Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night, adventures in antiquing, stop us from our Driving for Deco creed.  A friend and I were speaking about Anthony and my antiquing adventures. She asked if anything stopped us.

And it got me thinking.

And the answer is: Not usually.

But the creed doesn’t mention blood. My blood, and lots of it. But I’ll get to that later.

Adventures in Snow:

Always out for a bargain, and especially on something hard-to-find, we were at one of the larger and better antique malls, Ontario Mall in Farmington NY.  We’d gotten there late, just before closing, and did a quick run through.

Anthony spotted a couple of Fiesta mixing bowls with lids. Now, these are really difficult to find. And when you do, they are very expensive. These were priced on the low end of fair.

The question we faced, get them now or wait for the sale that started in the morning. Duh. For 20% off, we were adventurous and we waited.

Who knew there would be a snow storm that night with temperatures dropping into single digits? We did. But it didn’t stop us!

We were up, ready, and sitting in the parking lot about 20 minutes before the mall opened. And as soon as they opened, we ran to the case and bought our prize.

Adventures in Rain:

Our plan was to head out to Ephrata, Pa to check out a store we hadn’t been to in years, BK Trading Post (now closed at this location). The night before was storming. Braving the still overcast skies, we headed out. All was fine until we got off the Pennsylvania NE Extension.  And at first, it wasn’t too bad. However, once we got into the backroads of farm country, whew!

Rolling roads where each dip was flooded, and some light rain, all the while dodging the Amish in their buggies made for a long, long trip.

Did we get anything? Yes, a deco stepped amber glass fruit bowl.

We opted for a slightly different, and drier way to head over to Adamstown.

Heat:

A few years back, we visited some of my family in Houston. To say it was hot is an understatement.  As a lovely treat, we were taken to Schlitterbahn Waterpark.

Now, I inherited my mother’s Irish complexion. And so, I have two colors: Inside White and Outside Red. Summer itself is an adventure for me.

Knowing this, I both cover up and use vampire strength SPF sunscreen. I had an enjoyable time sitting in an inner tube floating down the lazy river. I made sure to slather on protection as directed. Anthony did the same and except for nearly drowning in 3 inches of water (but that’s his story to tell), it was an enjoyable day. Until that night. Somehow, we managed to burn the backs of our knees.

We went antiquing as usual the next day. It seemed as if everything we wanted to look at was on a bottom shelf.

The pain, the searing pain.

Did it stop us? No.

A few days later, and still hobbling, we went to Fair Park on a clear, hot, cloudless, hot, humid, hot day. I wilt in heat and stayed in the shadows as much as possible. But soon we were off and antiquing!

Adventures in the Gloom of night:

We have been known while vacationing to stop and window shop at closed antique stores. And if we scope out something, we will stay for the night. Now this may throw our plans off slightly but can be worth it. And after all, we’re loosey goosey, easy breezy, Freakin’ ‘tiquen guys.

Anthony found a beautiful ceiling light this way.

Blood:

Trigger warning for the squeamish – including me!

This is a bit of a story. But stay with it.

So, we are updating Anthony’s bathroom. I had the cabinet doors in the basement for painting. With only a couple of doors left to install, I had the “brilliant” idea (against Anthony’s better judgement) to carry 2 doors up from the basement to the second floor in one trip.

What could possibly happen?

The stairs from the first to second floor turn and there is a small landing. On this landing is a solid wood Gilbert Rhode display table. Up I go, clasping the doors in front of my body when somehow, I tripped up the steps. I can’t break my fall because my hands are full. But I stopped when my eyebrow made contact with the edge of the table.

So naturally, I continue up the stairs to install the doors.

Anthony, hearing me being taken out, runs up and sees a trail of blood. He’s freaking out as the blood is gushing from my head. And I’m asking for a bandage. PSA: Band-Aids don’t stick to gushing wounds.

He tries to hand me a towel. Am I grateful? No, I yell at him, “Not a good towel, use a junky one!”

All-the-while he’s urging me to go to the emergency room. I’m playing it off until the blood is dripping down my face, onto my shoulder and pooling on the floor. It starting to look like a crime scene. At this point I’m like, yea, I need to go to the ER.

With a roll of toilet paper pressed against my eye to sop up the blood, off we go to the nearest Urgent Care.

On the way to there, we passed a local antique store. And without a word, we both instinctively turned our heads to scope out the display windows. A humorous moment during a stressful time.

No, we didn’t stop. Well, not then.

5 stitches (I lucked out and there was a plastic surgeon on duty), a couple of hours later, and wearing a face mask like a pirate patch, but above my eye covering my brow and we were antiquing.

And in case you are wondering. Yes, I finished installing the cabinet doors before we left.

So yes, we are a bit crazy and this can result in unexpected adventures in antiquing – well maybe mostly to me. But sometimes you have to do what we have to do!

Happy And safe hunting!

Chris & Anthony (the Freakin’ ‘tiquing Guys)