Dishes in the Mornin, Dishes in the Evenin, Dishes at Suppertime

Poor neglected blog :(. I'll do my best to get back to building a fun site now that most of my summer travel is out of the way.

I'm Linking this post to 2nd Time Around Tuesday at A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words, since my souvenir is definitely used but new to me. Check out the other posts linked to this week's 2nd Time Around by clicking on the link above.

WHAT I FOUND ON TWO RECENT TRIPS:

Thrifty Souvenir Find, on our vacation trip to Summersville, WV: plates with an "R"top mark (my initial)--set of 6 for $10. I found them in an antique store that had a big sign on the front door: "Good Junk." My kind of place! This set has led to a new obsession as I try to identify this piece of restaurant ware. The stamp on the back is McNichol China (West Virginia).


Fiestaware Tent Sale: At the end of June we went to Homer Laughlin in Newell, WV. By all accounts I shouldn't have had such a good time. I don't even use/collect Fiesta, I dislike lines and HATE the heat, and I was dealing with an infected hangnail that landed me in the ER earlier in the week. But I had the time of my life! It was such fun, and we're already planning a trip to the next tent sale in October. The staff was so organized, the people in line were all laid back, and the process of getting from car to tent was super efficient.

We arrived at 6am to get a ticket and got tickets around 7:30am. We went back to our hotel for breakfast and killed some time at the casino down the street. BTW, casinos at 7am are sort of sad.

Back in line at 9am, and got to the tent at noon. People in line were so chatty and friendly. It was hot, but there were places where the line went through shade, and sometimes there were places to sit. It really didn't feel like 3 hours.

Time spent shopping: about 1/2 hour.
Time spent waiting in line to checkout: about 45 minutes.
Best find: a divided plate with a scrolled edge for $4
Biggest haul: my boss got service for 16 (4 of 4 different colors), lots of serving pieces for $150
Funniest moment: when a friend lost her mind mid-hunt & changed the colors she was looking for
Weird and wacky: ended up in line behind someone I went to college with, nowhere near there, 15 years ago.

Hall Pottery 50% Off Sale: People in line told us about another local pottery. After we cooled off and had some lunch we made our way to Hall's. JACKPOT!

Ramekins and small bowls for .05!
giant plates (charger size and larger) for .75!
a huge white rectange server for 2.50!

I spent a total of $11 and have put all my pieces to use in my kitchen. I'll show some of those items on future posts.

Here we are, all loaded up and ready to go home:



But the most valuable gain on this trip wasn't the actual dishes. It was a new interest in some pottery history. That area of West Virginia/Ohio is connected to McNicol China (the R plates) via the potters that migrated from one area to the other. I have done lots of internet reading on the history of these areas, and I'm interested to learn more. I'd better hurry and look for some books before Ted Strickland closes all our libraries.