Friday, August 22, 2008

Next Best Thing...

Since we are rather housebound with the sick kitty, we can't make our usual summer pilgrimage to the Big W this year, so I searched back over the photo archives and found a set of pictures I snapped at

the Factory Antique Mall in Verona, about ten miles or so from Waynesboro.

This is one of my favorite places to visit when I have some time to kill in the Shenandoah Valley. It's huge (as you will see), and it can be just a teeny bit overwhelming, but over the years it has yielded a number of treasures: a fun patchwork quilt done mostly in red and green tartans and a few brightly colored calicoes; numerous old linen postcards of places I've been to and places I dream of going to, including a growing collection of big name state postcards with which I used to decorate my office door back when I was working on social studies textbooks; a weird little guy made out of a green sock with glass eyes, a pom-pom nose, and felt features and hat (he sits on my computer desk, a mascot of sorts); and a copy of Virginia's History, my fourth grade social studies textbook.

I can't claim that you can find ANYTHING you are looking for at this antique mall, because I have rather long wish list and I haven't satisfied it there by even a quarter, but it certainly provides plenty of treasure hunting opportunities.



Are you a glass hen covered bowl collector?
Hope you brought a credit card and a car with a big trunk!

Or maybe you covet a more utilitarian type of glassware...
Think of the deposit money!

Are you looking to go retro during during the holidays?
For cross-eyed Santa mugs and splendidly spindly aluminum trees, look no farther!

If books are your passion, there are plenty to choose from here!


And, of course, every antique mall has at least one booth of plush toys and skeery dolls...


Really skeery dolls...


I always find something surprising at this place, and sometimes it isn't even an item on display. On this particular visit, I discovered--gasp!--some bathroom graffiti in the normally pristine restrooms...
I mean, I'm sure the perp's intentions were good, but you have to ask yourself--What would Jesus tag?

So next time you find yourself in the midst of the Shenandoah Valley, stop off at Verona and take a stroll around this place!

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8 Comments:

Blogger G. W. Ferguson said...

Ya had to follow some truly decent Book Porn with a truly skeery doll. Great. Fantastic. Yeah, I'll be sleeping well tonight.

Hope sick kitty isn't too sick. Sid and I are thinking about her.

9:09 PM  
Blogger Cathy VanPatten said...

She's on pretty even ground at the moment... not eating quite as heartily as she had been a week or so ago, but not refusing food either. And she's been letting us give her her morning pill without much ado. She's even stopped trying to hide when she thinks it might be pill time. Maybe it's because I've started giving her a treat after a successful pilling?

Since she's eating, we're going to give the pill pockets a try. If they work, that will allow us to be away from home for more than a day. I just don't want to board her at his point. I'd never forgive myself if she died alone in a kennel...

10:15 PM  
Blogger Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

You made me LOL at the line, "What would Jesus tag?" You know, I just don't have an answer to that!

What are pill pockets?

10:02 AM  
Blogger Cathy VanPatten said...

Heh! I thought it was so weird, because most graffiti is not quite so, um, clean cut? LOL!

Pill pockets are treats that you can kind of hollow out and hide the pill inside. If the cat will gobble up the treat, s/he will take the pill, all unaware! I still haven't gotten to Pet Smart to see if I can find them there, but I plan to soon.

Of course, she's not eating quite as well as she was, and she's not responding to her treats very enthusiastically either in the last day or two. Of course, she is a divacat, after all, and prone to being finicky.

10:27 AM  
Blogger Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

I'll have to look for pill pockets if we ever have to start giving Calvin daily pills. If Doogie ever gets sick, well, he's just gonna have a fast decline because he won't eat cat treats, nor can we successfully pop pills into him, even with the pill popper. He's a total spaz when he doesn't want something!

I hope Shelly is just playing the diva right now and not signalling that she feels yucky.

As for going out of town, do you have any close friends who would take care of her? My friends' cat has kidney disease, and she gets frequent saline IVs and daily pills. I've filled in by holding the cat while she gets her IV at home, and I've also taken her to the vet for her IVs when all the people who know how to give her the IV at home were out of town. This cat is easy to drug, so giving her pills is never a problem.

11:03 PM  
Blogger Cathy VanPatten said...

Our upstairs neighbor always feeds her when we go out of town, but Shelly associates her with our being gone and is just nasty to her. Hisses at her, does the little hunchy dance--you know... So there's no way she can give her a pill, or get her into her carrier for a trip to the vet. If we can get Shelly to take the pill in the middle of a treat, though, our neighbor could just leave it near her food bowl. (Shelly usually hides when she comes to feed her.)

It's hard to tell if she's just being persnickity or if she's declining again--at least at the moment. If it's the latter, it will become clear soon enough. Sigh... She seems content enough at the moment, though.

12:07 PM  
Blogger G. W. Ferguson said...

"It's hard to tell if she's just being persnickity or if she's declining again..."

I'm guessing she's regrouping and planning some heinous and unexpected outrage as punishment for the pill-pushing a la Fat Freddy's Cat:

I'm Fat Freddy's Cat
And I'm mean and tough
I don't take no guff
When I strut my stuff

I'm an ornery cuss
And I'm so full of piss
If I don't like your looks
I'll hit you with THIS! (whirling cat claws)

If you see me coming
Well, you better step aside
A lot of cats wouldn't
And a lot of cats couldn't
Hand a lickin' to a chicken
Or a razzing to a rat
After they finished messing around
With Fat Freddy's Cat!

Heeerre kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty!
(I'm Fat Freddy's CAT and I ain't no KITTY)

Heeerre kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty!
(Don't embarrass me in the middle of the city)

HEEERRE KITTY KITTY KITTY KITTY KITTY KITTY KITTY!
(I can make it rough on you if you're gonna act shitty)

I'll track your records up with my paws
And pop your waterbed with my claws
I'll shed more fur every time you sweep
I'll sit on your face when you're fast asleep

I'll shit in your shoe
And pee in your hat
And spray the whole house
With essence of cat.

Do you wanna eat some Krunchies?
(Do you wanna buy a duck?)
C'mon kitty--eat some Krunchies!
(C'mon Fatty, let's EAT!)

Oh, Gawd...the useless things stored in my memory banks.

4:24 PM  
Blogger Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

Ah, well. It was a thought. My friends' cat is so freaking old and sick that she doesn't have the energy to put up a fight. I'll consider that a good thing that Shelly has some fight left in her!

4:55 PM  

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