Pickles & Jalapeños

I love many things.  I really, really love pickles.  I often say I am going to make some, one of these days, but that has never happened.  My Great Grandmother, Grandmother and Mother all made pickles.  Delicious pickles.  I wish I would've paid attention to how to do it.  But I never did and now it is too late to learn from them.  My Sister Michele makes pickles and they are very good.  She is too busy to teach me though.  

My friend Jon Walsh brought me some of the pickles his Mother Judy Walsh made.  I have two jars of them and I have enjoyed looking at them for several weeks.  This picture doesn't do them justice.  They truly are beautiful though.  In fact so beautiful I was hesitant to open them.

Tonight I decided to make egg salad for dinner and it was time to finally open up Judy's pickles.

Aren't they beauties?  You should taste them and smell them.  They are dills and they are pickled to perfection.  I ate two before chopping some up for my egg salad.

I didn't mention it before but Judy also pickles jalapeños in a dill style.  Again this picture does not do justice to how beautiful they appear in the jar.

You can eat these baby's right out of the jar.  They are incredible.  Following Jon's advice I took some of them out and chopped them up to add to my 

egg salad.

I was given two jars of the jalapeños.  The jar that I just opened won't last long.
I love them!

Some boiled eggs, miracle whip (I also love mayonnaise and miracle whip) some garlic and a little pepper added to Judy's dill pickles and jalapeño's and I was in heaven!!!!

AND Jon told me that Judy might teach me how to make pickles!

That is very good news.

When ever I am in the kitchen, or almost anywhere in the house, you can always count on Rita and Sami to be on guard duty lest something drop and hit the floor.  It is an important job and they do it well.  They didn't get anything tonight but I thought you might like to see them while they were on kitchen detail.

So now you know one of my passions...actually several of my passions.

Meanwhile Dan and I will be working the McCamman Estate Sale the next few days.  Jon will be there to help us.  His Dad, Mike, I think will be assisting as well.  Details of that event are available on our facebook page.

Thank you for stopping by!

I hope you will take some time and enjoy a good pickle!

What have Rick & Dan been up to?

This is where ALL of our spare time has gone lately.  Here is an advance copy of the ad that will appear in the Oregon Coast Today this coming week.  Dave Price, publisher of Oregon Coast Today, designed this ad for us.  I think it is beautiful.  Dave always does such great work.  I hope next time you come to visit us, at the Little Antique Mall, you will be sure to pick up a free copy of

 Oregon Coast Today.  You might also "like" them on facebook.  Oregon Coast Today always posts the best pictures.

I will also mention that we have another great estate sale coming up over on Devils Lake.  It will be held within two weeks of the Adolphson Estate Sale.

So if you wonder what Rick & Dan have been up to...we are pricing, pricing, pricing.

We hope to see you at the Adolphson Estate Sale this coming Thursday morning!!!

A Wonderful Treat

Yesterday, while working in our Mall, we had a wonderful treat in the form of a magical visitor.

We noticed a vehicle full of people parking a large trailer carrying an unusual old wagon.  When the merry band of visitors were shopping in the Mall a conversation began which often happens in our business.  It turns out the wagon that was being towed was a gypsy wagon and our visitors were a family of entertainers on their way to faerieworlds in Eugene, Oregon.

Bill went out of the Mall and returned with one of his wonderful puppets.  This photo does not do them justice at all and I apologize for that.  Bill and his puppet, which he made himself, entertained us.  What a magical and special moment it was.  I shall always remember it.

Bill and Sam have created a wonderful world and many wonderful characters.  They reside on Widbey Island and you can visit their world at nymbolssecretgarden.com

You just never know who you might meet or what might happen while you are at the Little Antique Mall.

Magazines and Sock Monkeys

We recently blogged about magazines that featured country primitives and antiques.  We mentioned several publications that we missed because they had ceased publishing.   We also was pretty vocal about Country Living that still is in publication and was once considered almost the Holy Grail of country style magazines.

In our blog we stated that we had become weary of the bland, whiteness of Country Living.  We noted that it had been going on for years so we and others have cancelled our subscriptions.  Today we received our last copy in the mail.  It is Country Living's July/August edition.  We present their latest cover to you and we rest our case.

I also have written about sock monkeys and even did an update the other day.  Well here comes another sock monkey report.

Our dear friend Trudy (thank you for reading our blog Trudy) saw the blog on sock monkeys.  She was in very recently and found this sock monkey which had gone undetected in our Mall.  Trudy quickly purchased the sock monkey and gave it to me for my birthday.  I love it and I love Trudy!  Thank you Trudy.  Here is the new edition to our sock monkey family.

Before leaving work today I noticed that my new sock monkey had teamed up with the sock monkey that resides in our Mall.  You know the one...the one that makes me nervous!  I don't know quite what to make of this new team.

All I can say is that when you come to visit us at the Little Antique Mall know that you are being watched by a couple of sock monkeys.  Always in the background, always present and always watching are those sock monkeys.  

Think about it.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOOD MAGAZINES?

We have been in business on the Central Oregon Coast for almost 21 years now.   From the very beginning my two favorite publications were Country Living and Country Home magazines.  I looked forward to them every month.  They inspired me and educated me on a hobby that we loved so much that we turned it into a business.

In this issue we were so proud to be listed as a resource for one of the homes featured.

Each issue was filled with early american and country primitives and lots of color.  Country Home was never afraid of color.  In this issue Lincoln City was noted as being one of the Top 10 places in the United States to shop for antiques. "Not Just Another" Little Antique Mall, Inc. was a big reason for that honored designation.

A few years ago we began to notice a change in Country Living.  There was less color and more emphasis on white or pastels.

There is nothing wrong with showing whites and less color but it became a common theme for Country Living and that has been ongoing for years now.  In fact it has gone on so long that, to me, each issue looked just like the last.  I cancelled our subscription.  We are not the only ones to do so.  I have talked to several collectors and dealers who have done the same thing.  

One of our Antique Dealers, Pam, wrote a note along with her cancellation.  Pam mentioned she had subscribed for 30 years but just couldn't support the magazine any longer.  Last time we spoke she still hadn't received an answer to her letter.

Meanwhile Country Home began showing white walls but they still embraced color.  Early American painted furniture has always been a favorite of ours.  In fact, we have collected it for years.

In particular I always looked forward to the Holiday Issues.  I got great Holiday ideas and it just became a part of our Holiday Tradition.  I love this apple wreath.

Then the unthinkable occurred. County Home stopped publishing!   The recession has been hard on the magazine industry.  Country Home was a casualty.  It was a sad day when I learned that.  I have kept my old Country Homes and treasure each and every one of them.

I found Cottage Living.  It showed exteriors and interiors of cottages.  It really featured how to collect and show off your collections in a much smaller space or a cottage space if you will. I enjoyed that very much but then they suffered the same fate as Country Home.  They no longer publish.

Country Style by Better Homes and Gardens was also interesting and showed color.  They too disappeared.

Better Homes and Gardens would issue a "Decorating With Antiques" magazine from time to time.  It also no longer appears.  A relic from the past.

So now I subscribe to Country Sampler.  They offer layouts that reflect good country antiques and they show color.  They also feature a lot of new reproduction collectibles which really aren't my cup of tea.

I have also began reading Romantic Country.  They also embrace color and it gives me some great ideas from time to time.

But nothing has really taken the place of Country Home or the older version of Country Living.  I realize there is so much out there on the internet now that magazines have a difficult time competing.  But I guess I am old fashioned.  I still like a magazine.  I like holding it, turning the pages and reading.

I have an iPad, which I dearly love, and I have taken several magazine subscriptions that are delivered on my iPad.  It isn't the same and I don't like reading my magazine on a screen.  I want it in my hand so I can study it closely and share with others easily the things that I find interesting.

Those are my thoughts today on magazines!

Happy Collecting Everyone!

IT SCARES ME!!

I blogged not too long ago about sock monkeys.  I have received a lot of great feedback about that subject on facebook and in our Mall.  

It has been fun.

This sock monkey came into our Mall not too long ago.  As soon as it arrived it caught my eye.  It scares me somehow.  I may have to buy it and bring it home just so I know where it is at, at all times!  This sock monkey looks like it could get into trouble.

I don't know whether it is the ears, the eyes or even the mouth.  

There is something peculiar about this  sock monkey.  

I'll keep you posted.

A few favorite things this time of year!

I haven't blogged in over a month.  I have several topics lined up to blog about but I need to get my head back into writing and taking pictures.  

So to start off I thought I'd just mention a few of my favorite things this time of year!  It is the season for foxglove and I love them.  They come in purple and in white around here.  I find both varieties beautiful and look forward to them every year.

I also love rhododendrons.  Their season is almost over by now.  The rain and wind haven't been kind to the blooms, this year,  but for a day or two things were pretty spectacular around town.  Another favorite of mine.

And to top it off I love carrot cake from the Rockfish Bakery which is just few doors south of the Little Antique Mall, Inc.  It is the BEST!  I apologize for this picture.  I always share my piece of carrot cake with my coworkers.  I couldn't help but eat my share before I took this picture.  It is THAT good!

Okay, those are a few of my favorite things right now.  Hopefully this brief blog will get my head back into the blogging game!  Take some time and enjoy the flowers this time of year and to enjoy a good piece of carrot cake!