Long Weekend

With a three day weekend, we are back on the road looking for those beautiful fall colors...and of course some bargains as an added bonus.

We started toward Mississippi and ended up in Duckhill. Barbra and Ida run a little shop called The Thrift Den on South State Street. I found a couple of little gems there - a clear glass juice pitcher with a starburst design for $4, and four little dimpled custard cups for $2, also in clear glass. Barbra and Ida are a joy to chat with, and will definitely work you a deal on their already reasonable prices. Be sure and check out the items inside the little shop, as well as the tables outside.

 

 

We were back on the road and stopped in Elliott at a little roadside barbeque stand and thrift store. The barbeque smelled divine but it was a little early for lunch. Buster did spy a green glass bowl that he snatched up for me for $1. Won't it look nice filled with green and black olives?

 

 

 

On to Granada and Another Man's Treasure! As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I have a weakness for restaurant ware, especially pieces that have an air brushed decorative edge. I found three pieces in an absolutely beautiful blue! I have never come across this blue before. The two round bread plates and one small oval came to $6.

 

 

 

We traveled on to Abbeville and found The Abbeville Flea Market open for the last day this season. Unfortunately, they are not sure if they are going to reopen in the spring. That is such a shame as they have very high quality goods at very reasonable prices. I didn't find much to catch my eye but Buster spotted a hammered aluminum tray that I had missed. Look at the details in the tray handles and the fine lines in the tulips, and for only $4!

 

 

 

The uppermost stop on our trip was to Lobelville, Tennessee. A new shop was opening - 72 N. Main Antiques - the name and the address. The owner was working on the interior arrangement and not really open but let us browse around just the same. I found a lovely yellow dove vase for $16. Her shop is a true delight and I cannot wait to see the shop filled as her taste is very similar to mine.

 

 

 

 

 

As we started back down, we stopped in Bellmeade Antiques located in Franklin, Alabama. I didn't think this was really our kind of stop but Buster convinced me to get out and stretch my legs. I am glad I did. I found six Ballerina Ware coffee cups. The cups were 50% off so they came to $6. I love those 50's colors of burgundy, gray, yellow, and green.

 

 

 

Now for the find of the weekend! At John's Trading Post, a little open-air stand on the side of the road in Guntersville, I found Marcrest Daisy Dot pottery and Russel Wright! Four Daisy Dot beer mugs (which I use for coffee), a bowl, and a coffee cup came to $6. That works out to $1 each! Amazing considering that I have seen the mugs for $18 in antique stores. The Russel Wright divided vegetable bowl in blue was $2! Also amazing! Russel Wright is my favorite designer. In addition, I found a small mixing bowl for $1. Everything was covered in dirt and full of leaves but, at these prices, I don't mind cleaning things up a bit.

 

 

 

 

Be sure and say hello to Delbert when you stop. He is really a character and can tell some stories. Buster chatted with him and got in a few laughs while I browsed. I uncovered two matching 8x10 frames before I left. They were also $1 each.

 













That was our last stop before heading south. We had a long way to go but we enjoyed our long weekend...On the Backroads with Buster.

P.S. The fall colors were already past. We could not seem to time it right this year.

Go West!

We decided to shake it up a bit. We usually head north when we take off on a trip so we jumped on I-10 and headed west. Buster had heard of a flea market just off the interstate reported to be the biggest in Mississippi. We thought we would go check it out.

After an hour and a half, we left the interstate and immediately saw the signs for the flea market. The surroundings were very pleasant - trees, benches on the front walkways, and canvases at the back of each booth to block the sun. We started down the first aisle.

My first find was a Russel Wright coffee cup in blue. (Iroquois Casual)

A bargain at $1!

Soon I came across a whole bag of red buttons for $2 to add to my craft room. Buttons are so expensive that when I come across a good buy, I snatch them up.

Next, Buster came across his find for the day - two little individual creamers. Remember when your mom and dad ordered coffee in a restaurant and the creamer came in little individual servings? My mom didn't use cream and always let me drink it. Funny how the little things are special memories now.

Hall individual creamers, brown with white interior

One more fun find - a green and yellow platter to add to my plate wall in the bathroom. Yellow chrysanthemums on a white background - I don't have a clue to the pattern but it will look beautiful with my other yellow and green plates. Also, the platter was only $1! I don't think I have ever paid a dollar for a platter in perfect condition.

We headed out of the flea market and stopped at the vegetable booth on the way out. The vegetables were no special deal so we got back on the road.

We took a right and started for the beach road. We had not been on the beach road since Hurricane Katrina and didn't expect to see much of anything. We were pleasantly surprised to see more houses than we had imagined would be there. We stopped at an ice cream shop with a little girl's birthday party happened to be in progress. As we enjoyed our ice cream, another little girl came through the door about fifteen or twenty minutes later. She put one hand on her hip and looked at her mom and said, "oh, great, we are late" before marching back to the party. It was just so unexpected, and she looked about fifteen at that moment instead of five!

We stopped at a thrift store. Buster had just asked me if Daisy Dot Dinnerware had saucers. We didn't have any and had never seen any on the road. I really didn't know if any had ever been made. I was shocked to see one right as I walked into the store. For some reason, the store separated the saucers from the cups. I walked to the back of the store and spotted the matching cup. I thought it odd that there was only one cup and one saucer but I was happy to find something that I hadn't found before.

Daisy Dot, Marcrest, cup and saucer

We hit a number of different little shops but you don't find many bargains on the beach road. Time to head for home and the end of another adventure, On the Backroads with Buster.

Nice Day For a Ride

The weather was beautiful and we decided to go for a ride. We headed toward the bayou and soon hit the backroads. Unfortunately, the day was Sunday and there wasn't much open. We finally found one of Buster's favorite backroad haunts and it was open. The place has no name but has a "come on in" sign on the door. Buster and I looked around outside for a few minutes. A one-eyed, half-grown cat lounged on a table in the sun. As we prowled through the bargains, we startled the cat from his nap and he made a bee-line for the open door.

I followed the cat in and met the proprietor taking her dog out. She advised me to come on in and start looking around while she took her dog out for a bathroom break because he was "about to float".  The place had a faint odor of cat urine but the large selection of vintage dinnerware pulled me in. The owner soon returned and chased the cat out, telling him, "you know you aren't suppose to be in here". She chatted continuously as I browsed through the displays of dinnerware. Most of what I found was not too unusual but I did find one piece of Starburst. The Granada isn't too out of the ordinary  but I did find another piece of Star Glow for my holiday collection.

Notice the rich brown of the Autumn Harvest interior

I love the curves in this line of Taylor Smith and Taylor

This Granada bowl in Harvest Gold has a slight flair.

Granada creamer

Another view

A Star Glow dinner plate

Starburst  from Franciscan is so 1950's!

As I searched among the tables of merchandise, the owner chatted with Buster. She suggested that we head to two Mississippi towns with lots of thrift stores. We payed for our bargains and headed out again.

Once we had traveled for an hour or so we were really getting hungry. As we entered one of the small towns, we passed a restaurant with a packed parking lot, always a good sign.  We squeezed the little BMW into a parking spot that everyone else passed up. The place served Mexican food and was packed with the after-church crowd. The food was delicious but Buster was a bit put-out that they ran out of rice. After a nice meal, we started wandering around the town. The only thing that looked half-way promising was an antique store but it turned out that it was out of business.

We started out of town and looked for Laurel but we didn't have any better luck there. We turned south and toward home. We had no excitement in the way of fabulous finds but it was a great day for a ride.

And that is what it is all about...

Backroads in Missippissi

Another beautiful weekend and another chance to hit the backroads. We throw a few things in the BMW and head toward Mississippi. We start out on Hwy 45 and come upon one yard sale after another. Some of these sales look like permanent sales and I have to wonder if the recession is forcing people to try to come up with ways to make a few extra dollars here and there.

We came across a lot of interesting things. An old fashioned tricycle that had been made into a wine rack. A table with one broken leg. Lots, and lots, and lots of Christmas decorations. (I hope I remember this next time I think I need more Christmas decorations.) Many, varied, and interesting things made from horse shoes. The woman at the horse shoe yard sale followed Buster around so closely that I think she thought he was going to grab 30 or 40 lbs of cast iron pots and make a run for it.

After several hours and no luck, we decided to change highways. We turned onto Hwy 15 and found lots of uninhabited land. We finally came to the tiny town of Louin and found a junk store with a Rummage Sale sign. Three elderly gentlemen were visiting on the front porch and we scooted past them to walk inside a wonderland of junk. Oh, what a rummage sale! Rummaging would be the only way to find anything!

I stayed in the main room and Buster ventured off to the right. The piles were unbelieveable. Ninety percent of this stuff needed to head to the junk yard. Cardboard boxes in the back were tumbled on top of each other in a stack ten feet tall. I squeezed down one aisle and up the other. I stopped for a minute and heard a rustle next to me. I thought, "That's funny. I am not moving." I saw a long skinny tail slide along a box, and then a whole mouse, and then another one. Okay. Time to go find Buster. I am out of there!

Buster's rummaging is more productive. He found a wonderful large white speckled bowl with blue stars. The manufacturer is Royal but I don't know the pattern. The elderly gentleman wanted $2 for the bowl but would let me have everything on the table for $75. I declined the whole table offer but did take the bowl. We did shake off a few mouse droppings before wrapping it and putting it in the BMW. As I finished my purchase, Buster chatted with the men on the front porch. As most men want to know, they ask Buster, "How fast will it go?" Of course, Buster told a few tales of his adventures in the BMW. (I think they grow each time he tells them.) The men enjoyed the stories and had a few laughs before we headed out.



Love those stars! Royal Celeste

 We put the top down before we got back on the road. The day was cooling down and we decided to head back home. We took I20 back to Hwy 45 and headed south. The perfect end to a perfect day.