, while i haven’t checked it out too much yet, it looks like I am able to read better up close (as in books). Once I get a shave and a haircut, I will most likely update my Facebook profile photo to showcase my new glasses.
There’s more of John Milner’s blog to come but I want to toss out a couple of links here. (I could leave them to the end but they deserve to remain higher up.)
This past week, I finished the update for Shelf Life Magazine’s August/September 2025 issue. You can check out excerpts from the issue here and get your copy at local libraries in London (and Thamesford – plus Ingersoll, I believe). If you are looking for your next great read, check out the website and get your copy today.
Next up is a link to a bit of fan-fiction I guess you might call it that I wrote a couple of years ago and decided to post it. For those of you who remember the 1996 movie, That Thing You Do, that marked Tom Hanks’ directorial debut, this is a faux magazine article that basically presents the after-stories of most of the main characters. I find it interesting and I hope you will too.
And so, in the final installment of “Weird sections of John’s blog,” is my list of my favourite Storage Wars buyers. Back about ten years ago, my folks and I were big fans of the A&E series Storage Wars. A while back, I started PVRing the re-runs of Storage Wars and my Mom would watch a couple every night. I’ve always had my favourites so I decided “Hey, ranking my faves would be a fun exercise and give me some more content for my blog.” A couple of caveats: I’m only ranking the buyers. Dan and Laura are my favourite auctioneers, followed by Emily, and then that father-daughter team whose names I forget. Speaking of forgetting, I have a feeling I’ve missed at least one minor character (just can’t remember who).
Meanwhile, here is the list:
- Kenny Crossley
- Brandi Passante
- Mary Padian
- Barry Weiss
- Ivy Calvin
- Lisa DeLarios
- Ivy Calvin, Jr.
- Darrell Sheets
- Jarrod Schulz
- Brandon Sheets
- Gunter Nezhoda
- Isaiah Calvin
- Dave Hester, Jr.
- Dave Hester
- Edwina Registre
- Shana Dahan
- Lupe Riach
- Dusty Riach
- Casey Nezhoda
- Mark and Matt Harris
- Rene Nezhoda
- Justin Bryant
- Mavrick
- Mike Karlinger and Herb Brown
- Nabila Haniss
- Mark Balelo
- Chad
- Jeff Jarred
As always, if you want to discuss anything covered above (or below), chat me up on Facebook Messenger or via email.
johnmilner.ca 