Anticipation of November

All the November issues of  magazines have golden leaves, turkeys and pumpkins.  It makes you want to rush out to purchase these items as though you could not live a moment longer without.  On our side of the Square here in Huntsville, finally some of the other stores are getting in the mood for the upcoming holidays. I was decorated the first of October.

Yesterday Twanya at a neighboring store went to the feed store and got rectangular bales of hay for us to use and this made some difference in the spirit of things. I have to say it sure looks like Fall around here.

To the left is a page from the November Country Living. The leaf looks so crisp I can almost touch it.

I love this page from the current Martha Stewart Living November issue. Quiet and elegant yet saying it all!!!!
Do we remember to give thanks?  Each Thanksgiving when my entire family comes together at our house, the 
kids are anxious to eat but we take time to reflect on the blessings we have received through the year. And to give thanks back to our Creator. 

And last but not least of the November magazines is, Romantic Homes.  Their cover is beautiful and colorful. There are gorgeous recipes inside.

My favorite time of the year, right after Christmas is soon coming when my family will be home together again.  I look forward to cooking all the night before and rushing around to make sure it is as perfect as I can make it for them.
   
My poor husband James is a helper. He will do anything I assign him.
He will wash up dishes, mop the floor or clean toilets. He alleges that I do not ever really clean house but once a year, prior to Thanksgiving.
I want to make the day the best I can and make the best memories for all of us, children and adults. 


When I am past and the kids and their own kids gather for Thanksgiving,
I want to hear from Heaven, remember when Mom did this and that.
That would be a reward only a Mother could understand.


Happy Thanksgiving to all,
Lois


Old cookbooks below from the store so no matter whether you use your grandma's recipes or some you gather from magazines or friends, cook cook cook.

Fall Friday

This cooler Fall weather is wonderful after a few more days of rain here in Eastern Texas this week.
With all this rain we are beginning to become tropical.

I am showing some apothecary bottles that are for sale here in the store that came to me
via Vermont from an old drug store in New York. So these bottles have really travelled.
Also shown are other drug store items.

And here at the bottom are clocks to remind you to change your clock for the end of daylight savings time on Nov. 1.

Favorite photos of Roundtop-Warrenton-La Bahia from this show just ended

Some of my favorite photos of Warrenton-Roundtop-LaBahia Shows during this latest Antique show.  

The booth to the right was decorated for Christmas all in Aqua. This was truly astonishing. I did not talk to any booth owners during this time since these were not manned when I visited.

 This one with the caged lady was my husband's favorite. Wonder why?

This was a truly lovely booth at La Bahia where we shopped under the shade of the large old Live Oak trees.

This shade  was really appreciated on the day we visited as the humidity was terribly high. I, being a store owner am no longer used to being out in that. We are air conditioned here in the store all year around. 

What can I say about this elegant display?  Wonderful and simple.

I could not get my camera to work when we were with Theresa at her booth but I want to tell you it

was breathtaking!!!  The taxidermy birds were amazing and I wanted to buy all of them without a purpose in mind on what I would do with them. She truly knew what she was doing when she planned this display. Maybe she will publish her own pictures of this.

Until next time,

Lois

Old Jewelry: memories and more

Today when I place a fine piece of jewelry from the 1920's and 30's in the jewelry case here at the store where we sell antique and estate jewelry as well as other antiques , I remember Great Grandmother Minnie and those times in her home. Just the two of us. I feel I am fortunate to have known both great grandmothers in my life as many of my friends did not get the chance to be alive when the greats were. This gr grandmother lived to be about 70 and the other one who we called Granny Boo, due to her blindness and us sneaking up on her trying to scare her and yelling boo, she lived to be 99.

Great-Grandmother Minnie was quite wealthy and had so many wonderful things in her house. I took my time and examined each one without touching them as she watched over me. 

But the best part of a trip to her house was her jewelry and makeup and furs.  She allowed me to dress up in her furs, jewelry and apply as much makeup on my little 5 year old face as I wanted. What a mess I probably made. She never scolded me. Others said she was not a warm person,  however I never saw that. She let me do much as I wanted in her house. The old jewelry was the favorite and I shudder now to think of the cost of some of her items, but she never said not this one or maybe when you are older. I was allowed to try on until I tired of the game and went on back next door where my grandmother, her daughter lived and where my family would be. I often remember these times now. She died almost 50 years ago.

I especially love those Czech pieces made in the 20's and 30's and the extravagance they portray with only glass and rhinestones. Not many precious jewels here during this era.

In addition to the Art Deco jewelry I have an extensive inventory of Victorian and Edwardian and 1960's to 1980's designer jewelry as well.

We try to keep those that are favorites of our customers here. 

To bottom left are my two  grandbabies, Lane and Jayleigh. Had to put them in somewhere and they have nothing to do with vintage or antique jewelry. But they are part of my heart. They love to come to the store for tea parties. This is something I did with their mother when she was small and she wanted to be sure they experienced tea parties when they came along.  There is a children's area of the store with a small tea set and they automatically head in there now when they come.  Even Lane the baby boy likes our tea parties.  His Dad is a little worried about his son having tea parties but I said it won't hurt him any. And they do enjoy it. The last time I had planned to take them to Farmhouse Sweets here on the Square also for ice cream when they came, and we did that. Then when we got back to the store they wanted a tea party anyway. This is a wonderful enjoyable thing for me but I hope it will be for them like the makeup and jewelry were to me when I was about their ages.  MEMORIES, what better thing is there for grandmothers to leave behind?

Love,

Lois

Special Kitchen Issue of Romantic Homes

Brown transferware in my store to left and pink or red Crown Ducal china also in my store.  Below is blue and white.

COMING SOON:  Check your magazine counter for the upcoming special Kitchen issue of Romantic Homes in addition to the regular monthly issue. This is the cover to left.

Also in the current issue of Romantic Homes I absolutely love the Furnivals Quail pattern transferware.

We have here in the store a large inventory of this pattern as well as other transferware in various colors. I will try to add some shots of ours if can get camera to work right. If anyone talks to my husband before the birthday coming up in Nov. be sure to mention that I need a new camera. OK?  I would do the same for you if asked.

Below is the red Crown Ducal in the center sitting in white lacey charger. Have much more of this that I can add later when I find the file with pictures  I saved. I am such a novice when it comes to blogging.

Below is the beautiful haunting glory of Old English Rose. It is by Royal Albert who also makes the better know Old Country Roses which is almost as beautiful as this. The Replacements Ltd. man came around about a year ago and cleaned me out of this pattern but since have been able to accumulate more for the store.

Bavarian and RS Prussia are favorites of mine and many of my customers here.

Haviland patterns are always bought as fast as I can find them. I do a good business with china even though it is not like a few years back!!!

My old standby is blue and white.
In the special kitchen issue there is another kitchen with blue and white that  you will love if you are like me. My kitchen walls are yellow with ivory below the chair rail and blue and white china to the excess all over the walls and in cabinets, on floors and wherever you look. 

Teal to the left.

Above is an area of my store showing all blues and whites. One customer said, "This is my favorite corner in town."      Please do not use my pictures, thanks.    

White Ironstone

So many  have posted about white ironstone that I hate to even mention it. However, it is my favorite also.
While I am waiting on my  surprise birthday gift in November from my husband , which is to be a camera,

til then I have to use some pictures I have in my computer from the store.
This is in the old white jelly cupboard. Most  of this is older but to me it is all beautiful. I have so many customers who look exclusively for white ironstone.  I try to keep an assortment but since it is such demand I really need to look when I go to Roundtop tomorrow.

I know I will find some there.
We usually stay at the Ant Street Inn in Brenham but this time I waited too long and they were booked.
My husband likes the room with the grain elevator in the middle of it. Looks like a guillotine to me. He calls it the Ant Hill Inn.
One advantage at this hotel, other than the elegance and comfort,  is you get all the free Blue Bell ice cream you want.  They keep it stocked in the 2nd floor refrigerator. We have stayed there many times.
If you get an opportunity when the Spring show comes around, book a room there.  You won't be disappointed.

Hope to see all of you at the blog party Sunday night at Theresa's booth. 

Death of a former mother-in-law

Naomi entreating Ruth to leave her:

I am no Ruth and she was no Naomi. We did what we had to do as daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. That time is long past and tomorrow we travel to Lake Charles to attend the funeral of this woman who so impacted my life in my younger days when I was married to her son. I was very young then and perhaps had not developed the skills needed to exist within the scope of the matriarch of my husband's family. My family had been so very different than this French Cajun
family I landed in when I married the oldest son.
They lived large, they argued at the dining table for fun after the dishes were removed. I was
shocked. My family was quiet. I had rarely seen anyone argue.
She was a champion French cook. I was able to make French toast, grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. I loved to read, take quiet walks, and was totally her opposite in almost every way.
For the first years we were married, the large studio portrait of his former fiancee remained on the wall in the dining room of their home. Yes, I am serious. She had been the one that the mother had wanted for her son. She was the local girl, the Catholic girl who had attended the same Church.
I was the outsider. I was Baptist. I was younger. I was from another state. I was shy, terribly so.
I was set up for failure had we lived closer to them. Or maybe they would have taken me, at my young age and molded me into what they wanted. They did not count on the streak of stubborn
Texan that lived in me. We were not meant for each other from the beginning but lasted 16 years trying to find this out. We did have 2 sons during this time and for them I guess it was worth the suffering.
I will be at her funeral for my 2 sons. For their kids. This is something I will do. This is something I want to do.
Through these last years she and I have became almost friendly. I have forgiven and she has forgotten my differences. We have both mellowed out I guess. The seriousness of those times
is lost somewhere. The children have mended the fences that separated us.
In recent years she has taken my side whenever we are all together for a wedding, funeral, or graduation. This was a surprise to me. I never expected it. NEVER.
Tomorrow I will probably cry more than anyone there. I did when my ex husband's wife died
2 years ago. She had become a friend. The Priest that conducted her funeral came to me after and said" I do not know your relation to the deceased but I am sorry for your sorrow." How could I say this was the wife of my former husband who had replaced me? Just left him wondering.
This former mother-in-law was always a Christian, attending Church more than anyone I ever knew. It seemed so contradictory to me when I was a new bride. So tomorrow I will celebrate what she was to her family.
Life is strange at best. Life goes on. The poem below is then dedicated to Edith, my former mother in law.
Lois

"We may write our names in albums,
We may trace them in the sand.
We may chisel them in marble,
With a firm and skillful hand;
But the pages soon are sullied,
Soon each name will fade away;
Every monument will crumble,
like all earthly hopes, decay.
But, dear friend, there is an album,
Full of leaves of snowy white,
Where no name is ever tarnished,
But forever pure and bright.
In that Book of Life, God's Album,
May your name be penned with care:
And may all who do here write,
Have their names forever there."
from Seven Hundred Album Verses, c 1883
J.S.Ogilvie