12 Birthday Open House!

Our 12th Birthday Open House was amazing!  First of all, Thank you!!!  Thank you to our wonderful customers ~ without you we wouldn't exist!  Thank you to our fabulous dealers who constantly amaze me!  Thank you to our employees who are awesome! Thank you to all our friends who came and made me feel the love!  Thank you to my sisters who are always so supportive!  And especially, thank you to my husband, Don, who is my rock and my everything!

We had alot of help from our neighbors to make this a wonderful event!  A HUGE thank you to Rockwell's Creative Cakes who made our fabulous Birthday Cake!  It was gorgeous and of course delicious!!!!  If any of you need a cake for a special event, go to them and tell them Down Home sent you!!!  We've used Rockwell's for some of our family's special occasions ~ Our daughter, Ayla's, wedding cake; my husband, Don's retirement cake; and a "milestone" birthday cake for me (I'm not telling what year!!!)  and we've never been dissapointed!!!  Thank you to our neighborhood Starbucks who supplied us with their wonderful coffee! Tess and I go there almost daily for our caffeine fix!!! And our new neighbor, Avila El Ranchito Mexican Restraunt supplied us with some gift certificates. Thank you so much!!!  We have great restruants in old towne, and Avila's El Ranchito is no exception - I've eaten there twice now!!! We added one of our own gift certificates and raffled them off to our loyal customers who waited patiently in line, some for an hour and a half! The lucky winners were Marva, Peggy & Betty!

Our First Customers in Line-Sharon & Lucy! THANK YOU!

Our Beautiful Birthday Cake from Rockwell's Creative Cakes!

Our fabulous customers kept lining up! THANK YOU!!!

Down Home is my "home away from home",  but it houses the antique businesses of 28 other dealers as well.  They are hard working and constantly searching for wonderful treasures to bring into the store!   They will all tell you I like to come up with rules about what's acceptable, and I get a bit razzed for it, but it works because the store looks amazing!  I am so proud of my dealers and the effort they all put into finding wonderful antiques for our Birthday Open House!  When I walked through the store the night before our open house, it was quiet and peaceful and I got a chance to just look at each space and be thankful of each dealer who carefully placed each item.  It makes me think about all the time it takes to hunt out each item, clean it, fix it, tag it, and display it.  I'm so thankful for the passion each of them have for their business!!!  You can tell by looking at each space, how much they love this crazy antique business! I don't think the store has ever looked better!

Our Birthday Open House kicks off our summer season, and it definitely looks like summer in Down Home!  So many items that bring up thoughts of the beach, the seashore, the ocean, boating, camping, summer vacations, and of course, the Fourth of July! There are collections of boats, thermoses, vintage ice chests, suitcases, patriotic pieces, flags, etc.  There are wonderful pieces of early american furniture ~ pie safes, dry sinks, benches, farm tables, painted cupboards, trunks.  There are some amazing folk art pieces - carved wood pieces, tramp art, pond boats, whirligigs, quilts, an amazing shoe maker's trade sign, and more!  There are lots of signs - ice cream signs, barber signs, farm signs, boating signs, just about any topic you can think of! Seriously, you all just have to come in and see the collection of quality antiques in Down Home right now!!! Gotta run, gotta get started on Year 13!!! Hope to see y'all soon!

P.S. We have lots of pictures of our Birthday Open House and many of the antiques, so check out our website at downhomeantiques.com

Down Home Dealer Road Trip!!!

One day a couple of our dealers were in the store, and we got to chatting about going on a road trip!  And so it came to be - we planned the "First Down Home Dealer Road Trip." Seven of us Down Home dealers decided to become road warriors and head up the coast! 

We had planned to go up to the Alameda Flea Market, but unfortunately a June rain storm canceled the flea market and so Alameda was out!  Well, we could cancel and arrange for a different weekend, or we could go anyway. We had all made arrangements with work and home, so we decided a little rain and a canceled flea market were not going to get in the way of our fun! So off we went.  We piled in a truck and a van and headed up north!  We didn't get too far and were already stopping at shops along the way...Agoura Hills, Summerland, and  Los Alamos.

The shopping begins!!!!

By this time, it was getting late in the day and all the antique stores were closing, so we checked into our hotel.   Then party time!!!  We ordered pizza and ate junk food and celebrated our first day - there's nothing more fun then talking and laughing with girlfriends!!!  Ok, enough partying - we had to get up early and shop til we drop!!! Rise and shine, and off to Cambria, Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay and then down to Ventura.

On the open road again ~ our little caravan of antique hungry dealers!!!!  It rained the whole way to Cambria!!



Peggy's wild ride!! How many U-turns can one person make???



Yep, the girls are still behind us!!!

  

My "Bible" of antiquing!  It goes on every buying trip and for my eyes only!!!

Our new friend, Donna!  She is a special lady who opened her store just for us!!! Thanks Donna!

More shopping!!!

I knew wine was a blessing!  One of my new favorite quotes!!!

Janet, Penny, and Linda!

Everyone felt like Mexican food, so off we go to dinner. And, you can't have mexican food without a margarita, or two!!!  Eileen hadn't had a margarita for a couple of decades!!!  Carl's not gonna let her come with us next time!!!  


Nothing better than Mexican food!!!



We're a bad influence on Eileen, or...maybe a good influence!!!

We thought we could hit the Ventura Flea Market Sunday morning  ~ not as big or exciting as Alameda, but at least there was no rain!!!  Ventura opens at 6:00 a.m. and we were there by 6:05, a major feat when 7 women all have to get ready!!!!

Jacky, Penny, and Tessa!

  

Shopping in Ventura!

We hit the market and start shopping!  By 8:30, we've done our work, loaded our treasures, and off to breakfast - all that hard work has made us hungry, plus we all need coffee!!!  You have not lived until you've seen Linda's impression of a tour guide or a manikin - honestly thought I was gonna die laughing!!!  A bit more shopping at the stores in Ventura, and then we make a bee-line home... well unil we get to Camarillo! 

Waiting for breakfast!

Tess and Me!

Our funny little Linda!!!

One last chance to shop, and then finally, home sweet home...until the "Second Down Home Dealer Road Trip!"

Look for the Moon!

I love quotes.  One of my favorites is,  "The barn burnt down, now I can see the moon." 



I started collecting "moon" oil paintings as a reminder to myself!



I heard it somewhere, but never knew the origin.  So I googled it.  It is actually a haiku and was written by Mizuta Masahide, a samurai in the Zeze domain of Ohmi Province.  He was a disciple of the famous poet Basho.  As the story goes, Masahide's house was burnt down and so he wrote this famous poem, one of which Basho highly praised.  You can imagine how exciting it would be to get 2 thumbs up from Basho.  The amazing thing is that Masahide wrote this haiku in 1688 and I think it still speaks volumns today, and in just 10 little words!  The barn can represent all sorts of things in a person's life.  I think of the barn as any idea, dream, person, plan, hope, etc.  And then the "burnt down" part is what life does to some of our dreams, etc.  Just when we think things are going smooth, or we have it figured out...poof...it's as if it goes up in flames!  So, what do we do when life burns down "your barn?" Sit there and lament about how something didn't work, how we failed, how we messed up, how someone betrayed you, whatever the case may be... Not me!  So, thats "the moon."  You look for the moon.  I gather that Masahide was Buddist, but from my Christian point of view, I would think of the moon as my blessings!  If we all counted our blessings instead of our disappointments, wouldn't life be so much more joyful?  I know there are alot of horrible experiences and heartbreaks in the world and it's hard to move on, but we weren't put on this Earth to live in the past and worry about the past.  How will staring at a pile of embers help yourself or anyone else.  Nope, I just brush off the soot, pray alot, and go to plan B!  And, I look for the moon!

Now,  I can see the moon!

These are a few of my favorite things...today!

I love collecting!  My sissies, Sheryl, Janet, and Patty, and I often wonder if there's some gene that causes collecting, or was there some set of environmental conditions that causes the compulsion to collect?  We're not sure, but all four of us "girls" collect!  Whatever happened in my family only affected the female DNA because my brother, Eric, does not collect...at all!  All 5 of us siblings stay in touch via e-mail - we call it "Sib Talk" so one day on Sib-Talk, we got on the subject of collecting and the 4 of us avid collectors decided to list all the collections we had ~ maybe sibling rivalry, but mostly just silly and fun.  I'm not sure who even won...all the lists were pretty long!  So what do we do with all these collections?  Usually my collections are grouped together, but some are strategically scattered throughout my house.  If I don't display an item, I don't keep it, unless it's a family heirloom or something sentimental.   Once an item has been in my house, it's always a little hard to see it go, but I'm not a hoarder, so if I can't use it, off it goes to Down Home for someone else to get excited about!  I've been asked what my favorite collection is and I really can't narrow it down to one or two - I love all my stuff!!!  So, I thought from time to time, I'd show you some of the things in my collection - These are a few of my favorite things...today!

Our corkscrew collection!  Yes, we love wine!

The newest addition to my elephant collection ~ A Mother's Day Present!

I love collecting old Bibles!

My Staghorn Utensil Collection! 

Our Bottle Corker Collection!  Yes...we love wine!!!

My raggedy little bear!  He was loved to pieces!



The cutest little red baby shoes! 



I love my 19th century clock face from old Sturbridge Village!

My early rocking horse ~ My grandson loves it's mohawk!

Part of my Eagle collection ~ a cast iron Case Threshing Machine Co. Eagle!

Some vintage readers!  My husband is Don and I'm Peggy ~ what are the odds!!! 

Home sweet home!

It was the last day in Brimfield and we finished loading the last few treasures and waited for the truck to pick up the container and take it to the railroad. We had arranged 12 noon for the pick up so we would have plenty of time to make our 6:05 flight out of Logan.  That would be enough time to drive an hour to the rental truck place, to fill the truck with gas before turning it in (to avoid the $9 per gallon charge), to get a cab and take the 15 minute drive to the Logan Airport in Boston.  We'd get to the airport early, but we could relax and read.  Sounds easy enough!  So, ok...12 noon...1 pm...2pm...finally at 2:50 the container is picked up!  Ok, that is NOT ok!!!  3 hours late - yikes!

Bye Container! See you in California!

Ok, we're still ok...off we go!  An hour drive to return the truck is now much longer because of traffic! Don decides to get off the Freeway and take side streets, but we get into traffic around Harvard and seriously the sidestreet traffic is worse than the Freeway - it was a nightmare! But it was cool to see the Harvard rowing teams practicing in the river as we sat at every red light, except the ones Don ran!!!  We seriously had no green lights!

Beautiful Scenery from the Red Lights

I call ahead and get a taxi to the truck rental place and he's waiting for us when we get there. We get in and I tell him to take any short cut he knows and Don says we'll give him an extra big tip if he get's us there on time.   By this time our flight is scheduled to take off in 40 minutes! Our adoreable taxi driver is now part of our team, and he tells us "I'm the man!"  And off we go!  When he screeched off and dodged in and out of the lanes, I knew we had the right guy!  And then that traffic again! 

The Traffic Never Stopped!

It seemed like a snail pace, and now I'm thinking about the fact that it's Friday, the 13th.  Hmmm?  Being a spirtual person, I try to put no creedance in superstitions, but Friday the 13th???  Maybe God is trying to tell us something.  So, I pray! I ask God to keep the delays going if we're not to get on the plane.  But if we're supposed to make the plane, then he better delay it!!!!  Our plane is supposed to leave at 6:05 and our cute taxi driver gets us there at 5:50 ~ We figured we'll miss it by the time we check our bags and get to the gate!  They tell us to hustle!  We get to gate 33 and the plane has been delayed for 20 minutes!!! Thank you God!!!  I had a fabulous time in Mass, but I'm ready to go home!!!  Even the turbulance doesn't totally freak me out because afterall God held it up for us!!! I love to go, but I love coming home even more!!!

xo ~ Peggy