Fair Finds

One of the best parts of being part of Ripley on Sale is getting to shop, of course! This is not a huge event so getting around all the vendors is pretty easy. The downside of being a vendor is that I miss all the other sales going on around town, but we can't have it all, can we?

So here's some of what came home with me:

This sweet trunk is in pretty good condition for its age. I will do little to this one, love the way it looks as it is.

I especially like the picture inside. How cool is that? Has its tray too, and 3 of the 4 wheels on the bottom. Both leather handles are gone fairly common with these old guys. I am not sure if we will attempt replacing them; that can be pretty tricky with such old metal and wood.

These about stopped my heart--three large Blenko decanters with stoppers, in perfect condition. The glass swans bottom left aren't old, but are pretty.

I guess the large pot on top of the tray was one of those planters that held a fake tree since it has no drain holes. I am thinking I will paint it black, then white and distress it. It is brass, but has been spraypainted gold.

I will repaint the bed tray too. It was handpainted with large magnolia flowers but the varnish has yellowed and the painting isn't that pretty. Otherwise it's in really great shape.

I fell in love with this box that my friend Sue had in her booth. It's well built, with nice hardware and such great paint. I'd like to keep it if I can find a place for it in this (crowded) house.

Can you make out the large shelf leaning against the green cabinet? This thing is about 8 feet long. I think it might get painted too if I have time. The bed is a work-in-progress; I'll post photos when it's done.

Crazy Daisy pitcher and a brass record rack. Can you say mid-century?

I will be keeping this one! All the measures we need to know, cross-stitched with love by someone.
It's a little stained but I don't care. I like it just as it is.

An Early American Pattern Glass low compote or bowl in a pattern I need to look up, and a pretty yellow-checked lampshade. I'll be needing a replacement for the one in my kitchen soon, so here it is!

Another graniteware bowl to hang in the bathroom,

and one of my best finds: an unsolved Cryptoquip in a piece of newspaper used to wrap the Pyrex pitcher! I love these things and am always on the lookout for them. We can't get paper delivery here or I'd subscribe just to get these puzzles. I'm not a big crossword fan, and hate Sudoku, but word scrambles and cryptograms, oh yeah!

There were a few other things, but these were my favorites.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Ripley on Sale 2018

After 11 1/2 hours of sleep, I feel almost rested. Boy were we tired.

Not much planned for today. More rest is on top of the list. Sure was a fun time the past two days though at our booth at the annual Ripley on Sale event on the courthouse lawn of our closest town. It was hot and humid, so setting up and taking down was sweaty work, but in between we enjoyed talking to people seeing lots of friends as they passed through, and just plain people-watching The funniest thing, which I missed getting a photo of, were the children trying to eat the fake fruit I had in a wood bowl. They'd pick it up, feel it, squeeze it, and have the most puzzled look on their faces!

We heard so many stories, too. The lady with the turban talking about her cancer treatments, the lady with a cane who had such terrible luck with hip surgeries, the couple from Texas here for work on this major gas pipeline that's passing through our county, the stories about tattoos, dogs, antiques collections...the list could go on and on. Our favorite was this little guy:

A friend said that dogs scared the mother possum and she dropped this baby, and didn't come back for it. So it came to the fair in a soft sock in our friend's handbag. She's feeding it kitten milk. Lucky little possum!

The French pastries at the booth beside us were to die for. I'd never have expected to find something like that in Ripley. I tried the French Apple pie--individual small pies--and the chocolate chip brioche. Heavenly! The baker is from France, here with her husband who is an engineer at the aluminum plant in this county.

A rare quiet moment, no trucks passing by!

The Avon Lady selling Skin-So-Soft was a godsend when bugs started biting my legs, and my friends Sue and Krista has booths close by so we got a little visiting time. Another "Sue" friend (I seem to have many of them) Suzy came by and helped for a little while when Larry went home to rest, and we got in a good visit too. Several other friends were also selling at this event, so I got to catch up with them too.

The thing that astonished me was the amount of traffic in Ripley! Trucks, trucks and more trucks, lots of diesel noise. Unreal how much the town has changed in the 40 years I've lived in Jackson county. With this major pipeline construction, our county is fairly over-run with out-of-state workers, trucks, equipment, etc. It's a big change for a place that is usually busy, but not nearly this level of traffic and activity.

It was an a blessing to get home to our quiet porch with no sounds except birds and later a light rain. I doubt I could live in a busy place like our town has become, and am so grateful for this peaceful haven we call home. But it was fun to be part of and watch all the activity for a couple days.

Now to get some laundry going, breakfast cooking. And then back to the porch. I'll post some photos tomorrow of some of the things I bought. Because you know I couldn't come home without a few treasures.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.