Speaking at the 'Old Sleepy Eye' Convention....

I had a wonderful time, speaking at the Old Sleepy Eye Convention... So many Great Folk! I gathered a few totes of treasures, and set a display up for them, to see what I am so incredibly passionate about...I spoke on the Wonderful book, 'For the Love of Old'... Barb H. {sisters garden} gave me this, several years ago, for Christmas... I will always treasure it...The author, Mary Randolph Carter, {Polo Ralph Lauren} Validates, what I have done, for so many years... I have spoken on this subject, before, and I think people are finally able to appreciate, worn, mossy, mended, chipped, frayed, tarnished, gnarly and well loved things... It makes me feel good... I e-mailed Mary Randolph Carter, a year ago, and thanked her, so much... for giving me armour... It's been a struggle, for many years... being the 'Junk Dealer' in Fairfax... well... times, they are a changin'! The same folks, who used to scoff at my old, gnarly stuff, are grabbing it ahead of me at sales...Oh my... Chips and cracks, well, they aren't near as important to some, as they used to be... Ah... Finally... Folks finally realized... this stuff is old... and, by all rights, if it was used, like it was intended... well... may have a chip or two... after all, a hundred years, or more... is a mighty long time.... to be left unscathed....In my opinion... if it isn't worn... what a dull, uneventful life... I love things, and people, as you know... that have lived a colorful life... they are always the most interesting! Mary was so kind, and e-mailed me back... she was very happy, I loved her book so... She is a good soul... I was stunned, by all the wonderful Old Sleepy Eye... From Flour Sacks, to Pitchers... Oh my... It was so cool, seeing such a group, all together in one place... A Very enjoyable Afternoon... This was my display... My, it's so easy to do a table top... Took me about 20 minutes, to throw this together... I took old, dark ironstone... a gnarly oil painting... tarnished, old silver...gnarly, old paint brushes... whisk brooms... Cool Books...Make-do pin cushions...wonderful bird's nests, from my pal, Charlie... an old gnarly clock... lovely old Crazy Quilts... handmade lace, from the late 1800's... and the concrete boys... I think I covered most of what I do, and Mary wrote about.... Chipped, Faded, Mended, Mossy...well loved 'old things'...And... our favorite line, today was..."It is... What it is..." This is a Staffordshire Platter,{1850's} I pulled from the Old Dairy Cupboard, this morning... It's been broken in two, and repaired, many, many years back... oh... but I loved it, no matter... The lady I bought it from, years ago, has since, passed away... She saw the good in it too.... I'll never forget her... a very wise woman....

This is a snippet, of the Convention...I didn't ask how many members were attending, but, I would guess around 45... It was a nice turn out! I was glad to see my old friend Bill, I didn't know he was a member... Cool! Everyone was so nice... They seemed to enjoy time we spent together... I loved seeing all the Great Stoneware! Oh My!!!

Thanks to Mark N. he popped over, and helped me pack up fast... We were heading to a sale, and were on the run...We came home with a very nice load, from the sale...

I am exhausted... A long week... and tomorrow is no better... I have a huge load on the truck, I need to have it unloaded, to go get another load, in Amana, at 9:30... Oh My... The Fun Never Ends!

Barb C.