Spring in the South

Spring is short in the deep south. We usually see a week of beautiful weather and it is gone. This year we have had an extra long stretch of spring temperatures. These mild temps are perfect for treasure hunting and poking through the flea markets that dot the southern landscape.

On a Saturday morning in April, we headed north on I-65. We soon left the interstate for better hunting grounds - the backroads. We took W-158 and then N-45 to Citronelle. We stopped at Citronelle Furniture and Appliance. It was closed! Buster says this little gem has tons of dinnerware and I was looking forward to perusing the patterns. Oh, well. Maybe another day.

Next, we went to little tiny Toxey on Hwy17. We stopped at Nelson's Fabric and Variety Store. This place was a goldmine. As long as you do not mind tightly packed aisles that you might have to turn sideways to squeeze through, you could spend hours and still not see everything! Linens, and quilts, and dinnerware, and the list goes on and on. I found some Russel Wright salad plates for a dollar a piece, a green glass salad plate, and an oval platter and cup - also green. Do you think maybe I like green?

Six Russel Wright bread plates - Iroquois Casual in ripe apricot - $1 ea

Green glass bread plate - 50 cents

Granada oval platter - $2

Granada coffee cup - 50 cents

We were getting hungry and there wasn't much to choose from. We stopped at Hardee's in Butler and had tacos. A word of advice - if you want good tacos, go to a taco place. Buster did enjoy his chocolate milk shake.

We started toward Linden on E-10. We found a new place to stop. In what looked like a converted service station was a pleasant little shop called Scavenger's. It is only open on Saturdays. Minette Henson, the owner, had arranged antique and vintage items on large open shelves around the edge and down the middle of the shop. No squeezing down these aisles! The items were a priced for a variety of budgets, from odds and ends to the serious collector. I found a cute little round green planter, a yellow teapot, and two figurines. I don't usually go for figurines but they look right at home with the green and yellow that I love. I would be interested to know more about the figurines - I am thinking they are from the 1940's but they are in perfect shape so they could be reproductions. They have no markings so if anyone has a clue as to their origins, please let me know in comments.

Round green planter - USA - $4

Yellow teapot - no markings - $5

Two green and yellow figurines - no markings - $4 for both

Well, for some reason, we didn't find a lot of places open today but we did end up with a few finds. And most of all, it was a great day for a ride - On the Backroads with Buster.