The one with 2 cool pieces

October 9th.
Back to the grindstone. The store has survived quite well without me. I must thank Tobin, Ann, Kate, and Cayce for filling in while I was gone. You all are amazing!

Here are a couple of gorgeous antiques I found since I got back. I would love to keep them myself, but mama needs to pay the bills. A big beautiful pine chest on chest, and an insanely cute and functional pine secretary.
Double click to see larger images. Update - both sold

The one where I am home from Texas the 1st time

8 days, almost 4000 miles, and more antiquing than even I can handle. We are home! Darling boyfriend has made reservations for spa nite tommorrow for us! What a sweetie, I am blessed.

The one where we miss our animals

Palm Springs, almost home! No time to stay and play, though, we miss our families.

The one with the cool bug

Still driving home, somewhere in Arizona. We stop at one of the awful tourist gas stations with no gas pumps for a bathroom break and run in. On the way out, I look down and see a really big bug eating a dead bug just like him. I should not have pointed it out to Jessie. The car is not close and there are hundreds of these suckers. She turns into a raving lunatic. I should not laugh, bad friend. I guess they bite hard and draw blood. We were lucky, they spared us.

Cottonwood Jessie! On the way back, she would fill up on Red Bulls, put on my cowboy hat and turn into Cottonwood Jess. She was on a mission, driving like nobody's business to get us home. It was pretty scary, I must say. Throughout the next 3 days I saw a lot of CT. It was nice, since I could not talk to her I could actually try and sleep.

The one with the funny and sad sign

Wednesday Morning, Goodbye Round Top! On the way out of town we see this sign. The locals here, they ain't right, God bless 'em. We power through all the way to lovely Las Crusas, NM., and spend the night. In the morning we head straight off again. We decide at the last minute to take the bypass through the Sonoran desert and miss Phoenix traffic. There's gotta be gas stations along the way, right? It's 105 degrees, we're pretty much out of water, and definitely out of gas. Jess is driving, it's so stressful, we don't speak. Cell phone signal comes and goes. (we were NOT pleased with verizon's coverage
this trip, but that's another story). The gauge says 0 miles until empty for 20 miles. We totally made it to the station. We are SO lucky. We are blessed.

The one where we are D-U-N done

We make a very weak attempt, but we've decided we can't shop any more. The best thing about today was Jessie's brisket sandwich "the best brisket I've ever had." See pic of us the with the brisket man. I had ice cream instead. We were going to stay for the "prom" but we are not looking forward to the drive home and want to take our time. Tonight in DT's booth things are mostly the same, but tonight we discover the Mexican food stand. Yummm. The band sounds exactly like Stevie Ray and Double Trouble. We make our plans to pack the trailer early and get on the road.

The one with Armando

Night 3 at Zapp Hall. Last night we met Dave (or Armando), a singer songwriter who currently resides in San Miguel de Allende. He sang on stage between the bands and stole the show. We heard him sing "Blackbird" 4 different ways. Tonight he hung in the booth with us and was our personal jukebox and philosopher. We stayed up until 3am just talking. It was a very nice time. See Dave above. When the antiques fair ended, Danny took Dave home with him and is sort of sponsoring him, he wants to produce a cd for him. I can't wait. We really wanted him to come home with us. I think Santa Cruz is a great venue for his music. But for now he is bringing joy to Austin, Texas.

The one called "day 3 at round top"

Day 3 at Round Top antique fair. Today we ventured a bit further out, and drove down the road a mile. There are many different "fields" where dealers set up, and each has it's own flavor. This was like an upscale shopping district in Dallas. You could find a farm table for $4000.00, a bergere chair for a bit more. These were not even fine antiques. I can see the draw for the rich texas women to come shop here though, they don't have to get thier feet dirty, and they have a good time at the "fair". More power to these dealers if they can get someone to pay that. I did find some good deals though. A pair of 70's Italian sconces that would go in any home, very different and fabulous. Also a midcentury modern steel wire chaise lounge that swivels and rocks. I love it! Above is an item I passed on. It's called "round wee go". Made in 1920, you put an infant in the seat and it spins around. Death trap, but the colors and the style are great!