Another antique mall in a mill! And it’s in the same town as our last pick Bernat Antiques.
This place at first seemed very desolate. It has a huge parking lot which was so empty we weren’t even sure if the place was open. But it was… and it was sufficiently large and weird enough for a very satisfying poke.
I always love the places that have surprise extra floors or a basement full of cheaper oddities. This place didn’t disappoint in that department! Mixed in with the usual assortment of cute little glass bottles there was a joyous mixture of ill-titled books, locally created art, some bizarre cast iron banks, tiny pans, and even a dish that looked like an ammonite.
The Wizard of Oz collectable Jack in the boxes were absolute nightmare fuel and I’m all for that. As well as the child sized pantaloons because well, where else are you going to find that?? This place had a real nice mix of things and price ranges depending on the booth that caught your eye. And interestingly enough it also was lacking in racist bullshit. I mean there was some but not nearly as much as I’d expected…
What do I love more than an antique store? An antique store in an old mill! And this one was super close to where I used to live a few years ago. And I had no idea! Why? Because it’s not in the center of town, it’s kind of off in a residential area which honestly makes it more lovable.
I was also happy this place was big with a bunch of different vendors, none of which seemed be shying on the cursed doll scale. Obviously loved that. Still hope someday I’ll live somewhere where I can have my own terrifying doll display. I’m not going to guarantee it won’t just be a tree in the front yard with old naked dolls just hanging from it to distress passers by and let it be known I’d never live within an HOA.
In addition to whole dolls they also had baskets of random parts as well as witchy booth with all sorts of weird potions like Bat Drool. I don’t know what Bat Drool is but I am intrigued. There was also a great deal of things you could buy to put in a nursery and scar your children for life mostly of the clown variety but here too I use the term clown with great lenience. Oh, and a lot of dubious wall art that gave off a bit of that uncomfortable ick feeling including two toddlers engaged in what appears to be a nonconsensual kiss! Is it cute, awkward, or just ewe? You decide.
Apologies this blog entry is two weeks late. I am trying to clean up my “haven’t actually posted” list. ANYWAY, it’s been a very long time since I have done anything athletic. I used to be very fit when I ran a farm but these days? Yeeeeeah. Between trying to stay put to avoid covid and not having a farm to run I’ve become quite “domesticated,” as my father once said about his overly rotund cat. It was time to change things up.
That’s why when my mother and myself were invited to join the Muddy Princess Mud Run we went for it. And then spent months not preparing. I was a little concerned because I’d done the Warrior Dash at the same location some years ago and that was proper hard. When I was way more muscular. I had learned I was afraid of heights that day – as I had one leg over a 17-foot A frame and the other on the opposing side – and that was anything but fun. My shitty ex balked and sighed in annoyance until two complete strangers helped me down. Bless those people. They were so nice it totally overrode the red flags my ex was waving so proudly. BUT ANYWAY…
Thankfully the Muddy Princess was not nearly so hardcore. At its heart it was a fundraising event for breast cancer. And a women-only space for the day. Which is good because the Warrior Dash sounded like something to accomplish but the Muddy Princess Mud Run just sounded like someone’s weird fetish. And with so many people in tutus I continued to ponder this even after arriving.
I’d been talked into a tutu too and was feeling ridiculous but I guess that’s part of the fun. My mother was already having a hard morning. Her stomach was upset even before we left. So imagine how happy I was to find the first few obstacles on this obstacle course were insanely easy – like walk through the bubbles! I breathed a sigh of relief. I was going to smoke this course.
Some of the obstacles got somewhat harder – go over the wall, climb the tires, that sort of thing, but I managed to do all of them except one which I’ll get to. We were probably a third of the way through the course when my mother started looking like absolute dogshit. I felt she was overheating but every time I asked her she insisted she wasn’t. But she was getting weak.
Halfway through the race I called out to the rest of the group to wait up. I’d found her some shade and she needed a good long rest. As we sat there one of our team members got a text alerting her that her partner who was fine just minutes ago was now being rushed to the hospital. It had nothing to do with the event but thank goodness it happened there where there were so many people to help! She was rocked. We all were. But there was nothing any of us could do so we continued on. My mother was doing better again and ready to go.
Then we came to the giant inflatable pink sofa wall. It was STUPID. Only two on my team even attempted it, one being me, and we both failed HARD. The damn obstacle was only halfway inflated making it impossible to grab ahold of and even more impossible for it to stand up long enough to allow people to climb over it. It rocked violently back and forth. People were flying through the air. The women who did go over seemed to accomplish this through pure luck and had to be pulled over from the other side by someone else as there was not a goddamn thing to hold onto at the top to hurl yourself over. We left this obstacle super annoyed. Later we’d be talking to the EMT’s on duty and they said this wall was killing them. That in two hours they’d attended to around ten injuries from this damn thing – mostly broken arms but also a few broken legs and a dislocated shoulder. None of these maimed people allowed for themselves to be driven to the hospital by ambulance. All wanted to drive themselves and only asked to be driven to their car and released. Why? Because ambulance rides are expensive!! If this doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the American healthcare system I don’t know what does.
We had gotten around 2/3rds of the way when my mother started to crash again. Fortunately, we were just outside a new obstacle that had to have participants go through one by one instead of by group so there was an obscenely long line. I left her in the only bit of shade I could find and she sat on a log recovering and waiting for us. She knew where I was in line by my crazy orange hair. My cousin kept her company. Eventually I noticed an event truck making it’s rounds and I ran back to my mom to ask if she needed me to hail them down and get her back to the beginning but she insisted she was feeling better. So I went through the obstacle – which was a 2-foot-deep puddle of “mud” water that I am sure just smelled like cow poop, which we had to go through on our back. A chain-link fence was above us to grab and propel us forward. It was fun! And I was soaked and cool. I wish my mother hadn’t skipped this obstacle. She might be cool too!
She joined us again after and we completed the rest of the course. When the last big obstacle came up my mother did try it. It was a tall adult sized inflatable slide that you had to climb up and slide down. It was easy. She should have been able to make it but I guess she lost her grip on the last rung and fell to the bottom. I was concerned but she didn’t try it again. The last obstacle was another climb under something kind of deal. There were a lot of those on that day and earlier on I happily hummed Bridge Over the River Kwi as we went. I thought it was funny. My cousin looked up like she was trying to figure out what that damn tune was. Just a stupid military reference, my little hint of joyful chaos.
And then we were gathering our medals at the finish line – so close to the air-conditioned car that I could stop worrying about my mother. But first we had to gather our things and go get a bottle of water and maybe something to eat. In full sun. Outside a food truck. Mother found shade next to the food truck in a tent but it wasn’t enough. After a few bites of fruit leather she was on the ground dry heaving. Weak and unable to say much we tried to give her water. The teenagers who were running the food truck were wide eyed and terrified of what was going down. This was beyond their pay grade but they gave her a cooler to sit on and so much free water.
And then before I had any idea what was going on word got out there was someone overheating over here and I was suddenly surrounded on all sides by off duty nurses who were putting water-soaked napkins on her neck and forehead and telling her to lie down on the ground with her feet elevated. They asked if she could get to the shower station not far away but she was too weak. Instead they took her T-shirt and soaked it and came back. One nurse in particular refused to leave her until she’d proved she could eat a whole hot dog bun given to us for free by those same freaked out teenagers. And a piece of candy which was manifested from the crowd. She struggled but got it down.
By then the EMTs arrived. Two who came in and tested her blood sugar and took her temperature. By now she was recovering but another member of our crew was down. Same reason. Heat stroke. Although she decided to stay in direct sunlight even when being attended to by the same nurses and EMTs. Why? Because the tent smelled weird. I shit you not. Mother on the other hand had gained enough stamina to be led to a golf cart and driven to the shower station where she was doused with ice cold water. The color came back to her face. She was speaking coherently again.
It took quite a while but eventually my mother was able to make it to another tent halfway between this one and the parking lot where she rested again before making it to the car. She spent most of this time lamenting how stupid and weak she was but we told her she was doing fine, it happens to the best of us. Even me. Heat stroke was so imminent during my trip to see Rhode Island’s only covered bridge that I had to send my travel companion out to bring the car back to me. It was either that or an ambulance. I knew I was teetering shockingly close to needing that.
But hey this whole experience gave me lots of tips on how to cool down should it happen again! Put cold on the back of the neck, the forehead, the armpits, and possibly even the crotch. Soak your clothing if you can. Lay down with your feet elevated. Drink. Drink some more.
Despite all the drama it was fun and I don’t regret the experience at all and quite frankly it was a nice way to kick my own ass as far as getting back into shape. It’s time. And hey, I’m sure the charity part of this event means something too. Anyway, if you find yourself thinking about doing one of these runs you should try it! And if you need encouragement here’s a few photos of me getting through the course with all the elegance of a drunk buffalo.
The antique stores we had chosen earlier on in the day were kind of meh so we decided a change it up a little bit and check out another fish store. I’m still looking for places I can buy healthy plants and maybe more for my own freshwater tank. It’d be nice to be able to help support one of these little stores instead of continuing to buy plants online.
When we drove up I noticed their logo was a piece of coral and I wondered if we hadn’t accidentally ended up at another saltwater store. The storefront windows were all blocked with posters, I am sure to keep algae growth down, and DAMN were these some clean tanks! And quite a few of them! Every single one of them was fresh water so I have no idea what the logo was about. There was a pretty sweet collection of larger fish – cichlids, angels, discus, and an adorable catfish that was swimming upside-down for some reason. Everyone looked healthy and they even and some snails and freshwater shrimp! The range of nano fish was also decent. They even had some rainbow fish.
But what really made me smile was a big set of shelves full of various driftwood. You’d think a store with driftwood would have plants but alas no, every tank I noticed with plants had garish plastic ones. Oh well, at least now I know. Otherwise this place looks like a great place for fish or driftwood. They even had a little river tank that kept the fish on the move. It was sweet.
The second antique store we attempted to check out today was actually the first as well. We drove into the wrong side of the parking lot and ended up at some other place that was closed. We then left and after looking at a photo of the place decided that’s not where we were and returned. The other side of the parking lot indeed had a store that was open and it was… interesting.
This place was CRAMPED. Just furniture and random things everywhere. Really reminded me of the junk shops in Maine or just living with a hoarder! I can’t really blame the guy though. It appears the place is run by one older gentleman who takes in new merchandise almost on the daily all by himself.
As such this place could have had some gems. You just never know. This place had a lot of model cars and an unhealthy amount of likely haunted wall paintings and photos. All mixed among a whole herd of grandfather clocks. I found a really decent birdcage for $75 and a vaguely body sized travelling trunk for $30. And a series of boxes made in the style of Old Timey soap which I still can’t figure out if they were satire or not.
As claustrophobic as this place was I still think it was a good place to check out. I didn’t go home with anything but the guy working the shop said the inventory was always changing so who knows. Might be a fun place to re-check if we find ourselves back in the area.
Another day, another antique store! On this particular outing we were heading into Swansea MA to see what they had to offer.The Emporium had an impressive sounding name so we decided to start there. This was another one of those places that seemed to have estate sale kind of items. I was hoping maybe something weird for a good price.
When we walked in it was a pretty cramped place. A lot of the usual antiques were spread around – you know the granny dishes and whatnot. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly special until we were near the back of the shop. It’s at that point several items showed us how absolutely random a place like this could be. It started with a dish of soap bars set out like Halloween candy. And a bunch of metal signs someone clearly printed for people with quirky decorating styles. Then we found a Hilary Clinton nutcracker (because why not) and a set of mammie jars half off. I couldn’t guess as to why. I also found a weird clock with an actual face on it for $13. It seemed to be the only moderately reasonable priced thing so far.
But the real fun was in the back room which was currently being guarded by a doll in a little baby bouncer which just looked… well, a bit like a dead baby. Probably shouldn’t put hyper realistic looking dolls in baby furniture. It’s unsettling. Doll was $40. I then found an awesome camping cat carrier – $50. Fun extra finds were a cat bed in the shape of a duck (pelican?) with an open mouth, several shelves worth of hand sanitizer, an old Easter Bunny head ($25) and a bag of Depends (which I guess you might need if you saw that Easter bunny coming at you.)
Honestly don’t know if this store was overpriced or just in a town that has high price values on things but either way I went home not terribly impressed. If you happen to be in the area doing other things by all means give it a good poke – you never know what you’ll find in a place like this – but I wouldn’t make it a destination.
We ended our day of antiquing at the Quaboag Valley Antique Center which is in town… and yes I had to badly parallel park in traffic to be anywhere near it which is always added fun! (Pleeeease stop asking me to do this. I am but a simple country bumpkin with no real use of parallel parking skills.)
This place lacked the great size of the Yankee Flea Market but that’s OK. Everything here was fine, cultured, and well displayed. And for the most part it was the usual things you’d find in a shop like this – pretty baubles, fine china, and of course a basement full of furniture. That’s not to say we didn’t find anything interesting because we did… I found a black ventriloquist dummy which, how fucking weird is that?! I always see haunted dolls as being a white person hobby but OK! Happy to bring others onboard! Actually, Twitter told me the dummy was half of the comedy team Willie Tyler and Lester. Lester was the doll and apparently they showed up on Laugh In at one point. Soooo want to see that…
I also found a canary cage, the kind miners would bring canaries into mines with which was almost as morbid as the decrepit doll pram on the other side of the shop. Whhhy do those always call to me?! Oh! And a little metal stove that was silver! I’ve seen dozens of these things before but they’re always cast iron, never silver colored?! Very cool.
Anyway, if you happen to be in town, are in need of good sturdy furniture, or are checking out other antique places in the area this shop might be worth a looksey.
The Yankee Flea market was another fun stop because it is enormous with over 200 vendors. As such you never know what you’re going to find! We spent quite a while here picking through the various booths and finding everything under the sun. The great thing about a place with this many vendors is that you’ll find not just a large variety of items but also price ranges. There’s something for everyone! And I came home with a jar of marbles since I have stopped taking marble photos at every location. I guess at the time I didn’t feel particularly encouraged to do so but it was a cute little signature of mine.
We picked through creepy clowns, dolls with vaguely threatening auras, cow creamers in the midst of an existential crisis, bad taxidermy, cast iron everything, hilarious Disney knock offs that looked just the slightest bit off, a model of a human spine, a marshmallow man with a changing face, and even an Old Timey Bottle reading “Cathartic Compound” which I am sure was something that throw you on your ass. Oh, and random “Pin the Pistol on the Cowboy” game and a mug with a naked woman and a wobbly butt. Very weird but hilarious. There were even a couple booths that appeared to be maintained by artists selling their works which is always lovely to see. You get out there!
All and all this was definitely one of the larger venues I’d go back to in a few months or years when everything has rolled over again. Fun fun!
I’m setting up my own heavily planted 55-gallon fish tank and up until now I have been buying plants (and shrimp!) online but I had a bad nitrate spike and figured I could use some more plants quick to help resolve the issue. And so I asked the allmighty Google gods if there were any mom-and-pop shops still in existence in the area. The answer was…. not a lot. Most have been obliterated by PetCo and PetSmart which is a bleeding shame. I can tell you so many stories of a misspent youth perusing all these tiny weird pet shops of the past. You NEVER knew what you were about to walk into and the diversity of animals was amazing! But alas. Today was not a day for nostalgia. I had an errand to complete!
That’s how I ended up at Forest Wonders. Honestly, I have no idea how this place escaped my radar but it looks like it’s been here a long while. It sits in the same plaza as a hydroponics store (how ironic is that?) and a smoke shop. The outside is garishly decorated in a probably desperate attempt to flag down whim shoppers. I get it. it must be tough being a mom-and-pop pet store these days.
Inside I was greeted with this absolutely darling black kitty, clearly in heat and out of her kitten loving mind, just rolling around in the window like an Amsterdamian hooker. Her physique was that of a Siamese, probably a cross. I have SUCH a soft spot for Siamese crosses. I gave her scritches and continued on. There were a few isles of fish stuff, a nice variety actually. And then there was the actual fish. This is the first time I have seen feeder guppies in decades. Seriously. I think they were 50 cents a piece and all in a huge tank next to the feeder goldfish. (All the previous pet stores were selling their guppies for 5 or 6 bucks a pop no matter how butt ugly they were.) And then we got to the real deal. Here there was the best assortment of fish by far that I have seen in the area. Mostly all in little two and a half gallon holding tanks but not overcrowded, just fancy. There were a number of cheaper L-series plecos, two “rope fish” that looked like eels to me, an electric catfish, a foot long arowana, and some more common fair. In the corner was a marine set up but it was mostly empty – only had two fish – a spirited maroon clownfish (who took a piece of my heart) and some other fish I would have totally taken home and nursed if I had a saltwater tank. Despite all the other fish looking fantastic this one looked thin as fuck and stressed. She took a bigger part of my heart. GAH.
Around the corner was a row of bettas and some of them were actually pretty! (Sorry, I just think most are kind of fugly. It’s a matter of personal taste I know.) And then beyond them was a whole room of critters which was soooo fun. Canaries and finches of odd varieties and colors, a gaggle of parakeets, a smattering of common lizards, and even a few fury things including a long-haired rex mouse and a degu. Thank god I am really allergic to mice because that little fucker was cuuuuuuute! This room was all dark and when the woman realized I was in there she turned on the lights for me. That’s when everything here became even cuter. They had a good diversity of critters. This really reminded me of the golden age of pet shops and it didn’t smell bad. It was all very clean.
Back into the main part of the pet store I noticed one large tank divided into four with large fish in it including some absolutely stunning huge L-series plecos. My heart may have fluttered a bit. But alas, I was here for plants! So I asked if I had missed them. There were maybe five in with the bettas, tiny little sprigs, all super common plants I already had in my tank except for the last which looked like a very small scallion someone shoved in a fish tank appropriately titled “water onion.” I looked at it dubiously, shrugged my shoulders, said thank you and left. All and all I think this is a great place if you’re looking for critters – fancy fish, birds, rodents, and reptiles. I regret I didn’t buy anything but I’m not going to lie – I might be back for fish someday.
Since our trip to the Brimfield Antique Fair went so poorly we decided to just go during the non-fair season and see what the actual antique stores have. The entire area is littered with them. We started with the most obviously titled – the Brimfield Antique Center. It was super easy to get to and despite the GPS trying to get me to hurl it full force out the window by making me take uselessly painful detours, we got there just fine. As expected it was kind of swank, mostly everything in sight was behind glass in big cases. Lots and lots and lots of dolls, clowns, pretty dishware, and even two very ornate masquerade masks which intrigues me greatly. Even so I found the pricing on the few items I looked at to be very decent. I was expecting highway robbery if I’m honest.
We ended up very distracted looking through a bunch of excellent condition vinyls. Among them was a Canadian pressed album of Phil Ochs last concert where he was rumored to have lost his mind and showed up dressed as a glittery Elvis to do Elvis covers rather than his usual political folk musings. I had no idea this concert was even recorded… to find it here on vinyl for a mere $15 was mind-blowing. I took it and cannot wait to listen to it! I mean… Phil Ochs doing Elvis… that’s so fucking weird! And in addition to this I scored a perfect condition It’s a Beautiful Day self-titled album which I have never seen go for under $35 for 10 bucks! I looked it up online and it seems there’s a totally mental price range between $40-299 for this album which is why I wasn’t finding it anywhere else for this cheap. What’s the difference? No idea! But I do know I love this album and always wanted it on vinyl so go me! To be honest I could have bought more. They had a great selection.
Even better when I went to pay for my treasure I got to talking to the cashier about how I’d just driven two hours to get to Brimfield and she very graciously gave us a whole list of other nearby antique shops to check out! So sweet!
