Thelma and Louise hit the road again… Part 3, Ohio!

Maryland and southern Pennsylvania faded into the distance and

WE WERE OFF!

OHIO, here we come!

Let me preface it to say, neither of us had been to Ohio before…

or even western Pennsylvania for that matter.

First, a quick stop in Lancaster County, PA…

You wouldn’t think it would take us long to stop and buy gourds at an Amish gourd farm,

WOULD YOU???

Sure, no time at all!

After a perusal of all the gourds in stock in the showroom, we knew we were in

 DEEP TROUBLE!

There was only one problem…

ALL the gourds were clean and shiny!

Our dear friend, Connie had given us the contact information for this farm through one of her friends.  Low and behold, this fellow was at the farm this very same morning AND

THEY WERE EXPECTING US!

He likes pretty shiny gourds… shyly, we asked,

“Do you have any uncleaned gourds?”

The sweet fellow behind the counter said,  “you want dirty gourds?”

YES!!!!

He took us outside to bins and bins of dirty gourds AND

more boxes and boxes of dirty gourds inside this HUGE barn!

GOURD HEAVEN… a couple of happy campers!

So, with smaller purses, we were off…

OHIO, HERE WE COME!

The hills of western Pennsylvania were beautiful!

BUT, hours and hours later, we were very grateful for the sign

WELCOME TO OHIO!

We were supposed to visit a shop in Alliance, but as it got late and we got a little lost, we called and postponed our visit for the following morning.

Let me tell you, finding a hotel room without a credit card can be a little daunting!

It seems that CASH isn’t accepted at the Holiday Inn Express…

so, in search of a room, we drove 15 miles to a skanky place in Warren, Ohio…

one quick look and we kept on going!

We decided to go on to Alliance and see what we could find there, tired and hungry by this time!

We ran into a little accident along the way, which left us sitting and waiting for a half hour or so… lucky for us, we weren’t involved in it!

Finally, a good night’s sleep at the Comfort Inn in Alliance!

Nothing prepared us for our stop at Bridgewater Primitives!

An unassuming warehouse building with some primitive decor outside

OPENED UP to

ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME PRIMITIVE SHOPS WE HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE TO SHOP!

We were welcomed by Lesa Green and Scott Miller and given the royal tour!  What a great place, fantastic finishes on their primitives with a sprinkling of antiques and other stuff~

A real log wall in the middle of the shop defines the space and atmosphere… you’d never know you were in an industrial building!

Believe it or not, this is the bathroom!  I just love the old tub!

Beautiful things in every corner and reasonable prices!

We were given a tour of their workspace as well… it’s amazing the amount of merchandise they pump out each day!  Talent, talent, talent… and nice people.  They even stopped by to visit us at Simple Goods later in the week.

After picking out some new merchandise for the shop and saying our good-byes, we were off!

Much to our surprise, just down the road, we had to wait for a train crossing (don’t see that back home anymore)!

Seville, here we come!

We were really looking forward to our first visit to Seville Antiques!  So many people told us it was a MUST DO for any country antiques lover…

Again, the exterior was deceiving…

Joyce was wonderful and graciously allowed me to take photographs and gave Doreen a tour of all her back rooms.  What a fabulous collection of country antiques dealers… ALL IN ONE PLACE!

The girls told us the music playing was the gift cd included in the new issue of A Simple Life Magazine which had been delivered that very day!  Of course, we had to buy one since we knew we wouldn’t be able to wait until we arrived home for our own issues.

special things in every booth~

love this cow!

the crewel chair pad really works… ideas, ideas… mind is buzzing!

every corner was a delight~

I LOVE hetchels… saw at least a half dozen in this shop!

Doreen bought this little treasure… sold it, too, at Simple Goods!

flax… linen warp in 3 widths… be still my heart~

Loved the sweet painting on this cutting board, reminded me of my sweet Miss Chickie~

Missed her enough to talk to her on the phone… am I nuts???  Yep.

One of the sweetest baskets I’ve ever seen… wanted to take it home with me in the worst way, but alas… I wasn’t buying for me~

What a treat, what a treat… I know I’ll be back again and again and again!

Our damages were tallied, and new cd in hand, we popped it in and with toe tapping, knee slapping Appalachian tunes to drive by, we headed on to Mount Vernon and Simple Goods!

To be continued…

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Simple Treasures from the Past – Antiques & Primitive Goods Show

Walker Homestead will be hosting its 4th Simple Treasures from the Past – Antiques & Primitive Goods Show on Saturday, September 24, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 19 Martin Road, Brookfield, Massachusetts  01506.

Walker Homestead is set around a 1698 New England saltbox on 30 acres at the end of a country lane featuring a quilt shop, antiques & primitive shop & garden shop with heirloom gardens for you to stroll through.

For the show, our tavern room will be set up as the Homestead Tavern offering dining for the event catered by Haymaker’s Grill of West Brookfield, MA and there will be simpler fare out back at the chuck wagon.  The Podunk Ramblers will be playing live bluegrass music throughout the day, and there will be demonstrations in bookbinding by Paul A. McClintock of Whidbey Island, WA and basketry by 15 year old Dakota!

Scattered across our lawns and back fields you will find an amazing group of country antiques and  craftsmen of handmade primitives!  Truly an amazing display of wares and a wonderful group of people.

Parking is free in our front field and admission is $5 per person at the gate.  We sincerely hope you can make it!

Below are some photos from our June 2011 show… enjoy~

Mary Elliott of Pepperell, MA

Best Booth Winner June 2011 Show – Robin Rock & Milltown Primitives of North Stonington, CT

Pied Potter Hamelin & Kulina Folk Art of Warren, MA, photo by Bonnie Lucente

For more information and a list of our vendors for the September 2011 Simple Treasures from the Past – Antiques & Primitive Goods Show, visit our website www.walkerhomestead.com or call the shop 508-867-4466.  We look forward to seeing you!

Pennsylvania~ Walker Homestead on the Road

Friday morning dawned early for these girls with a 3:00 a.m. start, Doreen was here by 4:00 and we were off!

The first part of our journey was uneventful, getting used to the trailer and driving in the dark, but as daylight dawned, we we able to enjoy the scenery passing by.  We noticed that Connecticut received as much snow as we had back in Massachusetts!  Only as we passed through New York into Pennsylvania did the snow amounts lessen and we actually saw patches of ground!  Yes, to all those folks back home… there is soil and grass under all that snow!

We arrived at our hotel, the Scanticon in King of Prussia, PA late morning, checked in and dropped our trailer for our next excursion… a visit to Diane Windle’s home and shop, Windle’s Log Cabin Antiques which was only a half hour away.  Nothing can truly prepare you for this treat.  Diane’s shop is her 11 room home tucked away at the end of a dirt road in an 18th century stone house and attached log cabin.  The drive was icy this visit, the scenery just amazing!  Not as much snow in PA, but snow just the same.

Diane is a warm and welcoming hostess, giving us free rein of her gorgeous home and the antiques it beholds!

Every time we come here we plan on an hour or two, but with so many choice pieces, it’s often difficult to make up your mind!  Our plans always go awry and we stay longer than expected!  Friday’s visit resulted in an awesome 18th century Dutch cupboard and early dry sink in old red paint.

We left Diane’s, stopped for a healthy lunch/dinner at Panera Bread and went back to the hotel.  We hooked the trailer back up and unloaded for the show – The Gallery of American Handcrafters and Antiques… a new wholesale show hosted by Mark & Chastity of Magpie Primitives which was held at Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA.  Among our friends doing the show were Connie and Harry Gleed of Hands of Time Antiques from Palmyra, PA and Cecilia Taylor from Henhouse Primitives of PA.  What a great group of vendors and customers!  The show opened Saturday night and our hand made items were sold out within the first hour!  Quite a few of our reproductions and antiques sold as well.

Sunday was a quieter day and we headed over to the Oaks for the Market Square wholesale show to pick up more items for the shop.  A special thanks to Connie & Harry who watched our booth while we were gone!  We ran into many friends, shop owners and hand crafters at the show and purchased lots of new merchandise.

Sunday evening we decided to head out for dinner with our roommates, Donna Russell of Haley’s Gathering from East Chatham, New York and her friend, Darlene.  Donna suggested Maggiano’s in King of Prussia and we were not disappointed!  Food, food and more food!  We did their family style option which included 2 appetizers, 2 salads, 2 entrees and 2 desserts… each course is all you can eat… a truly amazing restaurant with fantastic food!

Monday morning dawned and we packed up to leave with a quick stop back at Market Square to pick up a forgotten package and low and behold, we ran into our dear friend Dirk Dishop of The Early Homestead Woodshop from Napoleon, Ohio… bought some new cement bee skeps from him while we were at it!  Then we were off to pick up our purchases at Diane Windle’s and take Donna and Dar antiquing.  As usual, Windle’s took longer than expected, and quite a few purchases later we were off again, this time bound for Christina Hummel’s Primitive America in Pennsdale, Pennsylvania.

Our GPS was a little out of sorts this past weekend and took us the round-a-bout way across the mountains and avoiding all major routes… lucky us!  Unfortunately, our ETA changed and changed again, but Christina was most accommodating and welcomed us at 5:30 p.m.!  We really wish we had the advantage of daylight, but Christina’s shop is fantastic!  These northern girls were beside ourselves, like vultures, pouncing on wonderful wooden ware, red ware and more!

We shopped to our hearts’ content, then for the treat of a lifetime – a tour of Christina’s lovely home, which is featured in the spring issue of A Simple Life Magazine.  It’s every bit as gorgeous as Jill Peterson represented with Christina’s incredible summer kitchen cupboard on the cover!

We left Christina’s around 7:30 p.m. heading east out of the mountains and homeward bound.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas and after a harrowing journey with truck and fully loaded trailer and over an hour of driving 20 mph to cover 27 miles through wild snow in the mountains, we decided to call it a night at the first hotel we found.  A day late, but safe and sound, we arrived home on Tuesday to yet another 5 inches of snow!  We unpacked all of our wonderful treasures, returned the trailer and tried to catch our breath!

Our many thanks to both Diane & Christina for being such wonderful hostesses, to our wonderful customers for making this trip a success and to Donna & Dar for lots of laughs!  We can’t wait to return to Pennsylvania for another buying and selling trip… what fun!

The Herbal

Today was a perfectly normal day.

I moved along my usual course of business throughout the day, stopped at the office, put out a couple of fires, ran some errands and finally arrived back home.

Absolutely nothing prepared me for what was to come next.  I should have had an idea that something was up, my DH had a hint of a grin hovering about his mouth from the moment I walked in the door.

A package was sitting quietly on one of the tavern tables, just waiting for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slowly, I started to open it, savoring the moment.

The anticipation rose, each item more enticing than the last~

 

A sweet note from the past, properly sealed…

No words can express my excitement as I opened this delicious package… from quill to sealing wax, proper wrapping and accoutrement… just PERFECT.

 

 

 

 

 

A PERFECT PACKAGE.

 

BUT, it gets better.

 

 

 

 

 

and BETTER

and B E T T E R ! ! !

 

 

 

 

A true work of art, in every way…

I’m feeling very stingy right at this moment, but I’ll share a few glimpses with you…

 

 

 

 

and a few more…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I leave you tonight to go spend time with my new treasure, made by a master at his trade.  I thank you, Master McClintock, for your fine work!  This Herbal will be treasured

~F O R E V E R~