weird and wonderful

I don't think I've even introduced you to my corn lamp.

I bought this lamp at a garage sale in Oakville a year ago.
It was $5.

We found the shade at the Christie Antique Show last May for $20.
It's a perfect fit.

The corn lamp is so weird
that we sometimes sit and admire it and say
"that lamp is so weird".

I love it.

curious

Fella spotted this amazing lamp at the Christie Antiques Show.

At first I thought it was hideous.

But then I took a closer look and saw how incredible it was.

(I really should have taken more pictures. Blast.)

I guessed it's an "Owl and the Pussycat" lamp, even though there wasn't a direct reference to the poem/story other than the presence of both an owl and a pussycat.

I'm guessing it's art deco but that is, as I said, a guess.

Ever seen anything like it?

We totally would have bought it

but the guy wanted  around $400 for it.

We could see why but it was out of our budget.

I guess it will be one of the ones  that got away.

Because really, how many could there be?

a taste of summer...oh and antiques!

I do not regret my/our decision to go to the Christie Antique show!

The weather was amazing - hot and sunny.

The people were (mostly) friendly

and we found a few things we were looking for!

I got a clock for my desk.

Art Deco windup.

$10

Some vintage Christmas ornaments

(the little clock above and the ones in the cup below)

$6 for 4

This yellow cup and saucer were irresistable.

Love the colour and pattern on the saucer.

I have no use for them whatsoever.

I don't collect cups.

But I couldn't say no.

$3



You may recall that a certain someone bought an enormous quantity of vases at an auction for only $5.

The one above was one of the ones that we kept.

I had assumed it was an ice bucket that had no lid.

I was right!

We found ths whole set

with 6 highball glasses for

$20

Yes, I realize that we now have two of these ice buckets but I couldn't resist buying the set.

It's very Mad Men.

Fella got a couple of books and some sautering irons

and that was about it!

There was no affordable furniture

(well - not my price range of affordable)

but it was a gorgeous day and we were very happy with our finds.

Up next!

My first TIFF!

it's decided

We're going to the Christie Antiques show!

I was waffling but dug deep and realized I really wanted to go

So go we will.

We're going to get there early

(and we'll probably stay all day!)

and we'll see what we find.

What am I looking for?

1. I want a little antique clock for my desk.

Something battery operated in plastic or bakelite.

 In a pretty colour.

and cheap.

2. Maybe a corner bookcase for my office

(this will be very hard to find but I'm hopeful!)

3. Some more boopie glasses.

(I really just wanted to say boopie. It never gets old.)

4. Cinderella bowls for Shannon

5. A dining room table.

This is highly unlikely

but I'll be on the lookout.

Who's with me?

Anyone heading to Christie?

Happy weekend all!

And who knows what else!

Aberfoyle Antique Market

Yesterday we went to the Aberfoyle Antique Market.

This telephone chair cracked me up.

Love the bow.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular

but it ended up being a windfall.

I'd been wanting to replace my IKEA wine glasses for quite some time.

You know the ones, I think they go for $4.95 for a box of 6?

They don't exactly compliment the wine. In fact, they are rather loathsome.

I'd looked at other wine glasses but they were all so,

plain.

Modern?

Yesterday I lucked out.

I spied these babies:

(it's really hard to photograph glass. I guess because, you know, it's see-through...)

They are in great condition. They may not have ever been used, in fact.

I asked the seller how much she wanted for them because there was no price on them.

$6.

Fella and I looked at each other.

We were both thinking

"Each"

but I thought I'd chance it and ask:

"for all of them?"

She shrugged:

"Yep."

Clearly I don't have a taste for high end antiques

but that's ok by me.

I love these glasses.

The other item I decided I needed some time ago
is a citrus reamer.
I have one that you hold in your hand
but I love the look of the old Pyrex ones (big surprise there!)
But, of course, as this summer as progressed and I have squeezed many a lemon, I've realized I needed one that would separate the seeds.
Oh , and I didn't want to pay a lot of money.

Then I spied this:

It's perfect. It has dots on it (and I love dots!)
and these teeth to block the pesky seeds from joining the lovely lemon/lime/orange/grapefruit juice.

The price?

$23.

Too much.
I asked if she could do a better price.
She said $20.

I knew it wasn't much of a deal but I loved it so I went for it.
I kept saying how I'd never seend one like it before.

And then, just before we left
(and the torrential rain started)
I saw one at another booth.
$12.

Boo.

Ah well. You can't win them all.

My third wonderful find was a batch of letters.
They were correspondence of a woman named Anne Schreiber.

She was with the WRNS in 1944
and she was stationed in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.
Her family was in Galt, Ontario.

Apparently the collection contained hundreds of letters.
I read a few and fell in love.
The guy wanted a ridiculous price for them
$10 per letter!
but I ended up buying one that had three letters inside the envelope
(It was like that when I found it, I swear!)
The guy's assistant gave it to me for $5.
It's from 1944.
My favorite part of the letter?
When she asks her mother to order her a lipstick refill -
Elizabeth Arden - Victory Red.
She also asks them to send her black silk stockings and her burberry.

That's what I love about antique shows - you never know what you're going to find!

And Anne, if you're out there, thank you for the letters. They are magic.

200 Mile Yard Sale

I'm finally getting around to posting my yard sale finds.

It was an interesting experience.

Dangerous at moments,

weird and wonderful at others.

First let me say - I don't think it's really 200 miles, although I'm a bit fuzzy on the conversion of miles - kilometers so maybe it was.

It was mostly a lot of driving along the highway at an unsafe (slow) speed, pulling off abruptly and trying to avoid getting killed running across the road.

I heard one woman calling it a modern game of Frogger.
She wasn't wrong.

Here's what we found:

I bought this book because the drawings are amazing.

It's from 1964.

It was 25 cents.

all the vintage pink ornaments a girl could hope for

$2

books books books

$2.25

this was the first thing I bought.

Very cool jar with starry lid

$6

bargained down to

$4

Popular mechanics books

$1

Not a complete set but it came with a good story from the woman who sold them to us. She said they built their summer cottage using these books.

Loved it.

Bought 'em

(Actually, fella bought these. He read them as a kid.)

Fella also bought some tubes and some other stuff that he liked

(and that I didn't really know what they were for.)

All together we spent:

$36.44

It was fun. I don't know if I'd go again. I prefer antiques and there were some spots that had antiques but they were pricey. I was happy with what I got.



Sold!

So we hit the Christie Antiques Show on Saturday.
It was, as usual, huge - 10 acres of old stuff.
The weather wasn't great - foggy and drizzly but it didn't rain, which would have been miserable.

It was very different than when we went in September.
I think we are somewhat jaded because of all of the hours put in at auctions. Once you buy stuff at auctions, it's really hard to pay higher prices
(especially from people you see buying the stuff at auctions or people who actually work at the auctions. Yes, they too are dealers.

In short, it's hard to pay full price when you know it's not worth that much.
So I think that affected our...approach to the items that were on offer at the Christie Antiques Show.

all the pink flamingos you could ever hope for

old circus sign

gold dolphin mall ride

as strange as it is....

Here's the only thing I actually bought.

A fire king bowl with circus tigers all around it.

 $8

All in all, it was an inexpensive venture.

I wasn't disappointed.

Now I have money left over for an auction!

Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Ok so....

I haven't been blogging much lately.

I have been under the weather

but more importantly,

not myself.

(which makes it hard to write about yourself - when you've grown unsure of who that self is.)

But I feel like I'm coming up for air

and starting to pull things together again.

So this weekend

(if this feeling of a cold coming on vamooses as it should)

we're going to go the the Aberfoyle Antique Show

and then I have to hightail it back into town to sing at a wedding

and I'm hopeful that I'll get some pictures hung

or maybe curtains

since I've been meaning to do it for weeks.

I'm looking forward to the drive in the country tomorrow - it's always nice to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air.

And you?