Reflection

As I reflect over the past years' activities and events there have been many fun activities but probably the most fun I had was at Collage Camp with K.C. Willis. If you have not seen her fabric collages for yourself I strongly recommend taking a stroll through Lipstick Ranch at www.lipstickranch.com She is offering her Collage Camp at a discounted price of $75 now rather than the usual price of $98. You can find all the details about Collage Camp at http://www.collagecamp.ning.com It's the best $75 I spent this past year.

I'm heading off to camp - this camp http://collagecamp.ning.com If you haven't already drooled all over KC Willis' fabric collages - run, do not walk, over to this website and see for yourself. And the best part of all - she is sharing her talents with all of us campers with videos of how-to's. Head on over and sign up now at a discount.

Going to Camp

The Good Old Days...

The good old days are alive and well at the Bay City General Store. We're all about nostalgia and we love hearing customers say "oh I had one of those when I was a little kid." Here's a few glimpses of our Trip Down Memory Lane department. Any of these toys take you back to your childhood?

Planting Time in Bay City

Spring is springing up all over the place around here. Daffodils have been up for a couple of weeks, tulip poplars and the forsythia are blooming. We're starting to see crappie fishermen in the creeks. And the Bay City General Store is blowing the dust off and getting ready for its spring opening. The first thing you see when you walk in our old 1915 store is this seed cabinet. It can be a painful experience for parents with young kids - they are eye level with all sorts of colorful vintage candies. Each drawer is filled with all the candies and novelties from your childhood - Sugar Babies, Milk Duds, Candy Buttons, wax bottles filled with sugar water, candy necklaces, Pixy Stix, candy cigarettes (yes they still make them - can you believe it?) BB Bats, Bazooka bubblegum, Tootsie Pops, taffy and circus peanuts. Does it get any better than that? While the munchkins are drooling over the candy selection hopefully parents will be drooling over the new spring merchandise - nature inspired plates and serving dishes just perfect for that next tea party or gathering on your patio or porch, nests and eggs of all sizes, baskets blooming with forsythia, bluebirds sitting on glass cloches............well you just need to come see for yourself. Oh did I mention red wax lips????????????????????? That makes it worth the scenic drive right there. Hope to see you soon!

I have a bad habit of hanging onto things for fear of ruining it when I try to be creative. This wooden chest for silverware was just such an example. I have had it forever. It didn't bother me to rip the insides out of it, although it was not as easy as I thought it would be. Didn't bother me to paint it with gesso. Then the creative process was ready to begin. And it sat, and sat and sat............then it came to me - a chest for art supplies! Then a theme of birds and nests began to emerge. I am really pleased with the way it turned out and now wonder what the heck took me so long. I lined the inside lid with cork, made an accordion folder out of a decorative folder and tacked it inside. Now I'm filling it with flotsam and jetsam from my art stash.

Best of Both Worlds

As I mentioned in a previous post, I like things with drawers but I failed to mention how much I love old postcards. So I'll say it here - I love old postcards! One of my favorite memories as a child is playing with a shoebox full of old postcards in my Granny's basement. Never knew what happened to those - in that same basement - old typewriters too! At a recent auction my husband discovered an old oak filing cabinet - a treasure enough by itself. A peek inside the top drawer of this old file cabinet revealed lots of old postcards - all of the drawers were filled with old postcards from all over the world dating back to the early 1900s. And someone had done the tedious work of cataloguing all of these postcards by country, city, state, and subject. Long story short - we came home with the filing cabinet and all of the postcards. I could not wait to dig into all of these treasures. This story does not have a happy ending.........at some point in time the cabinet sat in some water and you know how well old paper holds up once it gets wet or damp. It doesn't and these were no exception. Someone's precious collection that took years to gather and months to organize is ruined. What a heartbreak! I'm a silver lining kind of person so I'm enjoying all of the cards found in the top drawer - they managed to escape the underwater tour.
Come see us!

World Travels

Back in the Day

Thought I'd show you a few of my favorite things - old typewriters, things with lots of cubbyholes and drawers, old cabinet cards and all things sepia. One of the old cabinet cards is my Papa wearing what I hope was his christening gown. What you can't see is what all this stuff is sitting on -- an old casket maker's chest from England! I'll have to show you a photo of the inside one day -- it is just the neatest chest for someone who likes little drawers and cubbyholes. When we bought it we knew there were a few items in the little drawers but we had no idea what was in store for us when we got it home. It was heavy, very heavy, but that is just us. We go to an auction, flea market, yard sale or whatever - we look around and manage to buy the heaviest item there. But I digress. In order to get this chest in our house we had to set it on the deck with our tractor, put it on a floor dolly and roll it into the house. Once inside we started poking around in the little drawers and my husband said there sure seems to be lots of wasted space in this chest. WRONG! There were hidden cubby holes throughout this chest and they were filled with old carpenter's tools and ephemera. That's how we found out it was a casket maker's chest from England. For us it was our Antique Roadshow find! That's one of my greatest fears - to be watching the Antique Roadshow and have someone show up with the ugliest vase only to find out it's worth $40,000 and when the appraiser asks where they found it, they say they bought it for a quarter at a little old general store in Bay City, IL!!!! My store! ARRGHHHHHHHHHH! Because most days I have no clue as to what I am doing but I'm sure having fun doing it.
Come see us!

I thought I'd give you a bird's eye view of downtown Bay City, which in reality is pretty much all of Bay City. What looks like the Red Roof Inn is the Bay City General Store and Lodging. If you look to the right of the photo you will see my commute to work - we live on the hill. Traffic can be brutal at times. This is our little slice of paradise, us and about 18 other people. We've had a population explosion in the last 10 years - when we moved here there were only 9 people. Is this what they call urban sprawl? We absolutely love it here on the banks of the Ohio River but it is not for everyone. The closest gallon of milk is 12 miles away. People that come in the store ask me if I get bored living here in the middle of nowhere and I just have to laugh. There is always something going on around here whether it is watching for the eagles to come fishing in the river, waiting for the deer to make their daily trek through the backyard, listening to the piliated woodpecker searching for dinner, or dodging the hummingbirds as they swarm in for their sip of nectar. And the river - you never know what you might spy on the river - countless barges towing commodities up and down the river, snowbirds taking their yachts to the sunny climes of the Gulf of Mexico, the vagabonds with their canoes loaded down with supplies hoping to make it to New Orleans..........never a dull moment in Bay City.
Hope y'all will come see us this year!

Bird's Eye View

I mentioned in a previous post about waking up in the middle of the night with the word "crafternoon" bouncing around in that space that is supposed to hold my brain. So nothing doing but figure out a way to use it which has lead to this Sunday's Crafternoon in the Bay City General Store. All of the tools, toys, bits, bobs, gee-gaws, flotsam and jetsam has been relocated from my studio to the general store. Eleven ladies are coming to spend the afternoon creating, gabbing and eating. Does it get any better than that? It does when everyone gets a gift just for showing up. The above canvas tote has been made for everyone and filled with crafty supplies.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Disposable Society

I mentioned earlier how I find it sad to find someone's cherished memories being sold at an auction, flea market or yard sale. Didn't anyone in the family want to keep the memories? Is everyone gone? I have family pictures of people I have no clue as to who they are or where they are but they are mine and I am keeping them. I have my Aunt's 50 years of travel photos of people I don't even know and places I don't recognize but they are safely tucked away. And believe me I could use the space for something else but I just can't find it in my heart to dispose of them. That being said, my PIC (partner in crime) and I got lost on our way home from an estate sate and as luck would have it this unfortunate act led us right past a junk store. And when I say junk I really mean junk - piles of it still in boxes, trash bags, with no rhyme or reason to its' organization. Nothing doing but we dig right in and in the middle of all this chaos what do I find but this beautiful "Holy Bonds of Matrimony" certificate between Mr. Columbus R. Smith and Miss Josephine Porter dated May 4, 1874. There are other pages of the births of their children and the marriages of their children. I think these may be pages from an old family Bible. Of course being addicted to this kind of ephemera I knew it was going home with me I just didn't know what it was going to cost me - oh I'd have to charge you 50 cents for that the proprietor said. It now has a good home and I thought I would share with all of you. Anyone know a Columbus Smith?
There were other hidden treasures uncovered in this junk store but I'll save them for another post. I'll just say we filled my SUV for $21!!!!!

Letters of Friendship

Just want to extend a special thank you to those of you who stopped by my blog yesterday during the Soul Journal Valentine's Day blog party. There was a question about why the two lovers who wrote the postcards were apart. Apparently they lived in two different towns a few miles apart, and in the 1900s even a few miles might as well have been a thousand. It also appears there may have been more than one suitor of Miss Mallye.........I'll have to let you know in another post. My real world beckons from the laundry room. But before we leave Miss Mallye's world, there is something I find very interesting about these postcards, besides the fact that they are not very private, they wrote on the fronts of the cards as well trying to squeeze in as much love and affection as possible. Why not just write a letter? Was the postage too dear? Would that have been improper to put one's thoughts into a letter that maybe a nosy Ma-Ma could not read? Guess I'll never know for sure but it sure is fun to speculate. Stay tuned for more adventures of Miss Mallye and her suitor.

The Art of Love Letters

Greetings and Salutations from the Bay City General Store!

This is my first blog party and I'm here without a chaperone so I will try and be on my best behavior. Events of the week interfered with my original plan to have something of "knock your socks off" quality to put on display for the blogworld to see. So I did the next best thing - I combined two passions of mine - antique postcards and ephemera. The letter writing pages are from Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms. There is guidance on when and how love letters are to be written so as to preserve the lady's dignity. Too bad we can't transfer some of this guidance to today's teens and their use of text messaging and camera phones. As I mentioned earlier I love antique postcards and buy them at auctions every chance I get. It always makes me a little sad to see someone's cherished memories laying in a box discarded like yesterday's news. This antique postcard from the early 1900s was purchased with 200 others in an old dusty shoebox and upon closer examination they revealed the most wonderful courtship and love story carried out through the US mail. When I bought them I didn't realize they were all to and from and the same people - when I put them in chronological order the love story began to unfold. The story culminated in a marriage and so I have both sides of the love story - his and hers. Don't you just love it when something like that happens? I have pictured these two lovers in my mind and my ultimate goal is to bring them to life through an altered book. Perhaps some day I can host a blog party and share the story of Mallye and Mr. Kelley. However, in keeping with the times of their day, you will have to come properly chaperoned.
Hope everyone shares the day with someone you love and loves you! I am. XOXOXO

The Elements are getting me down...

OK, I do not profess to be very computer savvy. I can do the basics and so far that has been good enough to do what I want to do. When I wanted to produce my own brochures I learned how to do desk top publishing. Now I want to do digital collages so everyone says to get Photoshop Elements and it is a piece of cake. Saying that is like giving someone directions and saying "you can't miss it." Kiss of death! I bought Elements, I bought Somerset Studios Digital Studio, I have tons of photos, graphics, and vintage ephemera. I pride myself on being able to follow directions............but this Elements stuff might as well be written in Greek.......layers, brushes, magic tools..............arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh! Just when I was about to give up I stumbled into this blog. Don't know how I got there but she has some wonderful graphics and she does really neat stuff with them besides just store them in a file somewhere. So I am encouraged to give this Photoshop Elements stuff another whirl and besides all that she's having a Valentine's Day Blog Party and I signed up. No gain in just tiptoeing around the edges, might as well jump all the way in.
Hope you'll stop by and leave a comment sometime.

Why is it always the middle of the night...

when I get my best ideas, or what seem like good ideas at the time? I woke up the other night thinking about having a "Crafternoon" at the Bay City General Store. I thought that was a very clever play on words, so clever in fact, I am wondering if I dreamed it or if I saw it somewhere else. Whichever it is I'm having one - a Crafternoon, that is. On Sunday, February 22nd from 1 pm to 5 pm. Hosted by the Bay City Babes Rescue Society - that's us up above. We "rescue Granny's silver, buttons and lace and make pretty things for you and your place." We're bringing out all the tools (or toys as some might suggest), all the supplies and goodies - buttons, lace, trim, ephemera, scissors, rubber stamps, papers, glues, punches..........if we don't have it, you don't need it. We're serving refreshments, having giveaways, door prizes, a free gift for everyone and for only $20. Sounds like a great way to combat cabin fever. See we're right in the middle of the worst ice storm to ever hit this part of the country in forever. Some people are still without power and water. So shake off the winter blues and come gab, munch and craft at the Bay City General Store.
Hope to see you there.

Treasures from Tennessee

Nashville Flea Market

Before Mama Nature interrupted this program to bring us Ice Storm 2009 Part Deux, I was talking about our trip to the Nashville Flea Market. Day 2 took us to Franklin, TN and a wonderful antique mall located in an old former ice house. Just the kind of mall we all like - nooks and crannies, lots of little rooms and treasures hidden around every corner. And around one of those corners I found it - a beautiful oak rolltop desk in my price range. In the trailer it went, followed by a copper fish weathervane (perfect for our Ohio River store), an old sewing chest filled with lots of old sewing notions and there was still room for a vintage suitcase. You can never have too many of those. This stuff joined all the treasures from the flea market - sack of cork-lined bottle caps, two gravy boats, a sack of old hardware, and a fixer-upper dentist cabinet. Our journey home took us off the interstate (we really detest interstates) and onto the blue highways where the real America lives. A stop in an antique store located in an old livery stable brought us to an old shabby oak mantle - in the trailer it went. 40 Norman Rockwell plates were calling our name so in they went too. Two metal card file cabinets later and we were back on the blue highway. Our last stop of the day was an antique mall located in an old elementary school -a two story Marx metal dollhouse, a set of vintage flash cards and two old documents boxes joined the group in the trailer. Now if we had stayed on the interstate we would have missed all that.
That's the news from the Bay City General Store.
Come see us!

Mama Nature is telling us something...

We must have done something to really honk Mama Nature off. She dropped buckets of ice on us for a couple of days and we are just now digging out. And we are way more fortunate than others in our region that are still without power, heat, water - all the comforts to which we have become accustomed. Kentucky was really slammed in this ice storm. We went a few days with no TV, no internet, no newspaper, no radio, and no mail. You talk about feeling isolated when we are so used to the constant bombardment of information from all directions. Even our cellphones wouldn't work because of the ice build-up on the cell towers. That I didn't miss, not one bit. It was gratifying to hear stories of grandparents, parents and kids of all ages coming together to play board games, cards, or charades and totally unplugging for a few days. Maybe we need more of that..........maybe that is Mama Nature's message. Maybe we should listen, but we'd have to put our Ipods down first.

That's the news from the Bay City General Store Daily Ledger!

When you thaw out come and see us!

Day 1 - Nashville Flea Market

This was our first trip to the Nashville Flea Market held at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds every month. Guess because it was winter the turn-out was not what was expected. Still managed to buy a bag full of old bottle caps, some old hardware, doorknobs, keyholes, and a wonderful oak dentist cabinet that would be classified as a fixer-upper. Picked up a brochure featuring Franklin, TN and it said Franklin's antique district was in the top 5 in the country according to Country Living. So the jalopy heads to Franklin tomorrow morning to see what we can see. There's a 10 foot trailer just begging to be filled. More adventures tomorrow from Franklin!

Bay City General Store

Here goes another day..........

Just when I think I can't possibly add any more blogs to my favorites list, I do. If my day starts right, I'm sitting at my computer (no webcam please) with a cup of coffee touring my favorite blogs. From my upstairs window I can see the sun rising over the Ohio River, which is never a disappointment. And in a matter of minutes I can go around the world visiting blogs and talking to people I've never met. For those of you who blog you will understand this..........I start with one blog, and that leads to another and another and another until you feel like you fell down Alice's rabbit hole. Sometimes I have no idea where I started. This morning was one of those blog journeys and this is where I ended up. Oh my, I could just see my whole entire day evaporate right before my very eyes - such wonderful projects for my junk collection. And what inspiration for our buying trip to the Nashville, TN flea market this weekend. The photo above actually has nothing to do with this post - I just love the photo and thought you might like to see where our "junk market style" hangs its hat.
What's that? I hear the washing machine calling my name!
Later

Road Trip

It's time to head out of the City, Bay City that is, and point the jalopy towards Music City. We hear there is a ginormous flea market there this weekend and we're going to check it out for ourselves. Don't you just love this old photo? This was actually taken in front of our general store many many years ago. When one of these contraptions pulled in front of the store I'm quite sure it drew a crowd. For Bay City that could be 5 or 6 people! These vehicles drew crowd just like these old paddlewheelers draw a crowd still today. They travel our river with a quiet and stately grace. They sneak up on you. You can be minding your own business plugging away at the computer or washing dishes and glance up and there one is right outside our window. Sadly 2008 was the last year they will cruise the rivers of this great fly-over country. The economy has caught up with them too. We will miss the Queens..........their appearance always caused quite a stir in these parts no matter how many times you had seen one. The news would travel fast up and down the river.........DJ, this is Calvin, a Queen is headed down river! Jerry, this is DJ, DQ is coming! Homer, DQ alert, grab your camera! And no matter what we were doing, we'd grab our cameras and binoculars and head to the riverfront to watch their graceful passing. Sometimes on a really quiet day we could hear the riverlorian telling the passengers "Folks, this is Bay City, where they shot the airplane crash scene from U.S. Marshals starring Tommy Lee Jones." One of the Queens even stopped Hollywood during the filming so they could all watch her stately cruise up river. Good-bye Queens! Thanks for all the good memories!

Now I'm really getting out there...

This is a test folks...........I'm trying to create an active link to our website. We'll see how this goes -- I'm usually pretty good at following directions until it comes to technology or math or assembling something but otherwise I'm really good at directions. OK, maybe not so much. But if you are looking for a scenic, quiet, relaxing getaway on the Ohio River Scenic Byway then this is your place.

Branching out...

This post is the beginning of meeting several goals. The first goal was to use some supplies I have been hoarding for a very long time. I have had this silverware chest for quite some time. I knew when I finally broke down and covered it in gesso and ripped the insides out of it that I was on my way. Two years later, I finally decided on a color for the box. Then a purpose for the box came to me in the middle of the night. Seems everything I make or create must have a purpose besides just sitting there and looking pretty. Must be my German upbringing! Then a theme emerged and that led to the selection of more supplies and more hesitation. What if I never have another crystal door knob? Nevermind that I have a substantial stash of them already. What if I never find another little nest at Hobby Lobby? Then there was the whole twisted, tortured dance of should I put this here or here? Should I use this bird or that bird? Arrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh! "Just do it, it's only a silverware chest for goodness sakes" a little voice screamed inside my head! So I did it! Another goal achieved. The chest was finished about 3 months ago - time for the next goal - to actually show it to someone and then to show it to someone else who didn't feel obliged to say "oh that's beautiful" in order to ever have peace again. Now onto another goal -- to actually decide to sell it which leads to where to sell it and that raises another batch of issues -- who will buy it and what will they pay? Looks like I have a long way to go before this project is really and totally completed. But hey, I made it this far. So what do you think? The first person to leave a comment will receive 3 vintage Valentine postcards in the mail from the Bay City General Store. As for me, I'm going to go see what else I can gesso...

Future Nest for the Arts

Color me reluctant, but ready...

This blog has been primarily about the comings and goings of the Bay City General Store and Lodging and the characters that pass through our little slice of paradise here on the Ohio River. And Lord knows that is enough to fill one blog for a lifetime! However, the Bay City General Store Ledger is branching out this year and entering the world of arts and crafts. See, we have been window peeping into many blogs around the world to see what other folks are doing to decorate their homes and stores, what they do to fill any spare time they may have, what inspires them and what gets created from that inspiration. And what we have discovered during this worldwide journey is that there is just an awful lot of us all enjoying much of the same with our own little twists and tweaks! So this year we decided rather than be reluctant to participate in all this artsy crafty goodness that we would plunge right on it. The first thing we have done is sign up for Kari Ramstrom's A Year of Color blog. It's just loaded with inspiration and there are bloggers connecting from all over the world and all for $12. The colors for January are blue and white and the following shadowbox/mixed media collage is our contribution. Now if we can just figure out Flickr and how to get this from here to there our day will be complete...
We hope you will stop by from time to time and see what is going on at the Bay City General Store - there is never a dull moment in this little spot on the road. You'd think with only 20 people what could possibly happen to make life interesting...........stay tuned!

Here comes the sun...

Looking forward while looking back

When I was a little girl wishing for Christmas to hurry up and get here, my Granny would encourage me to not wish my life away. My Mom would tell me that as I got older time would go much faster. Of the many pearls of wisdom she offered me, I thought that was one of the dumbest (right next to one of these days you'll wish you WERE skinny again). I thought an hour is an hour whether I am 50 or 5! But once again she was right - where did 2008 go? Tempus fugit as my high school Latin teacher would say!

A new year brings new resolutions for the future. This year instead of resolutions I'm going with intentions so when my resolve vanishes I won't be quite so disappointed in myself. And I "intend" to do better on many fronts starting with the Bay City General Store Daily Ledger blog because there hasn't been anything daily about it, not even weekly and lately not even monthly. And it's not because there is nothing going on around here - every day is an adventure of some sort! So starting today I intend to post more frequently and to also leave comments on the many blogs into which I window peep. Then there's the whole healthy lifestyle changes (diet/exercise). That ought to be enough for starters.

If there is a photo above this posting you are seeing how the new year greeted us folks here at the Bay City General Store and Lodging. This is looking down the Ohio River from our view on the hill. If there isn't a photo above this posting then you should come and see the view in person by staying at the Bay City lodging. More info at www.baycitystoreandlodgingohioriver.com