This is another odd entry as I don’t do too many stores but there was a sandwich board out front saying it was the only independently owned art supply store in the entire state of Connecticut, so I had to go in and check it out.
This was another modestly sized store but with an eager staff who immediately asked if we needed help with anything. The front was dedicated to little novelty gifts like pencils with funny sayings printed on them relating to astrological signs, funny erasers and whatnot. A bulletin board at the entrance was COVERED in missing cat posters, with a few smatterings of services offered by local artists.
Inside there was a section devoted to every hobby you can imagine – painting, sculpting, model building, framing, diorama and train set building, sketching, wood carving, you name it! And their prices seemed reasonable with a surprisingly large variety of items to choose from. I’d definitely shop here if I lived nearby. I have 300 hobbies and all of them are expensive and time consuming. At least this place made it all look so fun!
So yeah – shop local, support indie, this place is a little gem!
We went to the Spring Brimfield Antique Show on the day of its opening and I meant to post this not long after but you know… I’ve been on the go for over a month now and crashed pretty fucking hard. Tonight, I am feeling a little back to myself so I am going to regale you with all the delightful weirdness we found.
First off I must say I took A TON of photos with my phone, only a portion of which I have been able to upload. UGH. It’ll have to do! We arrived at noonish, I think, and paid $20 to park at the church having learned our lesson for trying one of the ten dollar lots on an earlier visit. Today I had two companions, one which had never been before which is always double the fun. All three of us were immediately overwhelmed. This place is HUGE. We were there all day and made it to the back of one of the lots but probably only saw MAYBE a 4th of what there was to see and some of the vendors told us there were still whole fields not even open yet!!
It proved to be a fantastic day for haunted dolls, terrifying carousel horses, blasphemy, antique titties, mounds of racist bullshit for every minority, a random smattering of Nazi regalia, lots of weird iron banks, MARBLES, and whimsy galore. And the vendors themselves were often very sweet! We ended up getting tips to find free water and bathrooms from one adorable hippie couple towards the end and we didn’t even buy anything from them.
Of course, the food trucks were also out which made keeping myself hydrated extra easy! The fresh squeezed lemonade is an outrageous $5 a cup but goddamn is it good! We also had some bomb pulled pork. But that’s all besides the point.
We had spent the day mostly just weaving between the unbelievably wholesome where we “awed” and the over the top inappropriate which we giggled like 12-year-olds and made equally obscene jokes about. At least one of the vendors was amused I was joining in this game – I don’t care I have tits, I also have a sense of humor.
“I don’t know if this Jesus is in pain or orgasming.” “He looks Catholic, so both.” [Sorry, not sorry, I’ve seen too much church sponsored torture porn to answer this in any other way.]
So. Many. Dolls. Swarms of them! Sailors, mammies, porcelain, drawers of doll parts, steam punked horror doll lamps… and clowns… I mean quite a few things here looked proper haunted including some of the furniture and there was so much furniture this time around! We agreed it’d be super fun if we had money to come here and just furnish a whole damn house. They even had a booth of house plants! And they were GORGEOUS and healthy. So many succulents! One was over $600.
Of course, one of my favorite spots was well to the back where there weren’t many people, an artist was tending his forest of 10-foot-tall metal mushrooms which swayed in the wind and made my heart just go pitter patter. They were over a grand a piece but maaaan… the whimsy! I felt like I was in Wonderland! Similarly, a metal artist near the road had some really impressive beasts made of nuts and bolts and whatnot including a life size moose head. Again, if I had that kinda money… *heart eyes*
I did end up with a print from a local artist of a bunny in an overcoat. It was so cute I couldn’t leave it there! I did leave a bunch of marbles. They were everywhere, without price tags, which is why none came home with me. That and one packet literally said they were pickaninny marbles and had a super racist little logo. My melanin blessed companion made sure to point them out, as well as all the mammies and no colored allowed signs, in part I think to see the response of the vendors which is indeed an extra layer to this game and makes it even more amusing.
Meanwhile, my other companion has become somewhat jaded to all the Nazi memorabilia but not completely. He still finds it fascinatingly distasteful. Who would buy this?! He asks that a lot. Not me. That’s some bad mojo there.
Anyway, enjoy the photo dump of all the weirdness. Due to AdSense rules I couldn’t keep in any of the antique titties. Or weird erotic fanart. Sorry.
This wasn’t the first time I have been to the Hannah Grimes Gallery, but it is probably the first time I have blogged about it and definitely the first time I have spoken about it since they got a large expansion to their space!
I always liked this place because of the community feel it has to it. It is stocked almost entirely (or possibly entirely) with arts and goods made by local artisans. This means that although much of it remains familiar – like the greeting cards and various food stuffs, much of changes over time as new artists move in. So, there is always something to see or check out and I love this.
Some of the art is very accessible to those of lower means such as the greeting cards and soaps allowing even sorry sods like me to support this whole endeavor. However, if you are someone with means this place has a lot more to offer – glassware, ceramics, wood sculptures, paintings, metal sculptures, lovingly crocheted plushies, quilts, you name it! And a lot of it is GORGEOUS. They even had the swankiest bat house I have ever seen. Those are going to be some spoiled bats!
Keene is a wonderful town to just walk main street indulging in the gallery, a chocolatier, a bakery, a candy shop, lots of proper eateries, a theater, jewelry shops, clothing stores, you name it! And being a college town it’s also very art friendly and busting with charm. The perfect way to spend a summer day if you enjoy walking a city while still being in the country!
Since we were already in Maine I decided to take this last opportunity to check out a different fish shop in the hopes of finding another betta or maybe something else interesting I could keep in a jar for a few days before going home. Alas even though they had the best betta rack I have yet encountered (with each pen containing it’s own plant) it seems they were just about sold out with only two left. No worries I was also here to take a gander at everything else.
The freshwater fish were different than the ones I was used to seeing and all seemed very healthy. I really liked the Diamond Tetras! And they had a lot of plants to choose from. Sadly, I already either had all of them or have killed them. This hobby may be getting a bit out of control… *whistles*
They also had a saltwater section with a wonderful large variety of small and medium coral frags at very reasonable prices as well as some fish – mostly clowns. After poking at these we made our way to the reptile room and had fun trying to find what was in each enclosure as these too were full of plants and hiding nooks. They had some snakes, a gorgeous and healthy-looking chameleon, and some adorable frogs and geckoes. All very healthy and happy looking.
I may not have found what I wanted on this day but I definitely keeping the info for this place for the next time I’m up here! I was impressed!
We had decided to go to Maine to attend the Cryptozoology Convention and in the process we decided to take the opportunity to hit a few antique stores during the long drive north. Route 1 Antiques in Hampton Falls NH (not to be confused with Route 1A Relics in Ellesworth Maine) was the first of three we would check out on this day.
This was a shop that was clearly situated in a repurposed old farmhouse and upon walking in I felt it was a place that was a little rich for my blood. All I saw was well maintained display cases. But there was a shop dog working as a door buzzer and being that she was rather cute I settled in. This first part of the store was indeed a little much for me. They even had a super realistic sculpture of a hawk that I thought was taxidermy! The keep was excited to talk to us about it saying it was a rare piece and told us about the artist. I love art and supporting independent artists buuuut I don’t think I’ll ever have the money to pay for proper rich people art! Luckily this place also had a basement and an attic which were easier on the old wallet.
The basement was neat in that it still had this crazy old fireplace in it but otherwise there wasn’t too much interesting down there for us. The attic however was filled with toys for all ages starting with the mandatory Howdie Doody memorabilia which is much beloved by the Silent Generation and scares the ever lovin’ bejesus out of the rest of us. They also had this primo haunted marionette doll that was out for my own heart, a “Ken doll with prosthetics” which I am pretty sure was the Million Dollar Man, some Rock em’ Sock em’ Robots, and even a few things from my generation including a Star Wars ship and an original Optimus Prime with real metal parts! So I’m told by my companion. His excitement was adorable. Sorry to say I wasn’t allowed to watch many cartoons, TV, or movies, growing up, transformers among them. My mother thought I should be spending my time playing in the dirt. This has resulted a reverence for nature and a profound lack of cultural reference points.
This place was cute. I definitely would say it’s worth checking out if you like antiques of all price ranges. Or toys. So many toys.
Since we were practically right next door to Bass Pro Shop while attending the food show we decided to stop by afterwards. This place was HUGE. Everything you could possibly want for camping, fishing, hunting, and what-have-you. All surrounded on all sides by impressively realistic looking taxidermy. And a life size whale floating down from the ceiling. Why? No idea. I thought whaling was illegal in these parts. Maybe a wink and a nod to local history.
In any event I enjoyed creeping through the cast iron aisle and daydreaming about having a four-wheeler with an attached snowplow. I wonder if they work well… And of course, there was fun to be had looking at the giant tank of edible fish. (I don’t know how else to word that. I’m not big on fishing.) As well as a swarm of delightful turtles, one of which was precariously positioned atop another like Yurtle the Turtle, all four feet just dangling in the air, helplessly stuck, the turtle below it just ignoring the situation, probably trying to teach the other one a lesson. It was an entertaining moment.
Anyway… if you happen to live in or near Boston and need to buy a bunch of camping, fishing, or hunting supplies this place is pretty much it. They also had paint guns for some reason.
Onto another antique shop! This place was typical of a main street antique place in that it was small and orderly. We walked in and were greeted with a $300+ cast iron dutch oven and a very ornate wood stove. There was also THE SADDEST AND CREEPIEST CLOWN and a doll with glowing red eyes for no apparent reason?!
But really we were most enamored by the coins. So. Many. Coins. My travel companions were ahead of me and poking at some confederate coins when the shop keep lit up and gave us all an impromptu history lesson.
“You want to see something you’ve never seen before?”
“YEAH!”
He pulled out a note from his pocket that stated it was worth a 20-dollar gold coin. And he showed us the coin that someone could have traded it for. And then said how worthless it was at the time due to wartime inflation. Very cool.
We chatted a little bit. I think he was hoping we were monied folks but we are not. Though we did stop to look at the Nazi occupied country coins, which were interesting in their own way. It never really occurred to me the currency changes in occupied countries. I guess because I never had to think about it.
In the back we found a bottle labelled Boyes Oil and I cracked a joke. And continue to do so. Did you try the Boyes Oil? I found a bunny cake pan that looked like it did. DAMN was that the most ripped bunny I’ve ever seen. Why did it have the muscles of a bull?! What a terrifying Easter someone must have had.
Anyway it was a cute little shop, with a lovely staff and lots and lots of coins if that is your thing. Or bottles. Some of those bottles were super unique. One even had a Halloween cat stretched across it shaped into the glass.
Trying to get the almost visual ick vibes off us from Pete’s Gun Shop we continued our little jaunt down the street and found another cool shop window. This one had a dragon in it and it was in a flying stance, much better than the flattened tiger whose side we just left. This appeared to be a game store, quite a large one.
As we entered there was all sorts of board and card games, some which my travel companions hadn’t ever seen before and that’s saying something! There were also DVDs a mountain of manga and anime and old Nintendo cartridges. One was the Ninja Turtles and that made me melt a little. We had the original Nintendo when I was knee high to a grasshopper. But we were poor and only had three games for it – the Super Mario that came with it, Ninja Turtles which no one in my household could beat, and Dragon Warrior which like three people remember. It was kind of a sweet memory. Nearby there was also an old Sega Genesis which is where my own interest in video games ended. Goddamn hedgehog.
But I was most impressed with the back where there were numerous tables and people playing games. On this day I seemed to be two Dungeons and Dragons campaigns but they also had board games to try out. This all seemed so very social. Since I’m all for community this is what endeared me most to this place. Later one of my travel companions would note there were no women in there and I shrugged. There almost never is in game shops. I have gotten used to this as I play with the novelty socks.
Anyway, this place was cute! Great variety and what a lovely community vibe. Five Super Mario Stars.
Already in a delightful mood I passed by this gun shop, plant in hand from The Plant Connection. That’s when this tiger rug in the shop window caught my eye. I’d seen them in so many cartoons but never in real life! How morbid! Even more so the pith helmet placed on it as if the tiger slew some eccentric rich British guy from back in the day and his buddies took the pelt in a bloody revenge ritual!
One of my travel companions thought there might be something cool to poke at in this shop so although I had my reservations, we all went in. And immediately regretted it. It was so tense you could slice the air. Here I was, a mere woman, and my other companion feeling like this might not be the best establishment for a person of color like himself, and the travel companion who started this who lamented later the place had “intense INCEL vibes.”
The men at the counter stared at us so intensely I wouldn’t be surprised if he developed X-ray vision. And the cherry on top of the cake? Literally everything interesting you could find in this shop were in the window. The rest? Boring.
We all left having not even the chance to see some good stabby things (knives) as I guess this was really and truly just a gun shop. We all took a big breath as we got outside and compared notes. Did anyone else feel severely unwelcomed? Oh yes, all of us. ALL. OF. US. Though we did get a good laugh afterwards, my melanin-blessed companion saying maybe the dude thought I was a race traitor. Loooord, I hadn’t even gone in that direction with it! I laughed at the absurdity of this in this day and age. This place made me feel like I needed a bath.
Do I recommend this place? No. No, I fucking don’t. Unless you’re an old white dude. Or possibly a young white dude with a chip on your shoulder you can see from space. Maybe then. Just maybe.
As we were walking away from the Berkshire Emporium we happened upon this sweet little plant shop and it looked so inviting so we stepped in for a moment. I’ve been to plenty of plant stores but those were mostly focused on plants you’d keep in your garden or yard, this place was a little house plant store and it was so well lit and maintained! In the far corner there was even a potting station if you decided to get both a plant and pot.
Although it was small I was impressed with the variety. There were a bunch of plants here I had never seen before, many of which were delightfully bizarre either in form, name, or both. I had bee-lined to the succulents because they are by far my favorites. I giggled like a twelve-year-old at the booby cactus that was apparently named because of its many tits. Impressive.
Here in the succulent section both myself and one of my two travel companions for the day spotted a little gem at the exact same moment – a series of pots containing living stones. Neither one of us had ever seen one in person. There were green ones and brown ones and I egged my companion on to buy one and I the other so we could mix and match both colors. This turned out not happening but only because he decided to buy his a pot. Mine went home to find a more suitable enclosure in something I already owned.
The ambiance of this place was so peaceful and the woman working the counter was very sweet. I went home very happy, hoping my living stones would find a window full of Christmas cactus sufficient company. Definitely would recommend this place to anyone looking for a house plant.
