In August, we went to see our youngest son who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a self-employed artist and it was the first chance I’ve had to go and see his new studio space. On the way there, we went to Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, MN. It is a town-wide flea market and antique sale that happens on the third weekend in August each year. We’ve been numerous times to browse and buy in the past and look forward to attending each summer.
It was a nice summer day with many booths to explore. Some of the booths were filled with Depression Glass – more than I’d seen in the past. My mom has quite a collection of sugar bowls and creamers made from this colorful medium, in a variety of patterns. At one time, she knew each of the pattern names and which colors were rare.
Although I saw many familiar pieces, I saw some new ones too. I still like glass.
Sunday, after an awesome breakfast at a retro-style diner in Minneapolis, we went to Stillwater Minnesota for a day of relaxation by the St. Croix river and browsing through shops.
The first place we went to was a three story antique co-operative called, Midtown Antique Mall. Let me just say that we were in there for quite a while. Unlike some other antique cooperatives we’ve been in, this one was well lit, well staffed, and did not have any musty odors. There was so much to look at!
My husband and I both like glass and pottery. We have collected both in the past. I have depression glass cups and saucer sets, as well as some milk glass Fenton ware. The depression glass is packed away but the Fenton glass is on display in a couple of rooms in our house. I also collected glass perfume bottles for a while and have more than a dozen of those. It was fun to go through the antique mall and spot things we have, such as an aqua swirl depression glass bowl, and then note the price they were asking.
We are trying to clean out so the purpose of our visit was not to buy, but to look and enjoy an activity we did before we had children. It is a fun, free activity (if you don’t buy) that we still enjoy!
The Apples in My Orchard 