Junkin' For Treasure

I have always been a treasure/junk hunter. I began at an early age, about 7 years old.
Hopping on my sting-ray bike with it's sparkly banana seat and a basket attached to the front handle-bars, I would ride a mile out of town and spend the day digging through the treasures at the town dump. After filling my basket with treasures I would pedal home.  My mother would no longer let me bring my treasures in the house after she discovered the awful smell coming out from under my bed was the pheasant wing with feathers I had found several weeks earlier.  My treasures were put in the garage and eventually hauled off to the dump, and then I would invariably drag them home again!
Over 50 years later I am still dragging home treasures.

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I purchased the above picture in a junk store as a college student  almost 40 years ago.

I thought it looked a lot like me when I was young.

I took the following pictures of a quaint second hand store in a small town in New Mexico.

Unfortunately the store was closed.  

I would have bought this handsome, paper mache frog to sit on the bench in my Garden Shed.

This coming up year I will be spending more time in my little red house now that we no longer have it as a rental.  As space is limited in the 600 square foot home, I have been selling some of my finds.  I still love to dig through dusty boxes for the all illusive treasure, but I have to limit myself now.  Here is one of  my New Years Resolutions:

DO NOT USE A CART WHEN SHOPPING FOR TREASURES! 

I will still allow myself to hunt for those one of a kind vintage or antique items, but I can only buy what I can carry.

How long do you think this resolution will last?  

Antique Brass Bed Frame

I have always wanted an ornate brass bed frame .  I have several of the old iron ones, but I continually kept my eye out for an ornate brass one.  I really would like to have one similar to what the Munsters have in their spiderweb filled bed-room, but those big ornate ones were just too much for my budget. Several years ago I found one that would do.

Everything pictured above was purchased in second hand thrift stores over the years.  

If you are familiar with antique beds, you realize that they are not made for a queen size mattress, so how do you address the dilemma of how to fit a queen sized mattress on a full size frame?

Well, sometimes you just have to improvise.

I suggested we take the cover off the box spring and put the frame together inside the springs.  Hubby used a saws-all and cut jigs in each corner to allow the curves of the bed frame to fit in snugly against the box spring.  We have always used old waterbed drawers under our bed to set the box- spring on so it was a matter of matching everything together before cutting the wood.

We were surprised that it actually went together as easily as it did.  O.k. it really wasn't that easy, but we finally got it together. ( Only breaking off a small piece of the frame.)

SWEET DREAMS

A Week or Two of Wandering

Loaded up little "Rosie"  and hit the road.  We had a destination in sight (meeting the kids in Mesa Verde National Park), but not a specific way to get there.  Found this beautiful camp spot high in the Colorado Rockies.  With a place to fish, tall pines, and a great camp host,  it was so beautiful we stayed for 3 days.....just because......... it was so beautiful.

As we traveled around we discovered a National Park we didn't know existed.  Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Set up camp in the park for a couple of days, but hubby was a bit claustrophobic from staying in the camp trailer, so we set up our tent.  We were voted by the nightly camp strollers as the best camp!

I had purchased 20 of these mums on an after Memorial Day special.  Didn't have time to get them all planted before we left so they were thrown in the back of the vehicle and brightened up our camp table each day.

A friendly doe settled under a tree to get of the sun in the adjoining campground.

found a great second-hand junk store in a small town in New Mexico

Absolutely fell in love with this quaint home turned into a Vintage Store in Taos.

Met Virginia, an ole cowgirl who makes these wreaths.  We had a good visit, come to find out we had both lived in the same little town in California, just at different times.

She can be found every weekend at the Farmington, New Mexico Flea Market.  Stop by and say "Howdy".

I began making my own soap several years before I was married.  I even rendered the fat of hogs to make lard for the soap making process.  My college roommate's dad was a butcher, and provided me with all the tallow or fat I needed.  I appreciate the many soap makers who continue this time honored craft.  I  just had to stop and see this little store, it was filled to the brim with the most delicious soaps.  Had a real nice visit with the owner, Michelle, and purchased a couple of bars.  She gifted me this bar of soap as we were leaving.

Michelle grows many of the ingredients she puts in her soaps.

find her products here

www.CherokeeSoap.com

She had these great mats on her floor, painted cardboard with  Sparkly stars!

When traveling, it is not always the places you go or see that make the trip memorable, but the beautiful people you meet along the way.

MY KITCHEN CHALKBOARD

MY COUNTRY KITCHEN CHALKBOARD AND ISLAND

click on this link to see the project start to finish

click here
   CRICKET SONG FARM 

Kick off your boots, sit a spell and read about all things organic,
My life living close to the land, raising kids and animals,
sharing my mishaps, adventures, experiences and lessons learned.
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