Guns, Antiques, And Chinese Food, Too!

I decided we needed a play day yesterday so we drove out to the Volusia County Fairgrounds to check out the gun show. Back in the day, I used to go to a lot of gun shows, and I even put my own on for a while. It’s been quite some time since I’ve gone to a gun show, and I don’t know how soon I’ll be going back to another one. I was actually a little bored seeing the same stuff I have seen on display tables at gun shows from coast to coast for several decades. Walking around yesterday, I saw some interesting firearms, but nothing I wanted to take home with me.

Well, to be honest, there were a couple I wanted to take home with me, but not at the prices they were asking for them. I saw a lot of guns identical to ones I’ve owned over the years selling for very high prices. Forget gold and silver, or giving your money to the shysters in the stock market, if you want a real investment, put your money into quality firearms. I saw a 10mm Colt Delta Elite pistol selling for $1,000. I bought the identical gun for $350 a little over 20 years ago and sold it for $500 a couple of years later. Now I wish I still had it.

When we left the gun show we drove to Deland and wandered through some antique malls. Our favorite antique mall there is a large shop called Marketplace At Rivertown. The staff is super friendly, they have three floors of goodies to browse, and we always find something interesting. This time around Miss Terry found a couple of small things she was looking for, including a neat old hand meat grinder and a miniature spinning wheel.

From there we drove back to the Daytona Beach area and hit another antique mall we like to stop into now and then, called Our Old Stuff. I’m always looking at old printers’ type cases, which are wooden cases divided into compartments to hold lead type from the letterpress days. I learned how to set type working in a newspaper print shop at an age when most kids were learning how to play baseball.

I never did learn much about baseball, but on a tour of Mystic Seaport in Connecticut a few years ago I proved I can still set type by hand. The person who normally works in the old newspaper exhibit was out sick and his replacement had no idea how to do it, so I gave him a quick demonstration that impressed him and Miss Terry. Actually, I was impressed, too, because I had no idea I still remembered any of the skills I picked up so long ago.

We have seen a lot of old type cases at different antique shops around the country, and I kept thinking I wanted to get a couple of them to use as shadow boxes or whatever. Mostly just for the nostalgia of them. But they have always been overpriced or beat up, or both. But this time around I lucked out and found two very nice cases, and they were priced lower than any I’ve seen anywhere. Then, the shop’s owner offered to knock a considerable amount off the already low price for them. Sold! Now I just need to figure out what to put in them and where to hang them.

By then we were both hungry, so on the way home we stopped at Leanh’s Chinese Restaurant for dinner. Terry had a salmon and black bean plate with baby bok choy that she said was delicious, while I went for my regular order, the shrimp fried rice. It is always outstanding. Besides the fact that the food is excellent at Leanh’s, we are always impressed with the service. Unlike many restaurants where if you need a refill on your drink or something else, you have to wait for your server to come by and hope to catch their eye, at Leanh’s every employee, as well as the owner, are always on the lookout for any customer who may need anything at all, stopping by your table to ask if you want a refill of your drink, if the food is okay, or if there’s anything else they can do for you. That’s impressive in this day and age when most people want a job but do anything they can to avoid actually working!

Back at home, we were both tired, but in a very comfortable, relaxed way, and we didn’t do much except watch a little bit of television before it was time to write the blog and get ready for bed. A perfect end to a perfect day with my best friend.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for a campground rating, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day.

To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – I did a cartwheel the other day, thinking it was like riding a bike. It’s not.