We Needed A Play Day

We needed a play day, and we decided yesterday was it. So instead of writing or weaving, or any of the things we have been doing a lot of lately, we spent the day browsing a couple of the antique malls here in Elkhart.

This is always an interesting experience for me, because I see so much stuff that I never thought of as antiques since they were a part of my life. Glass milk bottles with pasteboard stoppers that got delivered to your door every morning? Yes, I remember them well. Rabbit ears for a television? Not only do I remember them, I remember wrapping tinfoil on the ends of them because it was supposed to give us better reception. Matchbook covers with advertising on them? I had an uncle that collected them long before they were collectables. Rotary dial telephones? Oh yeah! And on and on and on.

I thought antiques were supposed to be things like butter churns and spinning wheels, but as it turns out, all of these memories from my childhood now fall into the same category. You know what that means, right? I, too, am an antique! That’s why when we are in those kind of places I never stand still for very long. I’m afraid somebody will buy me and take me home. and then they’d find out how much it costs to feed me and bring me right back. That would be kind of embarrassing.

Miss Terry and I were talking about that yesterday afternoon. This is the year we both turn 64. How the hell did we get that old! We sure don’t feel it. Well, okay, there are times in the morning when I feel it. I get out of bed and I hear myself making those noises my father used to make. But in our minds, we’re still kids. And if we can avoid it, we want to keep it that way. We may grow old, but we never want to grow up.

The first place we stopped at had some interesting stuff, but nothing said “take me home.” But at the second one, a giant place called Heart City Resale Mall which has everything from antiques to used tools, sporting goods, and more, we hit the jackpot.

I’m always looking for spinning wheels, weaving looms, shuttles, yarn, and other fiber arts things that I think Terry might be interested in. I found a little nook just filled with all kinds of yarn. She was off somewhere looking at old cooking utensils, and I went and found her and took her back to show her what I had discovered.

Of course, a lot of it was run-of-the-mill “junk yarn” that you can find at any WalMart or Michael’s, but there were some real gems there, too. This is what we came away with. Among this horde are mohair, cashmere, alpaca, silk/wool, and cotton/wool blends. Terry said that all of it together was priced at less than a fourth of retail, so she was one happy camper. Or should I say, one happy weaver.

Since I’d such a good job finding the yarn for her, she indulged me with a stop at Long John Silver’s for dinner. We love seafood, though this doesn’t quite qualify compared to the places we go on the Pacific Northwest coast, or down in Florida. But as fast food goes, I think it’s pretty darn good. It’s definitely not Terry’s favorite, but we usually eat at one of them a couple times a year.

Back at home, I had a lot of emails to catch up on, and that took much of the rest of the evening. Today will be a stay-at-home day. I want to get back to work on my book, and Terry wants to put a project on her loom. And I heard a rumor that there might be some freshly baked bread in my future, too. Yummy!

Thought For The Day – I don’t know how to act my age. I’ve never been this old before.

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