A Walk Down Memory Lane

I was really busy last week getting the house ready for an appraiser to come through, so on Friday after he left, I decided I needed to treat myself to some fun! I made a trip to the big antique mall here in Chandler -- Market Square. They were having their annual sale throughout the booths.

When I got there, it was jam-packed! They have a hot dog place inside the mall and there was a long line of people ordering lunch. And a long line at the front checkout. As I wandered through the crowded aisles, I noticed lots of older couples browsing. Eavesdropping, I overheard phrases like -- Oh, I remember my mother had a set of dishes just like these. I never think of myself as being older, but I realize that when I go antiquing, it always triggers the same type of memories.


My Grandma Bowman had an old Singer sewing machine just like this (in the cabinet) at the top of the stairs in her finished attic. The top drawer had her old button collection, and I used to spend hours playing with them. Now I have those buttons in a jar at my house.

My grandparents also had one of these gliders on the front porch. I think it was a pale green color. If I had a place for this, I would have taken it home!

Grandma also had a canister set like this (minus the fancy painted decals) in her kitchen. She baked enough to actually use them (whereas I hide my flour and sugar in the cupboards).

This gypsy fortune teller doll triggered a whole different set of memories. At certain times of year in our little town growing up in southeast Kansas, traveling gypsies would show up in their cars and make camp at a place we called the Little Park. They were there for long enough when I was in first grade for one of the children to attend school. We called the little boy something that sounded like Cochise. Everything bad that happened in town (petty thievery) was blamed on the gypsies if they happened to be there. I don't know what their purpose was in coming to town, but they often showed up around the time of the county fair. One year during the fair, my mother had all of her bras stolen off the clothesline. LOL My father actually reported it to the police and the answer was -- probably the gypsies. Actually, probably the town pervert? Where did the gypsies come from and why were they there? I have no clue. But I've always been intrigued by the subject!

These old wooden seats brought back lots of memories of sitting in the school auditorium for music class, assemblies, watching special events on television, etc... At least I wasn't sitting in class, but those chairs were so hard!

Now this is a funny memory! Our first Christmas together, I was still in college. It was final week, I was stressed to the max, and a little bummed because we had no Christmas tree in our little apartment. Craig went to the local tree lot and found a poor little dried up Christmas tree. He did the shopping for decorations because I was busy writing final papers and came home with all blue ornaments. Boxes of blue Christmas bulbs just like these! I wasn't particularly fond of blue, but it was a nice gesture.

This item didn't really trigger any memories other than dead armadillos by the side of the road, but it's the first time I've ever seen an armadillo shell in an antique mall! What the heck!

After browsing the antique mall for over an hour, I happened upon a full set of those dominos I've been using to make charms. So the trip certainly wasn't wasted. In an effort to pamper myself a little more, I had a Dairy Queen ice cream for lunch and a pedicure on the way home. Now that pedicure's another post! Ha!

By the way, that beast I call my laptop died again today, so I am on borrowed time here. The problem is that it goes into sleep mode and I can't even do a cold shutdown on it. Tonight I removed the battery to shut it down, and then restarted it. Ugh. As I said, only a matter of time.