Reunited

The pups were just as happy to come home as we were. Above is Angel sitting in the front, since there isn't any room with Mato and his tongue in the back, below.

Angel has a habit of "huffing" the air conditioning. I don't know whether to worry about that or not.

Mato had to roll all over the bed to make sure he was really home.

It's nice to have the whole family together again.

The Questing Beast

I am sure that I am not the only one among us who often embarks on adventures, hoping to happen upon that elusive find. It has been a while since I had a satisfying Quest, but this last weekend my mom and I set forth and traveled afar in pursuit of bounty. We were well prepared for our mission, laden with picnical nourishment. It was a wonderful day for a picnic, and a picnical day for a lark. As you can see above, I was quite successful in the hunt.

We headed out early, driving south on Route 29 towards Ruckersville, Virginia, which is just south of Charlottesville. (Charlottesville is home to a particular Virginia University, and though my loyalties lie elsewhere in the state, I can admit that their institution is not without worth.) Our destination was the intersection of routes 29 and 33. Our first stop was the Greene House Shops Antique Mall (14843 Spotswood Trail, Ruckersville, VA 22968. 434-985-2438). I can give the establishment two thumbs up for variety, prices and ease of navigation. I found a ton of items, and nearly left with an antique ironing board. Our next stop was across the intersection, to a row of shops. We started at the far end, with a shop called Backwoods Antiques (14936 Spotswood Trail, Ruckersville, VA 22968. 434 990-4232‎). It held some potential for some diamonds in the rough, if you didn't mind searching amongst some fewments... I didn't find anything that called to me, but my mom bought a little something. When she asked for a bag, she was reluctantly given a bag from a trash can, complete with bloody tissues and other unmentionables, which we discovered when we returned home. (I pondered whether I should include that bit, but I figure if you're going to pull that kind of stunt in this day and age, you'd better be ready for it to hit the interwebs.)

The next stop was the shop nextdoor, Rambling Rose Antiques. (14926 Spotswood Trail, Ruckersville, VA 22968-3033. 434 985-2932‎) I had better success here, most notably several wood and metal pulleys with great charm. The photo above is taken from the intersection towards this row of shops. The nearest shop was our next stop, and as you walk down the sidewalk you approach Rambling Rose and Backwoods.

I found armloads of goods at the Country Store Antique Mall (14918 Spotswood Trail, Ruckersville, VA 22968. 434 985-3649‎). This was where I fulfilled my obligation of finding the heaviest, most awkward to carry items. The store is pretty big, and very full with a pretty good selection, but we happened to be there at the same time as every other shopper in the Greater Ruckersville Area, so navigating through some narrow spots and between oblivious customers was frustrating at times. But I wouldn't hold that against the establishment. A note to anyone considering a visit, they only take cash or check.

Our next stop was the Antiquers Mall (8287 Seminole TrailRuckersville, Virginia 22968. 434 985-1977) It's a bit down the road from the intersection we had been prowling, and you'll know it when you see the giant statues and yard art out front. (Hence the bull above.) This shop had the widest aisles, making navigation easier, which was especially useful because I picked up a long wooden yoke pretty early on. The range of items catered a little higher class than I typically shop - I like to find the junk and clean it up myself, and nicer antiques are not likely to withstand the daily stampedes at my house. But I found plenty of pieces nonetheless. Our last stop was Cattail Creek Antique and Garden, which was on our way home, just north of the intersection. (9157 Seminole Trail, Ruckersville, VA 22968-3320. 434 990-0090‎) It's a nursery and an antique/gift shop. I was hoping they would have a fiddle leaf fig tree, but alas they were sold out. Next time... The plants looked fabulous, the setting is amazing, and the shop is charming. I would call it less of an antique shop than a gift shop, but it is very well curated and pairs very nicely with the garden theme.

But you want to see more of the bounty, right? I will relent and show you some closer shots of my spoils (or tower of junk, as my husband called it).

Having been to the antiques cluster of Ruckersville, Virginia, I can say that I will not have been there just Once, but will Quest there again in the Future.

But I may allow myself some time to rest, because Questing is a tiring business.

Siblings

Lately I've been thinking a lot about siblings. Specifically the little things that you shared for so long, they're experiences and references that will be a part of your lives forever. You grow up, you move away, you don't see each other every day the way you used to. And then when you do see each other as adults, you start to remember all of those things that both of you know, but no one else knows. It can be almost like twins who invented a secret language that no one else understood. So this is my tribute to siblings, mostly big sisters and little brothers. (Above photo from astimefliesby, as is the photo below, which does bear some resemblance to us as kids.) Rocking the Hulk tshirt, from VintageFunland.

The photo below from thevintagemode reminds me of some pictures we took back in the day...

Definitely related, right? From ShadowsPerch.

I suspect these two don't always get along so well. Found at NostalgiqueArt.

This is truer to the brother-sister relationship. Find these scowls at MarthasAttic.

It is possible to have fun together, though. See below from jessicavintage.

Another from jessicavintage: even though the brother is older, how could I not include this moment in time?

I would not have been happy in either of these outfits. Found at jenniedots.

It's so much easier nowadays that boys are typically dressed like boys, unlike the poor kid in this pram who I found at happysteiler.

Matching outfits. From DogDayAfternoons. In our case, I was Alice and he had ears and a giant alarm clock.

debsatticfinds offers us this dour pair.

Not a photo, but too good not to share. Intelligence is hotly debated amongst siblings, isn't it? Now we have a chart for determining the likely range. Snatch it up from VintageButtercup. Give your kid brother (or sister) a squeeze for me this weekend. Just make sure he doesn't fall off the bench.

Evening Family Portrait: Early March

Merry Christmas

I hope your day was as lovely as mine was today. I took some pictures to share. (Paper lantern my boss brought back from Germany, re-wired to work in America, and found a converter for the bulb.) (Christmas card painted by my friend Oren, who is an accomplished water color artist.)

(Stockings hung with care.)

(Goodies.)

(Peppermints.)

( Wooden tree, Snowman and Santa.)

(Blocks and lights.)

(Ceramic tree.)

(Evidence of little ones.)

(Joy, in its natural form.)

Five Long Years

Today is my wedding anniversary. While Brian and I have been married 5 years, we have known each other since we were 15 years old. We met at summer camp.

Though recently we've decided that that's way too sweet, and we should start telling people we met at rehab.

That would be much more interesting, and fewer people would assume that we are childhood sweethearts. But the truth is that we met at a Methodist church camp, where we went canoeing and white water rafting.

That was the year several of us snuck out of our tents in the middle of the last night at camp, thinking we would walk around like cool teenagers. Someone saw our flashlights in the dark, as we hadn't been expecting any of the staff to be in the administrative office so late.

We all ran like the dickens back to our tents, but not all of us made it back. One girl ran into the woods rather than straight up the path through the power easement the way we had come, and was eventually discovered by the staff person who had hopped on a golf cart to give chase. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that I had brought a lighter as an additional source of light, which dropped out of my shorts as we sprinted. This gave the camp's administrators reason to believe that there had been more shenanigans than just the two flashlights they had seen. The next day, our last day at camp, they interrogated the girl who had been found in the woods and another girl who had thrown herself on the grenade and claimed to have also been out. But the staff wasn't satisfied, bringing everyone from our group together to interrogate us, hoping to smoke out the truth. After hours of this uncomfortable deadlock, I finally decided that I had to put an end to the truly ridiculous waste of our last moments at camp. And besides, they couldn't send us home early - our parents were probably already on their way to pick us up. I admitted that I had been out the night before, and that was the reason they saw more flashlights. My intent was to end this ordeal, but before the staff could regain composure and hide their surprise, another friend announced that he had also been out. Soon everyone who had been out was announcing that they, too, had been a part of this massive escape. One boy stood on his chair, in the middle of the concrete floor in the camp administration building, and said, "My name is [name extracted to protect the current law enforcement officer], and I am an alcoholic. ...I mean, I was out last night, too." So you see, within the first ten days of meeting each other, Brian and I participated in something of a group meeting you might see in rehab...

We stayed in touch by writing letters to each other, as electronic mail was not available to those outside the Pentagon.

We also would meet up at a mall situated between our homes, having our parents drive us there and back. Of course, after some time, we lost touch, since no one actually keeps in touch with camp buddies, right?

A few years passed, but we eventually reconnected through an invention called e-mail. He had gone off to college, and therefore had plenty of free time in front of a computer on a university network, and I had dragged the old family computer into my bedroom, and was soon staring at a black screen with luminous green text late into the evenings. We emailed like crazy, discussing important topics such as Newt Gingrich, which college I would be choosing to attend, and monkeys, until he came home for the summer break, and we were able to spend time in person. By that time, I had chosen a different college than the one he was attending, but the vast majority of our friendship was based on written communication anyway. We celebrated his birthday by going bowling, and on the score sheet, he drew stick figures of fat people falling on me, which was quite romantic.

When fall arrived, we headed off to our separate schools, and now that I had a new computer and a magical thing called "the ethernet," our communication really ramped up. Also around this time, a new technology called "instant messaging," where one could send a message from one computer nearly instantly to another computer (different from electronic mail in that it was more instant), was invented, and we spent many hours engaged in what the kids of the time called "chatting." Brian had become my best friend, and while there was a lot of nonsense and joking in all of that typing, there was also a lot of genuine support and friendship. By the end of winter break that year, we were dating. There are a lot of stories associated with our years of dating, to include the time we were busted for fishing without a license... the time his 1971 Dodge Charger R/T (with a 440 engine) broke down and while he was running to a pay phone to call for a tow, I was able to get it to start and drove it to a parking lot... the time he got me a cellular telephone device so we could talk over long distance for free, and the first bill was over $800... and the time we didn't actually break up when I got a puppy... But since this is about our wedding anniversary, I won't go much into our dating years.

We got engaged at the top of the Hancock Tower in Chicago during a weekend trip there. I had convinced him that I would love a sapphire ring - otherwise I think he would still be saving for the most expensive diamond ring on the planet. And the ring he found was absolutely perfect.

We got married in our dining room, with our County's Clerk of the Court (a friend) officiating, and his wife directing, and our parents, brothers and grandmothers attending. I wore a blue dress my mom and I found on sale at a department store. We then negotiated the sales woman down even further.

We've been through job transitions together, the acquisitions and deaths of dogs, and the purchase of two homes. We've attended more blues concerts than I can count, accomplished more home improvement projects than I ever would have predicted we could take on, and we're still the best of friends. All this despite my considerable foibles! Two years ago we were in Chicago on vacation during the week of our anniversary. Somehow, we both managed to forget our anniversary until about 9:30 p.m. when we were at the airport waiting to board our flight home. I glanced at the tv playing CNN, and caught a glimpse of the date. It slowly dawned on me that it was our wedding anniversary. I laughed and laughed, until I could finally say to a very confused Brian, "happy anniversary!" I am happy to report that we haven't driven each other to rehab yet. But if we went, we'd go together. Five long years. You know just what I'm talking about.