Happy Thanksgiving

Getting ready for Thanksgiving Day is not so easy when you work all day Wednesday and have to work again on Friday.

I am finding I cannot any longer just do it all!!!!!!!!!

That old song, I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, and

never let him forget he is a man, well, I guess I am a little too frayed at the edges to do it all any more.

I need help!!!  Yes, I have admitted it now.

So where does this help come from? And when?

Let me tell you, yesterday my grandson who is now 20 called to ask if I am having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Well, where did this question come from?  I have had the entire extended family at my house for over 20 years now. Since Mom got past doing it. Since she sold her home and moved to a smaller one in town that did not have enough room for all of us. There are 4 daughters in  family including me. All with children and now grandchildren.

I could not believe though that he had not just assumed as he had in all past years that it would be at my house of course.  He had been thus far to 19 Thanksgiving Dinners at my house.

I asked him did he forget this. He said I didn't get an invitation. I said I do not , nor have ever sent out invitations to Thanksgiving Dinner.  Family just know this. He said ok and he was asking because a friend had invited him if he had no where to go.  Strange. My motherly mind started working overtime here and I wondered is this friend female?  I would not ask this though but just said see you Thanksgiving and bring a guest if you like.

This year I am not quite up to it though.  All other years I have prepared  most of the meal.  One sister brings her specialities, homemade yeast rolls which I dearly love and are from my Mom's recipe.  Oh course she would be a good cook since she majored in cooking in college.  Well, almost majored in it since her original ambition was to become a home economics teacher.  She did not know this was a dying breed of teacher and when graduated there were no positions available so she went to work for Immigration instead.

But I mostly made this meal for my family.  It was my gift to them.  Each year we all scatter for Christmas to our individual homes so grands can come there and play with their gifts without the mix with cousins and so on.

By this time I would have prepared all my pies.  NO I have not done so yet.  That is on the agenda for tonight.

By now I should have washed the Reynolds Spode China which I love for Thanksgiving dinner and especially since my maiden name was Reynolds, this is why I collected this china and enough for all Reynolds clan to sit down together with the same china. Yes, I have a ton of it.It is wonderful for this holiday since the colors are all in fall colors.

This is the one time of the year many of the younger ones actually eat at a proper table with china, sterling and crystal on tablecloth and with cloth napkins. Do I think this is something they should be required to do?  No, I am no snob.  I have always liked to expose my kids to things that were good for them and from the past. This is the old

history lover in me coming out.

Here is a picture of my family at Thanksgiving after all the other family had left.

So for this year, I am on my own preparing the dinner with a little help from others.

James is always a good sport and helper in the kitchen. He is always smiling too.

I am thankful for him especially.

When we sit down together, although not at one table but in close proximity to each other on Thanksgiving Day we will all bow first to give thanks to our God without Whom none of this year's successes and accomplishments would be possible.

Blessings to you on this Thanksgiving.

Lois

Black Friday

Today I am posting to copy others who have gone with Black Friday. No other reason. Oh, and it is fun.
(The picture on my header is from the front table here in the store decorated for Thanksgiving. )

To the left is an old Victorian hat in the store here and to the right is a duo of old black stone necklaces. They are both from 1900 to 1920.    In the middle is a 1800's black mourning dress which appears almost a charcoal here but in real light it is as black as black can

       can be. And the next one is a c 1910 black velvet dress with a large bow. This one feels so good to touch and is very luxurious looking. With it is a 1930's black handbag with a brass clasp and chain. The chair is part of a parlor set here in the store that has original silk velvet fabric on it and carved angels. It is truly a beautiful set of settee, rocker and arm chair and 2 side chairs. From another place in time.

This is my contribution to Black Friday. Hope your Friday is going well.
With Thanksgiving coming up next week I will probably not post until I get all decorated for Christmas
and will show some scenes of my Christmas window displays.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family time together.
Lois

An End of an Era

The article about sums up the history of this old commissary building in Trinity Texas, the place where I was born. My father worked here when I was a child during the time it was an egg company. He was the manager of the plant. But previously in my baby days he worked at the sawmill operations. I can still remember the logs floating in the mill pond when I was a young child. They milled the old Texas longlead pine and these trees had some size to them.
When he was with the egg company, called Sherwood Farms he managed the facility and we were allowed to come in with him on weekends if he needed to check for a teletype or something from the main office in Houston. I loved the smell of the old wood in that building which would have been old even then. To this day I love to walk into an old house or building and the scents are reminescent of those days to me.
What Sherwood Farms did is this:  they had a series of private contracted chicken farms and these chickens exclusively laid eggs for Sherwood Farms, who sterilized the eggs, graded the eggs into sizes, and packaged to ship out. Dad's job was dealing with the private owners and overseeing the plant operations as well.
I saw my first teletype machine here at Sherwood Farms. The office there stuck with me and in some way prepared me for my first job later on before college.
But to get back to the original life of this building. As you can guess the sawmill called originally Thompson's and later Texas Long Leaf used the store for their employees to purchase items they needed and then pay their accounts when they received their paychecks. The owners got rich as lumber barrons and the employees barely survived. But they had jobs and that placed them out in front of the people during that time who did not. This was of course before my time, but being the family historian I asked lots of questions when I was growing up and thankfully retained the answers these years since.
Since Daddy had technical and bookkeeping  knowledge we were not as poor as many of the people were. But Trinity was and is a poor town even to this day. I have not lived there since I graduated high school there but it is only 20 miles away so we are there often to visit the remaining family members who still live there.
This building I recently visited with my aunt and her daughter Lauren and Lauren's son Jared.  We had heard it was coming down and wanted a last visit of a historic old landmark in the small town. We spent the day in Trinity as my aunt lives away also. We had lunch at the local greasy spoon cafe who was serving old southern favorites such as chicken and dumplings and banana pudding. Yes, I succumbed to the lure of having this
local favorite.  It was pretty good but as memories go it did not quite measure  up to Grandma's.
The building was already in stages of decay and I would estimate it would have taken a million dollars to repair it.
Some floors were fallen through. Those stairs I climbed to go to Daddy's office were still standing though at this time. I waded across weeds and was praying not to encounter any snakes but made my way to the office at the top of those stairs where he spent many a day and evening working. My heart was right up in my throat and I was near tears when I decided that was enough for one day.
I left with a small piece of the old Texas Longleaf pine board in my hand that still had some original paint left on it. But I left with a big memory in my heart.
Memories are almost forever.
Lois                                                                    Please do not use my family pictures.

On each Thursday in December other than Christmas Eve, we will be open until 7 pm. All other 5 antiques stores in Huntsville will be as well. There are plenty of activities planned here on the downtown square for December. Check out the Main Street web site or the Chamber of Commerce for additional information.
I would like to mention our new relocated Veterans Museum here in town. They had moved into their new wonderful building and are open for tours and visits. There is a convention room there for large groups and events as well. Huntsville also has the Sam Houston Museum grounds and homes and the Texas prison museum which is really very good.
On Dec. 5 and 6th there are Tours of historical homes in town and on the 5th the annual Christmas Parade.
The Old Town Theater is hosting the Sanders Family Christmas show and many other related events. There will be a movie for kids the day school lets out for Christmas holiday on Dec. 18. We are hoping to bring in snow for the day so they can have a fun day of sledding or sliding in the fresh snow. The snow will be God made snow just not from here locally.

A salute to our Veterans

Today we stop to celebrate our Veterans and what they have contributed to making us the Land of the Free.
Today they are worn, beaten, injured but still supporting the United States of America. No matter your
political preferance or whether you support the current administration or not, today is a day to honor our
Veterans. They did not check first to see what political party was in office before serving in our military forces.
Today put aside these differences for a moment to give our respect for the military today and in the past. They proudly served!!!

My grandfather Frank Murry during his WW 1 days as a soldier. This was when he was very young. He was great fun for a grandfather telling us wonderful stories of his life and people he had known. I have to say he made the summers very interesting when he came to stay with us shortly before his death.
The orange color on the photo is not blood, but just something picked up during the years on the picture. This is the only one we have of him during his soldiering days. 

A WW 1 Uniform picture below is of uniform here in the store 

These two look very comfortable with their situations however we know that was a brief moment out of their lives in the military when they posed for this portrait.

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