A nice find in a favourite antique store, and abit of nostalgia

I enjoy browsing in an antique store, in the downtown area of the city where I live. I came upon Memories, by accident last summer - it is tucked below a good hotel, on a side street. The owner of the store, is Rose, and she keeps an interesting selection of items to please a wide variety of treasure seekers - ranging  from the dollar table, including used books, and ornaments - to fine crystal, and china.

Rose's items are carefully labelled, with some prices "Firm", and some not. The store is small, and the aisles are narrow, and there is plenty of breakable merchandise. Rose makes sure to advise being careful when browsing, illustrating how to hold one's large purse in front, of your body, not in back.

Last summer I found several pairs of earrings for 25 cents per pair, and she was meticulous in finding backs for each pair for me, and wrapped my package with care.

This June I found myself in the vicinity of Memories, so popped in for a visit, and a browse. I found the sweet pottery dog, shown at the top of this post, for $5.00 (Firm), and gladly snapped it up, to carry as I continued to look. I knew without question that I would take him home. The price was right for me, and it reminded me of my sweet Sheltie, Rocky.

Rose was as happy as I with the purchase, she exclaimed, "Oh, good someone is going to take him home!" She explained that when she was a child her grandmother had a larger version of the same pottery dog, which sat on the floor.

I noticed the stamp on the bottom of my dog, and so decided to look the pottery up, when I returned home.

I was interested to learn that Danesi has some history, as a maker of chalkware, which is what this dog is made of. I believe it is created with a mold. It has a history as an inexpensive form of decoration that everyone could afford for their homes, as early as the late 19th century, up to I believe the 1960's.

This isn't a particular valuable piece of pottery, but it warms my heart. I  recognize the kind of chalkware, that my mother also had in our house, such as kitchen plaques, so it also provides just abit of nostalgia for me.

Summer often feels like a good time for reflecting on happy memories. For me, I think this is the result of  a more relaxed pace with longer evenings, and opportunities to walk, and recall other happy summers.

I was able to cut and paste this picture right off the multiple listing site. When my parents bought this house it cost $25,000, and it is now priced at around 350, 000!!

 Recently I found the house my parents had built back in 1968, listed on multiple listings for sale, and it has brought back many memories of the summer we moved in. It was a time of wonder, and newness, and lots of exploring for us kids, as we hopped on our bikes and explored every day. There were excavations as new houses were still going up, and neighbourhood parks, and a large community swimming pool, and friends to meet. Directly across from us was a similar house, and I and a new friend devised a system of communicating from our bedroom windows (mine was the one on the left above the door), and her's was directly across. We developed a form of code and flashed our small bedroom lamps to each other at night. I think we did this for most of the summer. What fun!

I am hoping that summer is a time of  relaxation for you, and an opportunity to remember, and make happy memories.

Hugs.