Antiques, Junque, Folques, and Worque

In my adult life, I have never had the opportunity to live in the same town with my family. In June of last year, when my husband retired from the itinerate ministry of the United Methodist Church, we moved to the town where my mother, our son's family, two of my sisters' families, and one of my brothers and his family live. The picture shows the historic clock tower situated in the center of town.

Those of you who have always lived near your close relatives probably take the easy access to family members for granted, but I don't. I have loved being able to walk over to see Mother when I want to. I have loved being able to see out-of-town family when they come to visit Mother.

Today was a perfect example of the joys of living near family. I got up early, did some basic housecleaning (polishing furniture and vacuuming floors) while my DH mopped the non-carpeted floors and started the dishwasher.

Enjoying the heady elation of having accomplished most of my goals for the day before 10:30 AM, I called my mother, who lives only three blocks from me, and asked if she'd like to go roam through a couple of large antique/flea market/junk places. When she agreed, I called two of my sisters who also live nearby and found one who could shake free for a couple of hours to go with us. My sister brought along her adult son who is back home while he is recovering from a stroke. We had a ball!

We strolled and chatted our way through an enormous flea-market-style antique mall that must have at least 200 different booths. When one of us found something of interest, all of us gathered to admire, discuss, measure, and evaluate the item. I didn't find a sideboard like I wanted and Mother didn't find the kitchen cabinet she was looking for, but each of us bought a couple of small items that appealed to us: a small step stool, a lighted ceramic church, a Lord's Supper plate, a pretty basket, and a book or two.

We were there for about two hours before going out and having a nice late lunch together. My sister and her son had to move on to other responsibilities, but Mother and I were rejuvenated after lunch and fit in a quick perusal of a smaller antique mall before going on back home.

And the cherry on the icecream sundae that today turned out to be was that when I got home, my DH had spent the day installing shelves in our large storage closet to make it more usable. When I get a new battery for my digital camera I may post a picture. Now I can unpack some more -- I have a place to put some stuff!

Thank you to my dearly beloved!!