Published on September 24, 2008 :: One Comment
While set up and selling at the annual Schoharie Fall Antiques Show last weekend, we enjoyed a truly perfect early fall weekend. The weather could not have been nicer — chilly in the mornings, sunny in the afternoons. Dealers set up both indoors and out at this show (we are always outside) and the weather decides, year to year, which is the more desirable choice. This year there was no question – outside was the place to be!
In spite of cloudy skies on Wall Street, we had a successful show. We enjoyed seeing old friends and regular customers, as well as meeting new ones. We moved quite a bit of merchandise and were pleased with our sales.
On the blogging front, I have an apology to make to my loyal readers (yes, all three of you.) I am sorry that I have not been writing here as regularly as I was. My site is going through its awkward adolescent stage. I am going to be changing and improving it, and am in communication with some consultants who may be able to help me. But I realize that my reaction has been to write here less, if at all, as if I am waiting for all the changes to happen. But it doesn’t work that way, and these changes are going to take time. So I am resolved to continue posting, even if it is not all I envision it to be…yet.
Published on September 10, 2008 :: One Comment
The absolute, hands-down, least glamorous part of being an antique dealer is the clutter. (Followed closely by climbing around in other people’s attics and basements, but we perversely think that is fun.) I am talking about the accumulation of the stuff that … we can’t seem to sell, or we broke, or we didn’t want in the first place but had to buy in order to get something else, or that looked good at the time but now we hate…
This stuff piles up, and perhaps somehow multiplies when we are not looking. And, okay – I admit it. Steven and I are organizationally challenged. No really. We have a nice big barn and a two-car garage and a shop in Hudson, and we regularly run out of storage space. Then, when we have clogged up our storage options the stuff backs up into the house. And that is when I get crazy.
As I mentioned in my previous post, this seems to be my season for cleaning out and attempting to create order (the aforementioned Fall Frenzy). And this week Steve has a couple of days at home for a change, so Now is the Time. Seize the Moment, I say! In that spirit, I made a call Tuesday about a roll-off dumpster and managed to have one delivered in an hour! And I have a guy with a yen for scrap metal coming this morning to haul away a non-functioning snowblower and lawn-mower, and anything else we can convince him to take. Steve worked really hard all day, moving and rearranging and culling. Again, this is not the glamorous side of the biz, but exciting nonetheless. My barn is already looking friendly and useful to me again, instead of crowded and dirty.
Today I will take a picture of the dumpster for you. Not attractive in a conventional sense, perhaps, but rich with symbolism to me — change, renewal, possibilities.
Published on September 3, 2008 :: One Comment
We are home from North Carolina, back in upstate New York, and happy to see the first day of school. Our older son is in 3rd grade, and READY to get back to school, see his friends and end his summer boredom.
See, hardly a backward glance!
My 4 yr old just made me play Don’t Break the Ice. Its one of those obnoxious toddler games that takes 10 minutes to set up and 20 seconds to play. He won.
Speaking of the 4 yr old, the big news is that he is starting a half-day preschool program next Monday!! Three precious and wonderful hours every morning, Monday thru Friday. I cannot express how excited I am. Its kind of embarassing, really. Of course I have at least 8 hours worth of stuff I imagine doing in those 3 hours, but no surprise there.
In the meantime I am in the throes of something – call it Fall Frenzy. There is much talk of Spring Cleaning and so forth earlier in the year, but this is the season that inspires me to throw out, clean up, rearrange. We run so much in the summer, between work and Youth Camp and travel, that the house really falls apart by this time. All flat surfaces are covered, with folded laundry that needs putting away, boxes of random camp detritus that need sorting, various antiques that have not made it to the shop or into show stock. Immediately to my left, for instance, there is a stack of art books purchased down south, a soccer ball, a plastic gladiator sword and two large old country baskets. And that is my dining table.
So I am going to stop typing and get some work done before the older offspring gets back off that bus and says, “I’m hungry” and “What can I do???” Not necessarily in that order.
