Photos From Our Booth

I've been super busy with the start of the school year and co-running an vintage booth with my husband. It's also been super fun. I'm now a Canadian picker. We've had so many adventures in picking already. I've got to start blogging about it. 

In the meanwhile, if you live in Southern Ontario - please come to Valley Antiques in Dundas  (a charming little town to the west of Hamilton). I suggest coming on a Saturday. Stroll down historic King Street. While you're there, pop into the bakery in the old postal office and treat yourself to something yummy. 

Walk a block south to Hatt Street and stop at number 64. Valley Antiques is in the old foundry building. It's a wonderful space for an antique mall. Inside, it's brimming with booths filled with just about everything you can imagine. The prices are pretty good too. 

After you've stocked up on vintage treasures, have a pub lunch at the Winchester Arms, or swing by cycling café Domistique. Later on, walk down Melville street to see all the gorgeous Victorian homes. 

As Valley Antiques has only been in operation for just over a month, we're trying to get the word out to out-of-towners, so tell your antique loving friends to check it out and tell their friends, and so on, and so on...

 Two of the milk cans outside are ours, including the massively distressed one below, which comes from a farm in Hagersville. 

 Above and below are images from our booth taken a week ago. A few items have sold since then, but most of the objects in the photos are still available. We had a big antique mirror hanging where the school posters are now, but it sold. I'm looking for another one.

Thanks for looking!

Moon Deco Pyrex & Exciting News!

Hello again,

Above, you will find my new Moon Deco casserole dish. I just think it's the coolest Pyrex design ever. It was also my most expensive single purchase, but there is a story...

We were at the Southwarks antique mall in Cambridge, ON last week. My husband came walking towards me with the dish in his hands and asked if $28 was a fair price. I almost grabbed it out of his hands. "Yes!" The truth is that I don't know what's a fair price, but I do know that at another booth at the same place, the exact same dish has been sitting on the shelf for at least a year. The seller is asking over $80.00 for it. To me, that's grocery shopping money. I was going to treat myself to it down the road if I came into windfall money, but who knows if that day would have come, or even if I could have ever justified spending that much on one piece of Pyrex. 

The moral of the story once again is that you have to keep on looking because you just don't know what you'll ever find.


My exciting news is that my husband and I are opening an antique stall in the just opened Valley Antiques mall in Dundas, ON. Our booth will be opening September 1st. We've amassed a pretty eclectic mishmash of old objects, which I will blog about soon. I don't think the manager has a website for it, but if you live around southern Ontario, why not spend an afternoon and take in all the charming old goodness it has to offer. Valley Antiques is on Hatt Street in the old foundry building. 

Ta ta for now!
Erin

A Carefully 'Wrought' Plan & Antiquing in Aberfoyle

A little bit Edward Gorey, a pinch of gay Paris - a real thriftacular treasure. 

 Despite sleeping in, I still made it to a moving sale in the old part of Dundas, where we live. These sales don't happen too often. Duncan and I breezed by and the nice folk sold me this beautiful wrought iron shelf for only $1!!! Considering that we got there a good two hours after it started, I'm wondering what treasures I missed due to tardiness.  

 As you can see, the shelf opens up, but I'm going to discreetly wire the doors together. I have to get two pieces of glass cut for the shelves and the fancy bit will face the back. It will function as an open shelf for outdoor plants. 

 It had been recommended that we go to the big outdoor antique market in Aberfoyle, ON. It runs until October only on Sundays and if you like booth after booth of every possible antique you can imagine - this is your place. 

 A trimmed down and shaven Kenny Rogers checks out treasures from yesteryear. Just kidding. 

 We saw a lot of things we liked, but we don't have extra spending money this month - plus, it was 30 degrees celsius, which must be at least 120 degrees fahrenheit for all you Americans out there. See - this is the sad truth about Canadian weather. On a day like this, I wish we lived in igloos 12 months a year. 

We hope to head back with some spending money on a much cooler day. 
Chin chin!
Erin

Kind of Blue

 We dropped off some shutters at the reclamation centre in a tiny town called Freelton this week. While there, we had a poke around and found this cool saucepan that was made in Austria. It was only $3. 

 I wish new things were made this colourful. I'm growing bored with the stainless steel look. 

 Later in the week we went to a bigger small town called Grimsby, which is partway between Hamilton and St. Catharines. I popped into the Grimsby Benevolent Fund, where I found this small Pyrex Butterprint casserole dish, which I don't have. It was only $2! It just goes to show you that it's always worth having a look. 

I'm still obsessed with the colour orange. I found this heavy piece of pottery at the Freelton reclamation centre. It was $2. 

I'm off on my two month teacher's summer, so I hope to do a lot more thrifting, blogging, and skulking around my new home town. 

Rock on!

Settling In & Rummage Sale

Hello again. It's been a very busy end to the school year, but I've still been getting out to rummage sales and antique stores. Here are a few gems from the past few weeks. More to come. 

 Heeeeeeeeer's MARTY! Marty is our new cat. We've had a year of cat heartache, which I don't even want to remember, but we discovered Marty on Kijiji Hamilton. His owner called him Pumpkin. She had found him on the street as a kitten, but she was moving to a place that wouldn't accept cats. He's just over a year old. Isn't he cute?

 Above Marty hangs a stained glass window that we found in a not-so-expensive antique store in Hamilton (Molly's Back Porch on Ottawa Street if you're interested). It fits the front window like a glove. 

 Duncan renamed Pumpkin "Marty" after Marty McFly in Back to the Future. He was a spitfire when we first got him, but he's settled down A LOT since we got him fixed. He'll be an indoor cat, but I'm glad he got the snip ship anyway. 

 One, two, three - ahhhhhh

 Here's a pretty piece of pottery I found at the local Anglican church rummage sale. It was $1.00

 Teak egg cups. Fifty cents or something super cheap like that. 

 I loved the '70s egg cozy. 

 I picked up two London Underground snack trays for $1.00. They're not current, so we'll call them vintage. 

Here's one of two kitchen food scales which my class has been using in our mass unit. School equipment for a lousy dollar. 

The Knives Come Out & Cabinet of Curiosities

There were numerous yard sales in my town yesterday. The weather was perfect too. Duncan and I motored around on our bikes on the prowl for thriftacular treasures.

  The only thing I found that we could use were these Wiltshire "Stay Sharp" knives. My dad gave me a single version of the large size a few years ago and we're always wishing we had more. I no longer need any sharp knives. 

Vintage apothecary bottle from The Cabinet of Curiosities - $3

 After politely scouring a few more garage sales, we stumbled upon Cabinet of Curiosities' sale. This a way cool antiques/oddities store I've been wanting to check out ever since we moved to Dundas. It was everything I wanted it to be - and more. They have everything from antique household items, to a display case full of animal skulls, wicker caskets and so much more. I felt like I was with "my people" when I met the proprietors. Amazingly enough, the man who sold me the items I'm showing here has the same name as me - Erin (yes, Irish female spelling). His teenager son is a budding archeologist/biologist who trolls the woodlands in the surrounding area for bones, bottles and antlers. 
Check out their website and blog and if you live in Southern Ontario, do make the trek if you like antiques and oddities. 

Above and below: The shoe form I purchased at Cabinet of Curiosities for $5. I think it's got a beautiful shape to it. 

Above: Kiko inspects a vintage Auto Drome race set (circa 1960s?) purchased at Cabinet of Curiosities for a lousy finsky. 

Here's a perfect song and video to go with the day.

The Best Things in Life...

When out for a bike ride with my son, we stumbled upon this mysterious ephemeral tipi some creative person built. The world is full of wonder and mystery if you just get off the treadmill and look around.  

 I had every intention to go to a rummage sale Saturday morning, but I was seriously tired - so tired that my husband and son let me be until I roused out of my temporary coma at 11:30! I don't think I've slept in that late since the golden days of my lazy teen years. I went to a Mom to Mom sale the weekend before (they seem to do a lot of these in the Hamilton area), where I managed to find a few books (nothing worth blogging about) amongst the baby clothes. Since we've moved to our new home, we've been hit with seriously big property tax and insurance bills that have all come due at the same time. Fortunately, we're not mall people and the fact that we're momentarily broke hasn't caused any big problems. I thought I'd share some of the beauty we've been soaking in for free. 

 We live in a town surrounded by trees and creeks. It's only a matter of walking about three blocks from our house until we find a babbling brook. 

 We're trying to do as much home seeding for our flower garden this year. I'm so excited to be growing four o'clocks again. 

 Here's Desjardins Canal, which used to be used for shipping and paddleboat travel to Toronto back in the 1800s. It's been closed off for over 100 years and is now the home to assorted flora and fauna. 

 Today, we hiked along the Rail Trail. I love that Hamilton does such a fantastic job of preserving and creating green space. This trail once had a busy train line along it (TH&B). Now people can cycle, walk, or just hang out and look at all the beauty of Hamilton that so many people don't know it has. 

We saw this big wild rabbit in someone's backyard. 

In addition, we've been taking advantage of the public library not just for books, but films and CDs. We've borrowed a ton of great movies as well as the third season of Breaking Bad. We're currently working our way through the first season of In Treatment (heavy, but very good), and I borrowed Sufjan Steven's Come on Feel the Illinoise, Neil Young's Le Noise, Television's Marquee Moon, Junior Boy's It's All True, and an album by Whitehorse. The latter two bands happen to reside in Hamilton. 

Life is great!
I promise thrifting soon.
Erin

Not Quite A Yard Sale

This morning we went to the local Lion's Club Craft Sale. They were selling books for a buck each and there was a big room filled with local craftspeople. Here's what I came back with...

 I loved the cover art of the Blender Cookbook. It reminded me of my childhood. When I returned, we played the game "Guess when it was published?" My husband said late sixties or early seventies. I said 1978, and my son said the eighties. What do you think? Read on...

 This book is fairly classy and has numerous French recipes in it. I grew up in the pre-food processor days and we had a workhorse blender with a wide blade that my mother used for everything. In the early eighties (I think), the mother of my best friend Jodie got a Cuisineart, which was a new contraption for the time. 

 I've always wanted to make my own pate. Maybe this summer, I'll give it a try. 

 I bought a few other books on the way out and the gentleman from the Lion's Club who took my money told me that his wife donated the Blender Cookbook, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. So the answer to the publishing question is - 1970!

 We ran out of store-bought apricot jam this morning, so I couldn't resist the homemade variety. 

 We bought two strudels for $12. They are really big and the seller told me that they made them throughout the night, so I think it was a fair deal. 

 This honey came from the jam people. 

 I bought my son an orange fizzing bath soap shaped like an egg. 

For a donation to the Lion's Club, a talented man made this wooden Easter egg for my son. We had fun watching it spin on the lathe. It brought back memories of Grade 7 Industrial Arts. 

Happy Easter everyone.