The Gatchellville Store

This past Saturday, Erik and I jumped on the bike for a ride.  Down RT 74 south, towards Brogue, right at Muddy Creek Forks, towards the very small town of New Park.  What a gorgeous ride!  The sun was shining, the light was perfect on the fields.  Our destination?  The even smaller village of Gatchellville.  Why you ask?  An antique store!  And what a store!

Jess and Matt visited it in April, and couldn't wait to tell me about it.  Filled with such an array of treasures, and all decently priced!  Buttons, French postcards, china, old advertisements, and the list goes on and on!  I bought three bowls, two cards of buttons made in France, three postcards, a little blue and white creamer, and an intact "Arabian Nights", illustrated by Maxfield Parrish!  You could spend hours in this store and still not see it all!

The building itself is an antique. Originally a country store that stocked mercantile items, it is the same as when it closed 40 years ago, with peeling paper and paint.  It is truly like walking back in time, and just the way I like an antique store to be. Comfortable.  I felt like I could draw up a chair on the front porch and just watch the day pass by.  Linda, one of the proprietors, was so lovely and gracious!  We explained we were on the bike, and she wrapped everything for the ride home, so everything arrived intact!

I couldn't wait to get some fresh strawberries to photograph in the one bowl.  A nice shade of translucent green,  red berries, just stunning!  Matt gave me a hand in a couple of the shots.  Have I ever said how nice it is to have him around?

shiny silver things...

Lately, I find myself being drawn to silver.

When my middle child, Jacquie was small, glittery things just fascinated her. It was a source of constant amusement to me, as I was the complete opposite. It must have been buried pretty deep in me, but now I am making up for lost time.

Several weekends ago, I had the pleasure of antiquing with Erik, and our friends, Greg and Dee. I found this awesome silver plated champagne bucket. So, I bought it. With the full intent of reselling it. After all, what was I going to do with a silver bucket? Brought it home, set it on the dining room table. Everyone who saw it questioned, "What are you going to do with that?"

So I started thinking...tree branches with crows, and pumpkins at Halloween, old glass ornaments stacked in it for Christmas, and the list continued. I started searching the internet for images to spark my imagination. No luck. So I stuffed it with moss, a bird nest, and a forced bulb.

Erik says "thought you were going to sell it?" Maybe next year.

a trip to Baltimore...

Yesterday, we took a trip to Baltimore. Our neighbor Earl, treated us and his daughter Ashley to a evening concert at the Hippodrome Theater, featuring Celtic Woman.

We decided to truly make an evening of it, and figured on getting dinner before the show. I found a lovely little restaurant, Luna del Sea, within walking distance of the theater.

We arrived earlier than I had expected, but were promptly seated. My dinner was Chicken Francaise, and it was, quite frankly, amazing. Lemon, butter, parsley, and delicate. Erik had mussels in garlic sauce as an appetizer, and a crab trio for his platter. Again, he said it was perfect! After a luscious dessert of German chocolate cake, and coffee, off we went to the show.

Having never seen this group, I had no expectations. If I had, they would have exceeded them. The fiddle player, Mairead Nesbitt, had an energy that was incredible. Being a big fan of Irish fiddle, I would say I enjoyed her performance the most. However, Chloe Agnew's beautiful "Ave Maria" was phenomenal. If you ever have the opportunity to see these young ladies perform, you should most certainly take advantage of it. A show well worth seeing.

The upside of late winter...

Wow, what a beautiful day here in south central PA! This morning, on my way to work, I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items. I also stopped in at Stauffer's under the guise of looking for a specific something. Truthfully, I just wanted to go in and smell Spring.
You know that dirt, earthy smell that greenhouses get when the first annuals and perennials show up? Yup, it was there all right.
Only had a couple of minutes to spare, so I traipsed around and looked at the oxalis, and the primroses, and the pansies. Got my fix for the day. Thursday I think I will go back for a longer visit to buy some pansies for my window boxes.
I like the way they smile in late winter.

a wedding gift

29 years ago, I received from my Aunt Caroline, a wedding gift. It is a silver tray that I promptly put in a cabinet and forgot about for the next 25 years. When doing a serious house cleaning, I found it. Angie's friend at the time, Kayla, remarked how beautiful it was and why did I never use it? I couldn't find a good answer. I tried all the obvious. It was too fancy for me. Impractical for small children. I didn't do such a good job trying to explain. Kayla thought I should clean it up and use it. So I did. I cleaned it up, bought doilies for on it, so I could serve cookies on it every now and then. Then I decided that it should be out everyday. So I dug up some old trinkets and candles. It sits on my Hoosier cabinet 365 days a year. It reminds me of a lot of things. A young girl getting married. An Aunt that I don't get to see enough. That life is too short not to use the good china.

renovations...

So... little by little, and room by room, we have been refreshing our house. Next up is our bedroom. Since we painted it about 2 years ago, we are keeping the color scheme. The ceiling is being re-done, and we are installing a ceiling fan. (yes, I know how these are hated by decorators, but common sense is going to prevail here!) New carpet, and new bedding, and an overall making sense of everything!