all things old...

I love all things old...I truely think I was born in the wrong era. My friend Randy and I talk about "ago" when ladies wore gloves and nylons, and men wore suits and hats...a time when people knew their neighbors and when going to walmart with the word "juicy" written across the butt of your sweatpants was out of the realm of imagination. Antique shops are the most intriguing places for me. I love to peruse the booths and imagine who wore the gloves, or used the tools, or sat on the furniture...what their lives must have been like...I love to buy old postcards with messages on the back- and wonder who the recipient and sender were and what their connections were . I love old photos - especially the ones where the family is dressed in formal victorian wear and their faces are all long and non smiling. I have quite a collection of pictures which one day when I figure out how, I will post. (help Julie But even better than antique shops is finding old things in places of abandonment. I have found wonderful old bottles, pieces of china, postcards and letters and many other fun things. The most recent find, which is not really a find is a pair of old doors from my husband's grandmother's barn. He gave me permission to take them as they had been sitting in the old barn in the dirt for years and years and didn't think anyone would care. I hope he is right as I have no desire to be "that girl who stole doors from the family"...Today I cleaned up door number two and it is amazing. It has two long panels on the top, a sideways panel, and below that two short vertical panels. Its a reddish hued wood and still has the hinges on it. Years ago I found a door knob fixture at an antique store --- it has white porcelain door knobs and the cool keyhole that you just know some little kid spent some time peeking through---At any rate, I grabbed hold of that old fixture on a whim today and guess what? It fit the door...I screwed it on and it looks so awesome. The other door is equally if not more awesome- it again is reddish hued, has six long narrow window panes on the top half- three up three down. The bottom half of the door has three horizontal panels. It doesn't have a door knob either but now I have a new quest...to find the perfect hardware for this door. Now I have two amazing doors hanging out in my living room and instead of watching tv, I'm watching the doors- not sure what I"m expecting to happen- perhaps a person from ago will step from behind them and befriend me and if I"m lucky, take me back there with them. Of course, the drawback to ago is no hairdryer, no airconditioning, no computer, no cell phone. Did I mention no hairdryer? So maybe I was born when I was meant to be. Regardless, I will continue my love affair with all things old, I will continue to seek out fabulous old houses and photographs, plates and silverware, postcards and keys,and I will continue to dream of the days of ago...