The humidity broke in the early evening yesterday.
Hallelujah!
I know there will be more ahead, but I’m grateful for two days without rain and a chance to get out in the garden and weed, mow, and weed whack. It’s sunny this morning and we finally have the windows open and the air conditioner off.
Today I’m sharing some photos of Milne Antiques and Design. It’s such a beautiful shop, situated in a historic building near the waterfront in Kingston.
The front of the shop where many of the pots and garden decorations live. Obviously, I’ve spent a lot of time here!
Hello! I’d like this table and chairs, please.
The other side of the front of the shop. I hadn’t even noticed my little blue chair at this point. I was literally taking in the bigger picture!
That’s Don talking to Jasmine as he examines some vintage suitcases.
Rebekah loves vintage signs and graphics. Another reason I’m drawn to this shop.
A view toward the back of the shop.
And toward the front of the shop.
Love this wardrobe.
The zinc barrels. Want one.
The chair. I love this chair. It’s so charming, so Adirondack camp-ish. And the colors, of course. It’s a bit fragile and I have no room for another chair, but…
I could have taken many more photos and will when I next visit the shop. But visiting the shop is dangerous for me! As you know, I’ve purchased quite a few treasures in the past few months!
So yesterday, as I was working on the dollhouse, trying to melt the glue that is everywhere – the assembler, whoever he/she was, used hot glue and never cleaned up any of the excess – I got a message from Rick. He and Doug were driving back from the city and he’s just received a text from another one of Rebekah’s great staff saying they had the perfect garden table and chairs for them. (Rick and Doug had asked them to keep an eye out, as they have a new patio outside where they want a round table and chairs). He wanted my opinion. It’s a lovely dark green table with 4 very comfortable chairs and as soon as I saw it, I said “Yes, get it!” And so they did.
Another satisfied customer.
One other note: Last night, after dinner, I was cleaning Stella’s cooktop. (I’ve never been so rigorous about cleaning up grease and spills on a stove in my life!) I lifted the griddle and cleaned underneath. I polished the chrome. And then I turned on a burner and observed the blue flame against the chrome and was immediately taken back to the day the propane was hooked up for the first time and, after years and years of not having a gas stove, we saw that beautiful blue flame. It was such a strong sense memory.
We’ll be celebrating her first anniversary with us on August 29th.
I commemorate everything.
Happy Sunday.
I could spend days in that shop! The trolley that is in the picture with Don made my heart palpitate! Goodness, to be rich!
Glad the humidity broke, even for only a few days.
Have a lovely Sunday 😊
If only! As Don and I say, we need at least two more rooms in this house.
lots to look at and like in that shop …
… and now i want a zinc barrel, too! i can see putting a glass top on it and making it an end table.
maybe i will go to a couple antique/ “junk” shops this week. :) glad you have such a nice shop nearby.
and the humidity broke!
happy sunday to you and don, everyone!
kathy in iowa
Aren’t they gorgeous?
Still slightly humid but so much better than yesterday.
Oh, my! I think you’ve shown remarkable restraint! That shop is amazing! It would definitely be dangerous for me, as well. You can bet that if that Westie terrier in the first photo had been a Wire Fox…I’d be off to Kingston, post haste!
It’s very dangerous. All we were going there for was to look at one suitcase. We ended up getting four items!
The shop is just wonderful – I would love to visit there
And staying the obvious , isn’t Don tall !
Siobhan
He is 6’4 1/2″, Siobhan. I’m 5’9″ and my late brother was 6’4.” Tall people in my family. Tall people in Don’s.
So happy to hear your humidity finally broke!
No wonder you keep going back to that place….I would get into so much trouble there. First off those pots…and the sundial. Then I saw this beautiful rusted rooster. And of course…that garden cart! In a way I’m sad I don’t live closer….but…it’s probably better that I don’t. I would lose all my willpower for sure.
Don’t work too hard in the yard today….but enjoy! ;)
It’s difficult to go in and not leave with something.
What a lovely shop. I know you find treasures there often (and I can see why). Such a fun shop and so visually stimulating I’d be in there for hours just looking. Love that little chair you found and I see many things I could claim as mine!!! Less humidity makes for a much happier outing!
Less humidity allowed me to mow today. The grass was at least 6 inches long!
That is a seriously tempting shop. I love shops where there are treasures to be discovered around every corner. I wish there were shops like that near me…but in a way I’m glad there aren’t because not only would I go broke, I’ll have a very full house and garden!
So do we. We really don’t need anything. That shop has too many treasures!
oh my.
I used to know a family in Colorado that had the oblong glass topped table like that green/aqua one in it! I loved it!
it brought back wonderful memories! I was 8 and it was the first time I had seen that kind of table ‘inside’ a house! lol
I’m not even a shopper but wow! I would love browsing around that place. enchanting comes to mind!
The table is so beautiful!
I would also love to go and browse in the shop. It looks fantastic. Did you check to see if Narnia was on the other side of the wardrobe?
No, I didn’t! But it’s tempting!
Oh my goodness, that antique store! That white wardrobe with the pink flowers is a fabulous piece. That little red slatted chair needs a home, and I love the three tiered tea cart that goes with that green table and chairs. Sigh.
If I could squeeze that chair in somewhere, I would. But we just don’e have room!
Claudia, yes, I want a barrel. LOL So many cute things in that shop. I loved looking. Blessings, xoxo, Susie
p.s. glad it cooled down.
Me too! It’s a wee bit humid, but nothing big. So grateful for nicer weather!
I would never want to leave that shop. It has so many lovely things I could buy.
Marilyn
I understand. I feel the same way!
I love your love for Stella, and it’s so friggin’ adorable that you commemorate everything! That’s a wonderful trait – making everything so very special.
Aw, thank you so much, Jenny!
Oh, my! That 3 tiered bar/ garden cart made me stop and just gasp a little bit. Then I scrolled down as I read, and kept returning to that picture. I will be dreaming about that sweet cart.
Glad your humidity broke. We have had several outstanding days in a row now, and we are not to even hit the mid 80’s again until next weekend. We are drying out a bit, but I will gladly have windows open in exchange for watering.
Hope you finished your to-do list today without over doing it! That isn’t always easy, I know.
That cart is beautiful, that’s for sure.
We’re still in the 80s, unfortunately, but I won’t complain. It’s not as humid and it’s not raining.
I overdid it a bit, but I only have a two day window to mow everything until it rains again!
Ha, I find the older I get, the more I tend to “commemorate” things as well. The days/years become more precious, more reason to celebrate.
I saw at least half a dozen things I’d like in that wonderful shop thanks to all your pictures. That is a place to seriously stay away from unless you just received a good sized inheritance.
Exactly. Everything is more precious nowadays, Kay.
That shop is a dream. I as well adore vintage signs; so quirky in today’s life. My eye especially settled on that wheeled cart. I have a cousin who’s a genteel Southerner (not wealthy, but refined…and a collector!) with the most-beautiful home you could set eyes upon (he has a flair for decorating and lived a long time in New Orleans in the pre-Katrina years; is really ‘into’ that French vibe of the city, with those gorgeous green & pink interiors, elegant wrought iron and ferns and shutters for filtered light; gentle ceiling fans, fine woods and sparkling glass decanters); he uses a cart like that indoors as a drink cart for entertaining, but how wonderful would it be for plants, too, on a patio or porch.
“I commemorate everything.” Celebrations, traditions; things; memories. I think it’s great that you commemorate, Claudia, and why not? It’s a feel-good; fun!
I guess it’s not really a wheeled cart in the store; it’s a plant stand, right?
No, it’s a cart – perhaps a tea cart.
It’s always a good idea to celebrate!
I grew up in a family that made a celebration of every little thing and I so appreciate that long after I was out of their house, my mother still included and invited me for anything going on at the home, especially every single personal and national holiday; any excuse for getting together and sharing a meal. I always felt very welcomed and I think about that a lot as I grow older; I was lucky. My husband has so many wonderful qualities but he’s very unsentimental, living entirely in the moment with no time for the past or memories and not big on traditions, a factor of his own upbringing which wasn’t as golden as mine. So, if it happens between us now, it’s me who has to prompt/urge and make happen, which is okay; it was just that I was conditioned to always being the recipient of good family times and not the planner, so I have to work harder to pull things off if we ever commemorate anything (of course we do!).
Don’t mean for that to sound like some big gripe; it’s just reality and different personalities/influences. But I also know darn well that if Mom hadn’t, for instance, dreamed up our family vacays/road trips, Dad wouldn’t have been behind it because he was a contented homebody whereas Mom was the explorer. Dad would go willingly and obviously had fun, too, but he’d just steer in whatever direction Mom gave him; thank goodness he liked to drive. (I think she also knew intuitively that he needed a real break from his work and he’d never get it if he just stayed home.)
I have a friend who says the same about her husband that once she gets him out on the road and in the car or on a boat or plane, they’re good, but she’s got to be the organizer. I alternatively have a guy-friend (from the age of 13 with whom I still have contact) and he’s the opposite; he lives to travel in retirement, does all the complicated planning, all the wife has to do is pack her bag but she doesn’t really want to ever go anywhere and would prefer to stay home and putter. They’re well off and he wants to GO — and I mean around the world (and they’ve already been a lot of places lately; near to this time last year, they cruised the Danube; more recently, Costa Rica, Caribbean); but she tends to balk/put on the skids (whereas I positively drool over such adventures!). Different strokes, true? I have a cousin who has zero interest in travel. Her parents never took her anywhere for vacation and she’s never taken her kids anywhere, either. They just have interest in other things on the homefront.
I always go back to Nigella Lawson, the British cook, who talks about Christmas and how it can seem sometimes a melancholy time for people but she feels it means you have to dive in all the more determinedly and put yourself into the spirit of it, the doing of it, like indeed the decorating of a tree big or small, the lights, the candles, a bit of gift wrapping and cookie-making, carols and cocoa; pull out the stops and it’ll get you in the mood in no time even if at the beginning of it, you didn’t feel at all celebratory. You’re right, it’s always a good idea to celebrate!
Thank you, Vicki!
So glad your intense humidity finally broke for a bit. Our weather has been gorgeous lately – high 70’s – low 80’s and not too much humidity. As much as we’d like every day to be sunny and nice like this, we really do need some rain. As I was outside watering potted plants today, I noticed the grass on the north side of our house is brown and crisp.
I could get in trouble in that store, too. I see so many things that I’d love. As it is, yesterday I was at one of my favorite vintage stores and I came home with two more pieces of pottery. I am running out of room to display things!
I suffer from the same problem – where do I put all the pottery I collect?? I understand! But congrats on finding two more pieces!
Oh what a wonderful place to shop. I would be in so much trouble. But then, how would I get it all back home? LOL
Love your little chair. Precious.
Judy
It’s a danger zone, that shop!
I would have to have the ice cream sign! Much to dangerous a place to visit but very fun.
Very fun, Kay!
I absolutely love antique shops!…there is an antique mall in this area that is quite large and has two floors full of wonderful things…it takes me a few hours to make it through all of it!…I can see that they have so many things I would love in that shop that I would be there for quite a while also!…Enjoy your dry and less humid days…I have certainly been enjoying mine!…Now the forecast is for rain again for most of the week…such is life Claudia…lol…
Rain here starting Tuesday, Nancy. Sigh.
Hi Claudia,
Those zinc barrels are called dolly tubs in England and they were for washing clothes. They used a wooden paddle of sorts inside. Here’s a photo:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/calotype46/8394990458/
I found a wonderful, non-toxic cleaner for the chrome top on our O’K & M: Ecos’s Parsely Plus. The person who restored ours recommended Windex, which we weren’t willing to use.
What have you found to keep the chrome shiny, if you don’t mind sharing?
Sorry for typo! Of course that’s Parsley, not Parsely!
xo
Yes, I had heard that they were called dolly tubs. Someone I follow on IG who lives in England has them.
Since ours was newly chromed last year, I haven’t had to do too much upkeep except for wiping it clean and polishing with a cloth. I will check out your recommendation.
Wow! Ours, though also newly chromed, gets really dirty with spattered & dripped food & paw prints: we cook so much, and also our cats like to walk across it.
I’m so impressed that you can keep yours clean with just a cloth!
We cook a lot, too. I clean it after every cooking session. I use Dawn on a cloth, then I rinse, then I polish. It doesn’t look like it did when it first arrived, but it looks pretty good!
HI,Claudia , I would like to state another obvious. One of the BEST real prize here, is the actual building!
Not to put down in anyway the FAB Collection. I could do a lot of damage there as well.
We could sure use some of of that humidity,and rain here in the west! As you know I work in Emergency Management,unfortunate in July we have lost over 1,000 Homes .Several animals and 2 very Brave ,and Noble firefighters, (wbst,Dictionary “Noble” of excellent or superior quality.
righteous virtuous good honorable upright decent worthy moral ethical reputable magnanimous unselfish generous!
Yes folks Global warming is here and is moving fast! Thank-you, Claudia for letting me try to pass the word,a bit! Judy A.
Yes, the building was one of many that were devoted to boat building and repair and it’s one of the few that has retained all those beams.
The fires are devastating. I can’t imagine how devastating it is to lose a home to fire, or worse – in the case of animals and firefighters, their lives. Heartbreaking. Just heartbreaking. Hang in there, Judy.
Hi Claudia, I just wanted to tell you I’m so proud of my youngest girl, she is just in her 20’s and lives with two roommates, they have taken in 7 Foster Dogs,and various other pets left homeless by fire. Hoping to reunite them with family, when they can get back home or get a home. I Think Young People like that give us hope . ?
Thank-You for your Comfort and Strength, you are a
” Real Stand up gal”! Judy A ;^)
Bless them! They give me hope. Compassion and love will never be out of fashion. xo