The first weekend in November was a three day weekend as we took the first Friday of the month as a vacation day. There were no sales of interest but it was Rob's grandmother's birthday. She would have been 108 years old. Rob was very close to his grandmother as she lived next door to his family his entire childhood. We decided to visit the cemetery where his grandparents and his great uncle and aunt rest since the weather was nice and it was Grandma's birthday.
Rob never got to know his grandfather. He served in World War II.
Rob's grandmother shared the same headstone as his grandfather. Her statistics were on the back of the headstone and, as we guess was common in veteran's cemeteries at one time, her last name is not there. She is his grandfather's "wife". Rob saw his grandmother every day when he was growing up and he has a million great memories of her during those days.
Rob's great uncle and great aunt rest in the same cemetery. Rob's great uncle also served in World War II. He passed away before Rob was born.
Rob's great aunt had her own headstone next to that of his great uncle. She, too, is listed as "wife". Aunt Rose visited every other week and was also a big part of Rob's great childhood memories.
When we got home, this little guy was roaming around on our driveway. These Italian wall lizards have been multiplying Long Island since some were released from a pet store in 1966. They have been making their way eastward ever since. This is the first year we have seen them and we had four sightings this year. They are very beneficial to the garden and add a bit of exoticism to our yard. We look forward to seeing them come back every year!
On Saturday, we only had one sale on our list and that was okay because we had plans to go out to Uncle Bobby's house. Monica's sister and brother-in-law needed to grab a few things from there and we were going for the ride. First, the sale...
Our sale was a holiday sale which boasted lots of vendors and lots of holiday items. We were relatively sure we would see lots of Christmas things but the question was whether they would be reasonably priced. We were there before it opened.
Most of the booths were a mixture of new and vintage Christmas items and a mixture of reasonably priced and not so reasonably priced. We managed to find enough reasonably priced items to make the trip worthwhile.
When we got to Monica's sister's house to get ready for the trip out east, we were joined by this very low helicopter which seemed to be watching something very closely.
It stayed around for about twenty minutes hovering over a fairly small area. We found out a few days later that the helicopter was looking at the railroad tracks to make sure that there was no damage and no obstructions on the tracks. Someone must have seen something.
We spent a few hours at Uncle Bobby's house without any great purpose but it felt good to be out there. It always does. This is the back view of the main house on the property.
When deer come to visit, we most often see them in this area which was all clear early on.
A couple of hours later, the deer appeared in the side yard.
The weather was still nice and everything was still green though, as November rolled on, we wouldn't expect this to last much longer. We all stopped to get dinner when we left before adjourning to our own homes to relax. Over the course of the weekend, we did get to look over what we found at the church sale and this is what we saw:
Some holiday rubber ducks and a pair of ceramic Tappan salt and pepper shakers (marked Japan)
Christmas things! Two reindeer, some elves (all marked Japan), a plastic Santa in a sleigh, a ceramic snowman (Japan) and a pair of Santa salt and pepper shakers (Japan)
The following Tuesday was Election Day and, of course, we voted.
The second weekend was also a three-day weekend because of Veterans Day but there were so few sales and none that provided us with any reason to make the trip.
We did go to a local Open House as we like to do if the house seems interesting.
This picture came out pretty dark but you can see the great metallic backsplash and the great vintage exhaust fan in this kitchen. The wooden cabinets were vintage, too.
Here's a better picture of the kitchen from a different angle. The oven was in the wall and there some great rounded room divider shelves!
The bathroom was pink!
Another view of the great pink bathroom
The upstairs was a separate apartment with a stove in the wall, old wooden cabinets and an old radiator. It was a fun house.
Since it was a three day weekend, we went out with Monica's sister, brother-in law and the kids. Lenny and I were forced to pose for Monica's camera! It may not have been a weekend packed with sales but we still had lots of fun!
When the third weekend in November came, we finally had some sales! There were only two but that sounded great to us! Both were on Saturday and we got a nice early start.
The first sale was listed as a "vintage moving blowout sale" with lots of old stuff pictured in the ad. There was a mention of Christmas but we didn't see any in the pictures so we would have to see.
Lots of clutter means lots of digging!
The basement had this great bar and it was in the boxes near the bar. Unfortunately, aside from vintage glass ornaments of which we have too many, there was not much in the Christmas category here for us. We found two Christmas things but left the glass ornaments behind.
What a cool old television! What cool chairs! What a cool floor! We left with none of these but did go home with the two Christmas things, some records, some vintage ceramic turkeys and a soup bowl.
Our second sale was "an eclectic mix of vintage collectibles". We were hoping for the best.
The entire sale was located in a basement.
There was a decent amount of things in that basement but the star of the show was the bar!
A bird's eye view of the bar
Look at that cool pattern on the bar!
A look at the very cool bar stools for the basement bar. This is also a look at the only thing we took home from this sale...a Santa Gurley candle.
Although we didn't find much, we enjoyed seeing the bar and we enjoyed seeing the horse and carriage decoration on the lawn.
When we got home, we took a look at what we found and this is what we saw:
Hawaiian records
The Enchanted Tiki Room record and some more Hawaiian records
More records
A Campbell's soup bowl. It isn't exactly vintage (1980's) but Monica's family had three of these and Monica's dad gave one each to Monica's sister, Monica's brother and Monica. We had one. Now we have two! Soup for two from now on!
Ceramic turkeys made in Japan. A pair of salt and pepper shakers, a sugar bowl and a creamer.
A vintage plastic snowman, a ceramic reindeer (marked Japan) and a Santa Gurley candle.
We ended the week with both our anniversary and Rob's birthday. Beautiful roses for a beautiful girl.
We had our anniversary dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. It may not be vintage but we really love sushi!
We think this piece of wasabi was looking at us!
For Rob's birthday, we went for lunch at the Sweet Shop, a birthday traditional for him. It has been around since 1925 and it is in Rob's hometown. He used to go here with his grandmother and his parents when he was a kid.
While some things have changed, many things have not including the great bar stools and the great food!
Instead of birthday cake, Rob always requests birthday donuts from House Of Donuts which has been in his hometown since the 1970's and is still run by the same owner. As Rob always says, they have the best jelly crullers in the world. Everyone else is playing for second place!
It was a great start to November and there was so much of November left! We'll catch up with you later!
The Sweet shop is adorable! I want some jelly donuts now...
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Thanks, Mary! The Sweet Shop means a lot to me! I was not kidding about those jelly crullers. They are the best the world has ever known! (Rob)
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