dual personalities

Tag: antiques

September 6, 2023

Senior moments

by chuckofish

If you recall, I bought an antique glass-front bookcase at auction a couple of weeks ago. The boy brought it home for me and it fit perfectly in the den/tv room where the desk used to be that daughter #1 now has in her house. However, the shelves were stacked at the bottom of the case and it appeared to us that there were none of those clips you put in the holes to support the shelves.

Curses. We measured the holes and I sent away for a set. They were too big, so I sent away for the next smaller size. They were too small. Unbeknownst to me, the OM also sent away for them, so we had four sets that didn’t fit. Then he sent away for three more, which didn’t fit, so we had seven (!) sets and nothing fit.

Frustrated Season 3 GIF by The Simpsons - Find & Share on GIPHY
Seriously. 🤡

Finally we took the shelves out to see if we could hammer the bigger clips in and, lo and behold, underneath them there was a little plastic bag with metal thingamabobs that fit. Huzzah!

There is a lesson here, but I am too irritated to think about it.

And too grateful that I finally have my bookcase, filled now with books.

P.S. Let me know if you need any of those shelf supports–I have seven sets–all sizes!

5 Comments
August 21, 2023

Come ye sinners, poor and needy

by chuckofish

We are really in the dog days of summer now, but on Friday it was still nice enough to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine. Mr. Smith sat like a good dog with us and was not too distracted by the flora and fauna. As little Katie would say, “Mr. Smith is growin’ up!”

Earlier on Friday I met the boy down at the Link Auction Galleries and he picked up a glass-front bookcase for me and a large oriental rug for daughter #1 before rushing off to open his store. He came back on Sunday afternoon and moved the bookcase inside from the garage and the rug over to her house.

What would I do without him and his truck?

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023) on my friend’s very large television and I enjoyed it, although it was much too long–2 hours and 30 minutes! It could easily have been edited to an hour and a half, but today’s moviemakers are so self-indulgent, they have no idea how to edit a movie.

It was very good to be back at church after missing for two weeks when I was out of town and then sick. We even sang my new favorite hymn:

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
lost and ruined by the fall;
if you tarry till you’re better,
you will never come at all.

And is this baby too cute or what?

Life is full of blessings. Be sure to count yours every day!

4 Comments
November 19, 2019

“Teach me some melodious sonnet”*

by chuckofish

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Lottie is sure styling in her fall ensemble complete with jean jacket…

Another lovely fall weekend has flown by. There are a lot of leaves on the ground now, but even more are still on the trees. We will be raking/vacuuming leaves ’til Christmas around here.

Over the weekend the OM and I hung my latest eBay purchase, about which I am very pleased. I like to peruse eBay, but I have found that most things are overpriced compared to what you can find at estate sales and at auction houses. Nevertheless, I continue to search, because I enjoy it and because sometimes something worthwhile turns up.

Recently I found a mirror with églomisé reverse painted panel, purported to be a Bucks County “Federal mirror with historic history. Originally owned by Ulysses S. Grant’s Great Aunt & Uncle, Benjamin Hough and Hannah (Simpson) Hough.” The seller had all the genealogical info. 

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The mirror even has a brass plate dated August 24, 1791, the day Benjamin and Hannah married.

Well, hold the phone, Hannah is our great-great-great-great grandmother!

The price was too high so I put the mirror on my watch list and waited. Soon the seller made me an offer which I thought was reasonable and I bought it! We had a nice email exchange; she was happy to see it return to its family. She packed it well and it came to me unscathed.

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Well, I am pretty excited to have this piece of Hough family decorative art back in my family!

The boy and the wee babes came over for spaghetti Sunday night (daughter #3 had work to do on her side-hustle/Etsy shop).  The wee laddie was in a bad mood when he arrived (he had not been allowed to bring his steam shovel) and he proceeded to act badly, which finally landed him for the first time in Mamu’s Time Out. He got over it.

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This was not his time out chair! He was just keeping those micro cars from Lottie…

The babes are getting to be such little people with distinct personalities now that they are approaching three years of age! They really are nutballs.

IMG_4177 3.jpegWell, here’s a great old hymn for Tuesday. We sing it in the Episcopal Church but with an organ accompaniment. However, I do like this rendition.

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is a hymn written by the 18th century pastor and hymnnodist Robert Robinson in 1757, but some things never get old.

Have a great week!

 

5 Comments
September 23, 2013

That old September feeling

by chuckofish

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

― George Eliot

How was your weekend? Mine was very low-key. The weather was lovely. I went estate sale-ing but actually found something at one of my favorite antique malls.

I have been looking for a small desk or work table for some time now. I found a nice old slant-top desk (and a chair) for a wonderful price and snatched them up. I had to go home and get our trusty Subaru to transport it and then asked the boy to come over and get it out of the Subaru and upstairs. He, as usual, was more than willing to do so. I sure do appreciate his man-strength and his good humor.

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He also hung up a very large watercolor that I got at the Autumn Gallery Auction at our local auction house last week. It was their quarterly fancy auction as opposed to the monthly ones I usually go to. Sometimes I’ll just throw in a lowball silent bid to see what will happen and sometimes I win. Very exciting.

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We moved some things around and that is always fun.

I went to church on Sunday (five weeks in a row!) and we celebrated St. Matthew’s Day and had our annual picnic. It was a beautiful sunny day–perfect for outdoor dining, bouncy houses and bar-b-que.

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After doing some house cleaning and laundry, we wound down the day with these:

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A perfect start to fall!

*The pictures from the church picnic are from the Grace church Facebook page.

7 Comments
October 18, 2012

Being green

by chuckofish

I think I’ve mentioned that one of my favorite blogs is Reggie Darling, written by Reggie Darling. Reggie and I are definitely on the same page. I was reminded of this once again when I read this the other day:

…Which brings to mind one of the reasons that I enjoy collecting antiques (or “previously owned” things): namely, that I appreciate owning objects that someone else (and, depending on the age of the object, possibly many people) owned and enjoyed before me, and which I shall pass on to someone else to own and enjoy in the future. We are but stewards of our possessions, Dear Reader, and it is up to us to appropriately care for them while enjoying them, so that those who come after us may do so as well. Collecting and living with antiques (whether they be objects or houses), is the original definition of being green in my book.

I concur. (And the stewardship view is so Episcopalian!) It’s the way we were brought up.

In addition to loving and living with the things I have inherited, I enjoy going to estate sales and looking at other people’s things and occasionally picking up nice vintage items for very little–like this mid-century Russel Wright green tray I got a few weeks ago. I have re-purposed it for use in my bathroom.

I also love to buy good old books for a dollar! I found the large 1892 Book of Common Prayer last weekend and the little handmade book holder a few weeks ago.

Sometimes I put absentee bids on items at our local auction house. And sometimes I win! I picked up a few nice 19th century lustreware pieces for less than a lunch out would cost.

Ah, the joy of hunting and gathering in the 21st century! I love being green and scoring a bargain makes it all the more sweet.

P.S. I can’t do a post on being green without this:

5 Comments
October 11, 2011

Antiques Roadshow

by chuckofish

I do love the Antiques Roadshow! Some people may like the treasure-hunt aspect of it, the maybe-I’ll-find-something-in-my-attic-and-I-can-retire quality of the show. But for me, it is wonderful to be reminded that other people value and have saved their family “heirlooms”. Frequently people say, when told the value of their “heirloom”, that it is not important since they will never sell it. That is a good thing.

What is an heirloom anyway? It is “a piece of property that descends to the heir as an inseparable part of an inheritance of real property.” Inseparable being the operative term.

2 Comments