April Showers Continue

A page from my old all-time favorite Mary Engelbreit calendar




Over the weekend we had a brief respite from the rain. On Friday I rode along with my husband to work in order to shop nearer to the big city. I started my quest in a new (to me) thrift store in Kensington, Maryland. It struck me as the kind of place that you would need to check out quite frequently in order to catch a treasure. Friday was not my day for finding my treasure. I decided to move on to Home Goods, a place I could browse in for hours. The clearance aisles were beckoning! I was able to find lavender water for my vintage linens. I had picked out several "black & white" items for the wedding shower, but eventually put all of them back because the backgrounds were more ivory than white. Spent a considerable amount of time going through the clearance aisles, my absolute favorites, but came up empty handed.


On to Marshall's just to make sure there wasn't anything hiding there that had not turned up at Home Goods. No such luck, but enjoyed looking. A.C. Moore was my next stop. I have been trying to find wood or "plastic" shabby embellishments for a hutch I am re-painting and trying to tone down its primitive country look. None to be had at A.C. Moore, but I did purchase a tool for attaching snaps to my "vintage" baby bibs, etc. I have destroyed countless snaps while trying to attach them with several different brands of "snap sets." This tool cost a lot more, but if it works it should save me money in the long run if I don't destroy as many snaps!


Joined my husband for a late lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Had a great salad and didn't get dessert! After futile attempts to find embellishments at Michaels, Home Depot and Lowe's, I've decided to follow the recommendations of Cindy at My Romantic Home and order them from Do It Yourself Chic.


Saturday morning I got a late start going to a community yard sale. I was able to find a few "buys." I decided to check out a yard sale that had begun on Friday and figured that I would be too late to find much. I was excited to find an assortment of very old books. My lot included three old geography books, a copy of Cicero's orations, several history books and a lovely 1902 poetry book which will be wonderful for collages, scrapbooking and framing. Rain began again in the evening!

Rain continued on Sunday, but we were busy working on our "old kitchen," which is the oldest part of our house. After the Victorian part of the house was added, it was used as a servants' kitchen. Unfortunately for me, during the first 20 odd years of living here the servants were long gone and it was far from the kitchen of my dreams. Our plans now are to turn it into a small library/office.

On this gloomy Monday I have wedding related "to dos" to accomplish, orders from our website and Etsy to package, lots of ironing, continue painting hutch and the list goes on.......

Sunday Musings

I thought that a little tour of the area in which we live might interest others and perk someone's interest to visit the area in the future. The photo above, of Zion Episcopal Church, was taken on a much brighter and warmer day. We are in the grip of another cool and dreary stretch of weather, even though spring began weeks ago. Zion has long been a landmark on the horizon of this historic town, Charles Town, West Virginia. The main body of the church was built in 1815 and its graveyard is reputed to having the largest number of graves of the Washington family (George's family) in the United States. George Washington surveyed this area for Lord Fairfax and later his brother Charles founded the town. Jefferson County was home to not only his brothers, but nephews, nieces and so on down through the years. Can you tell I am a former history teacher???

Charles Town is in the extreme eastern panhandle of West Virginia, only about 6-8 miles from both the Maryland and Virginia borders, and therefore has become a bedroom community for D.C. and northern Virginia. We are not natives to the area, but transplants from the metropolitan Baltimore-Washington area over 25 years ago. Ironically, after moving here, one of my other obsessions, genealogy, led me to discover that some of my Tidewater Virginia ancestors were some of the earliest settlers in the area.

Jefferson County includes Harper's Ferry, infamous for John Brown's raid, Charles Town Courthouse where John Brown was tried and the spot where he was hung is several blocks from our home, the banks of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, many historic Washington homes, Shepherd University, orchards, mountains and a growing population from all parts of the nation.

We bought an old home in town, affectionately referred to as either the Manor or the Money Pit, take your choice. The oldest portion of the house dates to about 1790-1800 and the larger, Victorian portion to 1889. As I have said earlier we are finishing an addition to the house at this time to provide more "modern" conveniences.

Just recently I joined the Etsy community and have begun an attempt to "de-stash" as well as market my own creations. We have operated an Ebay store for quite a few years and also maintain a new website, but I found Etsy to be a pleasant addition to my business. I hope to add a link to my Etsy shop to this blog as soon as I can figure out how to do it! The last week or so I feel like I have had an endless course in "computereez" (is that a word?).

My daughter just called to let me know that she is safely back at her college from a weekend at Myrtle Beach. She said the weather was great and I am quite envious. She chose a Southern school and is loving it. Although born in Maryland, I grew up partially in North Carolina and love the South and most all things Southern. In the future, we hope to retire in the Carolinas or perhaps Georgia.

My long list of "To Dos" is calling me. Hope to post a little closer together as time goes on.