Antiques Market – Bangor Maine

After a long day we wanted to come back to Bangor and find something to eat but after parking we decided we were close enough to this antique store to brave the negative degree winds and check out one more place. This was surprisingly large for being directly in the city but I guess Bangor isn’t that big of a city compared to others in New England where rent prices might be outrageous. As such it was easy to get to by foot and despite having an entrance that didn’t look spectacularly large it was two full floors of stuff!

The first floor looked like any Main Street antique store – just lots of stuff in cases and likely for higher price tags. There were coins, books, jewelry, and of course salt and pepper shakers which are a must! One of the walls had what really looked like a haunted photograph of a 1920’s or 30’s child star, though I couldn’t place the name. I also enjoyed finding a manual to oral birth control from the 60’s. What you should know about taking the new pill! Do tell me.

The basement was where the cheaper and weirder antiques were that were more our style. Bizarre squirrel taxidermy, retro Halloween decorations, TONS of paintings depicting pioneers fighting bears for some reason, old political cartoons, a few lovable cookie jars, and of course a haunted doll or two. This was a fun little jaunt to end the day, worth it if you’re already walking through Bangor and seeing the sights.

December 22, 2024 0

Hannah Grimes Gallery – Keene NH

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!

May 12, 2024 0

Winding River Antiques – Wilton NH

It’d been a long day doing random things around Wilton. First it was failing to hike a trail that was blocked off, then it was visiting a nearby cemetery, then it was getting lost trying to find tiny free libraries and having a lively discussion with a vibrant hippie woman and now… now I was in the center of the town at their absolutely tiny but truly adorable park after having deposited a book in their little free library.

Since I was here anyway I might as well look around. There seemed to be two antique stores, a chocolatier, and a cupcake shop. Today was not really the day for sweets but why not look at the antique stores? My mother peered into the Winding River Antiques window which looked super dark.

“I don’t know if they’re open.”

Someone inside waved her in. See, if you’re going to be all creepy about it you’re going to gain someone’s attention. So we walked in. It was a small antique shop, the sort of thing you’d expect on a main street of a small town. Everything was well organized and displayed. But the two shop keeps… oooh boooy. They were throwing off some fiercely negative vibes. I think they had regretted letting us in. My mother with her doddering social inequities and myself with blazing orange hair drenched in sweat from the heat and looking like death had rolled over. The orange hair throws people. In small towns like this it causes a lot of people, and let’s be honest a lot of old men people, to instantaneously distrust and hate me. It’s fine. I find this sort of hilarious because I am the least likely person to cause an actual fuss.

Still they both watched us until my skin started burning from the searing eye contact. I took a few photos and they acted like I was trying to case the place. When my mother took a few photos herself that was apparently the straw that broke the camel’s back because one growled at her to stop taking photos. Like OK dude, was just trying to give you some exposure but if you don’t want that it’s fine by me. I’ll be just as happy to write up how ungrateful you are for customers…

And so we shuffled out without buying (or stealing!) anything. (Not to be bitchy but there wasn’t anything there worth stealing in the first place. It was all very common fare.) My mother was so put off by this experience that we didn’t go into the other antique store which I presume was probably a lot friendlier.

August 8, 2022 0

Roswell New Mexico

I ended up in Roswell New Mexico because I’m just that fucking adorkable. I didn’t expect to see much but apparently main street has turned into an adorable alien mecca. There are clothes stores there who have alien masks fixed on their dummies and doleful looking wooden alien statues sitting out on the side walk. There was even one place who had little green alien footsteps running up the sidewalk. People had constructed their own little crashed UFOs and gift stores abounded. There was also a museum, however like most small towns everything closed at 6 and I drove in at 7. Only one gift store was open so I checked it out and awed at all the cuteness and fluff and geekery. It was too much – I had to come home with something. I ended up with a T-shirt reading, “fly it like you stole it.” That amused me way too much. I also ended up with a bumper sticker reading, “Buckle up, it makes it harder for them to suck you out of the car.” I mean… how cute is that?

I left laughing. It was such a dorky place to stop but so amusing. Even the local McDonalds was sporting aliens on their advertising and their parking lot and the bank as well! I like to see a town with a sense of humor.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

May 30, 2011 0

Old Spring Town Texas

So I decided to go to Houston because there was a store there called The Little Dutch Girl and a pet shop I’d found. I went to the Little Dutch Girl first, because buying one of those might be useful. Just kidding! Don’t buy children, it’s wrong. Anyway, it was situated in the middle of this little strip mall called Old Towne Spring. It was adorable. They had a little German shop, a little Dutch shop, and across from them was The Texan Shop, like “HEY! YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE LOCALS!”

I entered the Little Dutch Girl and was greeted first by a whole wall full of licorice. This I’ll never understand. I can’t imagine any licorice could possibly taste different from another. It’s really fowl stuff… but then there was a small section that went to dry foods and a little fridge with cheese. The rest of the shop was touristy things… wooden shoes, windmills, and blue chinaware.

Today I was looking for candy flakes, the kind you put on toast. I don’t know what they are really called, but they are these little flavored flakes you put on bread and eat. I got some chocolate and some fruit flavored and couldn’t pass up the Stroopwafels. It’s really funny because I decided after eating one that my own home-made versions somehow had surpassed this. Perhaps because I spent four months perfecting an intensely simple recipe.

When the woman at the register rung up these choices she smiled in a sort of strange way, perhaps reflecting on the fact these were odd items, not usually bought by tourists but rather by someone whose eaten them before. I guess I’ll never know.

There was a little German shop next to the little Dutch shop (surprise surprise.) It was cute, though it didn’t please the realists here. Apparently nut crackers, cuckoo clocks, and everything else here wasn’t actually a German thing… I couldn’t care less… As far as I am concerned Germans had me at, “Hey look! An ADORABLE roundy car that allows you to punch people!” Funny enough there wasn’t any VW memorabilia. Shame.

I stopped at a little fried food place. Out of morbid curiosity I got a fried Snickers bar. The fried Snickers bar was rather disappointing. The melty gooey part was wonderful, the batter wasn’t so much. I had to peel it off like I do my fried fish.

I left after this but appreciated this artistic and adorable little enclave of creative spirits, where people walked around wearing full jeans and sweaters as I melted into a puddle.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

May 28, 2011 0