Anniversary Getaway for Two

My bags are packed waiting by the door and we are ready to escape for 4 days alone to celebrate our anniversary. No kids, no dog, no house and no work for 4 whole days. I cannot quite bring myself to leave the cell phone home though. Someone may need me. I am totally locked to that phone.

I feel almost like I did when we went away when we married. This was not our first marriage but was the most important one since it was one I knew what I was doing. This man I chose with an adult mind knowing all the trials and problems that can attack a marriage. This one I chose knowing full well that the other had been at too early an age and without long knowledge of the groom to be. I learned through bad experiences though and this time I was ready to choose the man of my heart and dreams with my feet firmly on the ground.
This is why I chose James. He is dependable, responsible, and to quote an old Country song, he knew his part. He is handsome too. That never hurts. I am in as much love if not more than the day we said our vows, 17 years ago. Of course there are days when I need some quiet time in my own space and he honors that. He knows me. He lets me be me with no restrictions. He loves me anyway. That is what I would wish for each of you. Enough of that, let's get on with the plans for the escape.

"My happiness depends so much on
What you do!!
I never guess it would be so,
I never knew.

It was to be my own to make,
Or go without--
My happiness, now you can take
A fear, a doubt
A sudden frown, a pout,
And put my gladness out.

My happiness depends on you.
So please, be careful what you do!"
by Mary Carolyn Davies

We will leave here early Sunday morning. We have some stops on the way to check on certain ones who needs some encouragement and extra love before my conscience can let me have fun without guilt. This is how I am. James understands that part of me now.
It has always been in my makeup.

My friend Bette is working the store for me during these few days away. She is great here since she has owned a couple of antique stores herself in the past. Everyone loves her. She is part of my family now.

Swimsuit is also packed just in case it is needed. Looks like it would be heavy if wet since it is wool. Oh well, you know how I like old things. Maybe won't be in the current style but will be ME.

Have I forgotten anything in packing?
Boots, bag, swimsuit, hat, dresses, nighties.
I think I am ready.

Will post when I get back with some pictures of our trip.
I leave with a poem for my husband:

"If I wake, or if I sleep,
Still the memory I keep
Of the tender light that lies
In the depths of those brown eyes,

Be blessings scatter o'er thy way,
My gladsome, joyous, laughing sprite;
Be thy whole life one summer's day
Without the night."

taken from Album Verses
c.1884
Their style is a little different from that day but the message is clear enough, I wish you
joy and happiness. Just kidding with the things I have packed. These are all things I sell here in the store in the antique clothing section.
Lois

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

This is a very important time in our history. This is the time we have to stand up for what we believe. Throughout most of my life I have been able to drift along and
things were taken care of without a lot of effort on my part. As I see things today, we have to each and every day take a stand for our country and for our God who let us stand this long and let us stand this tall. Taller than most nations.
Today, we have people and countries continuing to threaten what we stand for, which has always been God and freedom to worship as we wish. We let these chip away at our freedoms. We let the ACLU work against us instead of for us. We have become complacent, we have become lazy, and we have become easy to manipulate by the media.
This is what I see. This is why I feel it is time to voice my opinion. We did not get to this place in the world on our own without lots of knee bending and prayer to God and not to any earthly king.
We must continue to look to Him for our answers instead of movie idols, movie idol type politicians and people who possess more money than honesty.
So thanks for letting me have the soapbox during this time of celebrating our country's history and independence. Long may we be the nation of freedom. And a nation UNDER GOD.
Today I started out to talk about hot dogs, apple pie and my heart took a different turn.
Happy Fourth of July,
Lois

Huntsville Antique Show 2009 Sept. 19th & 20th.

Come to see what Huntsville Antique Show and Sale is all about.
This is an ongoing show that is held every Sept. except last year due to Hurricane Ike coming through and the FEMA taking over the Walker County Fairgrounds as their operating site.


Weather does not matter as it is held in an air conditioned building with plenty of on site parking, food, and good restrooms.

While here in town check out the 6 antiques stores, many great original restaurants and other sites.
There are several museums here, one being Sam Houston Museum with two of Houston's homes in the grounds.




Sept. 19th & 20th, 2009

Location: Walker Country Fairgrounds
Huntsville TX
web site: www.anitschintime.com
Booth space still available. Pictures are from past show.

I have absolutely nothing to say!!! However,

Sometimes it is best to have nothing to say!!! Yes, true. Today I was expecting a lady to come in to buy a dresser. Then when she did she asked for a discount on this dresser which I had paid way too much for. I said the most I can come down is 10% but she expected me to come down more. . So where do you go from there. She went on her way and I was left to wish I had sold it for less than I had paid???? Business is not fairly balanced many times. Did I lose a sale when we badly needed one? Did I lose out completely? Did she go somewhere else and get a better deal on a dresser that she really did not want? Puzzling.
I have been dreaming of a new tall display cabinet. Yesterday we drove out to a nearby small town when a lady called me to tell me she had this item for sale. She had heard I was looking for one.
Well, we got there and then started trying to remove the item from her storage building and it came apart. It had been wet in a recent rain from the bottom where the storage building leaked. We had not known this. So now, we went all that way and wasted all that time and nothing. They were very nice people. Her husband gave me a bust of a Roman slave that is black and chipped and weird and I plan to redecorate around it in one section of the store. That is funny how one item can make you rethink your whole decor. I will take a picture when this job is done.
As I said, business is very slow. We are hit hard by this recession or whatever it is. I was just sitting out on the street on a bench with a neighboring store owner and friend Kathleen and we were discussing how slow business is. This is something I really enjoy about a small town. Sitting outside chatting, hollering across the street to someone you know, you just don't get that in a large city. Believe me I know.
I have lived many places. This is back home where I began. It was the same at my last location. My friend Diana and I met in the middle of the street to talk, not a busy main street at all. But this is something many people can only dream about.
Today I am reflecting on many things. Life is funny and as another friend says all the time and it begins to get on your nerves after a few million times, "Life is good".

To the left is a small shabby white traveling bird cage from a Paris flea market.
I have just recently became the owner of it. The door has a little metal bird on it.
There are drawers in the back for removal of seed and stuff.

To the right is the French perfume display that I use to show off wedding cake toppers
that are for sale here. Which reminds me that June is fast approaching and a time to decorate with a bridal theme in one of the display windows.

My reflections on Mother's Day

This week has brought rain and rain and some sunshine. I sit here at my desk in the store and think of the millions of things I could be doing if I were not here. Then I remember how I love this place, my store. I worked so many years in the government position until I retired 3 years ago early to be able to have more time off to take my elderly mother to Dr. visits, etc. I am so glad I did that as nothing can replace those hours we spent going to and from Drs. and sitting with her in hospital during her frequent hospital stays.
The picture above is of her on left, my aunt Arlene who is my Dad's sister and best friend of my Mom who introduced her to my Dad, and then my Dad's cousin Jo, who recently died. Mom was about 17 and had just met my Dad but was not to marry for a year more when she was 18. Arlene was 14 and Jo was 15. I would love to have their dresses for my antique clothing boutique here in the store. I guess that period of early 1940's is especially romantic. War was coming, women would be seeking work outside their homes and no longer be just housewives and people in the US would start to move from rural to city to find work. While working for Social Security Adm. for my career and conducting retirement seminars I talked of this period in the 30's and early 40's often as the 30's are when Social Security began. Even now when retired I still connect with those marks in history when this and that happened affecting Social Security. I guess I will until I get dementia and don't remember anymore.
That will be the end of me and my connection to Social Security.
My aunt Arlene is the only one of the three friends who still lives. She lives in Spring and we see her at least once a month. Could run by often when she still lived here but since her husband died we do not get to see her as often because she moved closer to her daughter Kat.
I could become sad looking at the future in their eyes in this picture knowing exactly how their lives turned out. But no, the joy of being young and hoping for a wonderful life was there for them. They had that and now two of them are no more, except in our hearts.
I reflect on all this just this week following Mother's Day. Of course I thought of my mom on that day.
She was a great Mom, not that she didn't make mistakes. She did, at least I thought so in those days when I was about the age she was in the picture. But as you age you see what these parents really did for you. They molded our thinking, our hopes and yes, even our fears. But they did so with only love in their hearts for us.
That is why today I remember those 6 months we had after I retired before her death with joy. They were hard at times, me trying to push a wheelchair up hill from one Dr. office to another. She told me I was the weakest person who had ever pushed a wheelchair and maybe it was true, but she also knew I was there trying to help her and she trusted me enough to say that. I miss her. I would not ever want her to have to return and suffer more. I am happy with her in Heaven.
Happy Mother's Day, MOM.
Lois

And to the right is copy of an old 1940's pattern that a person could write in and request to be sent in the mail.
Reminded me of their dresses above.

And as usual for me a quote from Seven Hundred Album Verses:

"Age and Youth both have their dreams,
Youth looks at the possible, age at the
probable."
no author c 1884

May is the best month of all!

How can I tell you how wonderful it was standing on the street in front of my store and seeing all the quilts waving in the air around the Courthouse Square, from the courthouse and other storefronts here in Huntsville. This is my favorite time of the year here. There is something about this time, plants in bloom, even with the bluebonnets having done their thing for the year as well as the azaleas who put on quite a show this year. This was last Saturday that we had the annual Airing of the Quilts. This is the largest quilt show in Texas and if you have not been, then put it on your calendar for next May, always the first Saturday.
But hey, this was just one event. There were 3 going on last weekend here so there was something for all.
The Airing, an antique tractor show, and the Sam Houston Folk Festival on the museum grounds plus a fly-in at the local airport and shuttle to and from other events for those arriving by air.
But now to get back to business as usual, we have to wait until July for another event on the Courthouse Square, and our then our annual Antique show and sale September 19 through the 20th at the Walker County Fairgrounds. This was called off last year due to Hurricane Ike with the FEMA people taking over the Fairgrounds for their own activities. If you are interested in a booth it is not too soon or late to book. Contact Kathleen at 936 436-0265 or email www.anitschintime.com and she will give you the information and sign you up for a booth. This year we are expecting many additional sellers who have heard of the show here. There are usually about 100 booths but this year there are more expected. This is an antique-only show. There will be no cheap imports like some shows have turned into.
Huntsville has so much to offer. We have B&B's, hotels, stores and
several museums: the Sam Houston Museum with several Sam Houston homes, the state prison museum, Veteran's museum, and more. We have some great restaurants here. The best in my book is the Homestead on 19th Street next to the museum. It is in an old dog trot log cabin. The food is excellent.

Come and check us out. Spend a weekend and decide if you want to join our antique show and sale in September. There are also 6 antique stores and some stores have over 40 dealers in them. I do not know why more people have not discovered this town about 70 miles north of Houston, 200 south of Dallas, and 35 miles from College Station. A most central location for traveling in Texas. It is quiet and sleepy enough to relax. in Huntsville. We are a few miles from Lake Livingston for those who like to boat, ski or fish. Take a look at some scenes of the lake. See what I mean about the beauty of Lake Livingston shown in 2 pics above?

I am working on some areas of my store to recover from the big sales day on Saturday during Airing of the Quilts. Sold some stuff and now needing to show some different things. I love ironstone especially English. Can never keep enough of it on hand.
clocks of all kinds interest me
And of course the old apothecary jars and other drug store items. Almost all of these came from a friend in Vermont. Notice the old Cardui Women's Almanac in the black boot. Some dust still on these items. Hard to keep dust at bay in a store like this.
Below a page from an old book here that I would like to restore but probably won't. So many wonderful illustrations of children in it. Faded, aged but definitely still beautiful.
This old man is one of two tin paintings we have: nicknamed Jesse and Frank James at the Estate Auction where they were purchased. They have seen hard times here in Huntsville.




And the French doll with phone and Eiffel Tower watercolor in the background. He has been with us awhile but now have a buyer for him and looks like I will give him up.
He is going to a good home.

My friend Bette has been having an estate sale at a building across the Square from me on certain Saturdays in April and May. One more to go from what I have heard. This lady who owned these items had over 100 quilts so this is the reason that one of the Estate Sale dates was last Saturday with all the quilters in town. There will be at least one more sale. Bette has owned several antique stores in town but now rents from me after downsizing. She is a great lady.
So if you are out on a hunt for antiques or vintage junk come by to see us in Huntsville. You are welcome here!!!! Lois


" As a slight token of esteem,
Accept these lines from me:
So plain and simple, they do seem
Unworthy such as thee,
But soon these traced lines will fade
And disappear--'tis their doom.
May you, unlike them, be arrayed
In a perpetual bloom."
from Seven hundred Album Verses c 1884

Warrenton/Roundtop Antique Show and Sale

Early on Sunday morning, March 29 my husband and I headed out for Roundtop/Warrenton Antique Shows. The weather was strange, windy, cold and later in the day it was almost hot.
I was very excited since I had missed the last 2 shows. With a full time job running my antique store I do not often get to see the booths set up by other dealers and enjoy the results of their hard work. I do not have the energy left in me to do what they do.
We spent most of the day at Zapp Hall in Warrenton which is my favorite anyway but one reason we were there this particular day was for Theresa's blog party and the book signing by Sue Whitney for her new book, JUNK BEAUTIFUL, OUTDOOR EDITION. We were not the only ones from Huntsville who were there, also were Bette, Marion, and us at the start of it, in addition to Theresa and her husband Cruz. Her husband had built the booth for Sue to sit, sell books and sign those books. Here I am to the right with Sue in her little special booth. I am on the left and she on the right. She is the slim one. Theresa's booth was very clever as well with a pretty table display of eggs and moss and I do not think I got a picture of this but
I am sure she will have one on her blog.





Some shots of the blog party at the beginning:
Theresa below in picture on right. Wearing the blue shirt and plaid shorts. Always a smile for everyone. That is Theresa. In the second row on right is Cruz, her wonderful husband. Man in blue and white Hawaiian shirt with silver hair is my husband James. Shown with Marion who is a genius with decorating and primitive style. You should see her house to know what I mean here.



















Man in the white hat and tee is Theresa's husband Cruz. Always smiling. After the blog party kicked off we wandered around to various other booths which you can see below. This one caught my eye.
And this bed was heavenly. Made you want to dive right in.



We also visited the booth of Carolyn Westbrook. Hers is always one of my favorites and I cannot wait to see what she has done with white. All shades of white and black. It is something!!! She even dresses in shades of white. I asked her to take a picture with me and she is always very kind to do things like that. When she came to my store months ago, I could not find one of her
books which I wanted her to sign and she made another trip back to the store after other business in town was completed to see if I had found it and as I had she signed it for me. I was won over by her act of going the extra for her book buyers.













Got around to the Junk Gypsys booth and posed next to their van. Their booth was next door. Will try to add pic of that one. Lost in my pics somewhere.
Overall this day was great and I would like to thank Theresa for including us. It was also good to spend a little time with other friends from our town and meet many others. I recognized their blog names but not their faces. Food was great too.

LA BAHIA SHOW
After this we went on to La Bahia to see what they had this year. I like the atmosphere there for some reason. It is in an old German dance hall which is painted white. Across the highway is an old abandoned farm. I tried to get a picture of the old original dovecote at this farm but it was just too far.
We have 2 doves at home and I have been dreaming of a dovecote to entice them to stay with us.
Some of the displays at La Bahia.


I did not take many pictures of the indoor exhibits here as these architectural items hold my interest. But inside the man with the zillion pieces of blue and white china was there again. Wonderful antique pieces of all names and brands. I had bought from him before I had the store when I was only obsessing on my own collecting of blue and white transferware.
Also the person who sells the beautiful European white linen items was there again. I could spend hours in her booth but husband was ready to move on. Linens do not appeal to him and he had been good long enough.
We were there when it was not too busy so there was no waiting to see what you wanted to see.


To the right is the man of whom I was speaking, my husband James who would rather look at old wagons which were strewn around the grounds than European white linen. He is very supportive of my dreams mostly.
Except for a dovecote,
Except for a greenhouse/sun room,
Except for a herb garden,
Except I want too much. Right?
He is very good to me so what do I have to gripe about. I can live dovecote-less, sunroom-less,
and herbgarden-less if I have to.


Speaking of angels, this booth at La Bahia was the best of show for La Bahia I thought. Do not know to whom it belonged, no one was there. But this is best thought out booth, the prettiest of all there.I had a comment that gave me the name of the booth and it is Seed Box Antiques. Wonderful job and thanks for the comment letting me know who did this work.