The Picking Sisters Pick Vieques!

WHAT? A trip without picking? Yes, I believe they spell that v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n. W e headed off to the island of Vieques for 4 days of tropical adventure to celebrate our respective 60th birthdays. How was the road at sixty? Nothing short of divine. Never had I been without TV or computer for so long or missed it less.

Vieques is a short flight on a teeny plane from Puerto Rico. See how close I am to the pilot .

Being a horse lover, I was tickled to see them everywhere. They have the run on the island along with roosters and dogs. 

This is a crab "farm". They trap the land crabs and fatten them up before eating.

Primitive? Or efficient!

 Gorgeous flowers and brightly painted homes. Fabulous food. Beautiful and sparsely populated beaches. We snorkeled, swam, kayaked and walked to take in the scenery and the blue-green water of the Caribbean.

The biggest draw for us was the Bio Bay. We joined 16 other double kayaks out into the pitch black water with our guide to see one the world's last bioluminescent bays. The water lights up in a moonstone green everywhere the water is touched by the kayak, the paddle or your hand. When you pull your hand out of the water, it looks as if there are diamonds dripping from it. No photos can capture it, but the memories of a starlit night and watching fish light up the water are worth the dreaded taking off of the shoes for the TSA.

We rode horses on the beach and weaved in and out of hills with stunning views of the mountains and the water. 

Sweet Murphy was a pleasure to ride.

Seeing all of this from horseback was dream-like. I hope to return to the island soon...

Peachtree 23 Highway Sale in South Carolina!

This is the 3rd year we have traveled to Lexington, South Carolina for a short highway sale. The Highway Peachtree 23 runs 40 miles from Leesville to Batesburg to Monetta to Ridge Spring to Johnston to Edgefield. The highway is lined with peach orchards, corn fields and pecan groves. You may never have heard of any of these towns, but Edgefield produced 10 South Carolina governors! These small friendly towns with their flag-lined Main Streets are everything you'd like to believe still exists. And what did we find there?

These are photos of the vintage treasures bound for our etsy site. Of course Jeri had to keep this book for her collection of 1950's childrens craft books and a tiny metal horse for her special shelf of all things horse.

 

We LOVED the groovy orange color of this chenille bedspread.

Here's the now-closed cafe where we bought the"Full Buffet Served Daily" sign.

This cool cardboard Barbee house is furnished with a TV, record albums and

a photo of Ken! 

We debated about buying this huge stash of Blue Horse coupons from the

Montag Notebook Paper Co., but since Jeri remembered collecting

them in grade school we couldn't pass them up.

Learning about this little WW II soldier will take some research, but

he is precious and we instantly fell in love with him.

Some fun letters we had to have.

And of course a silly sign from the road. Grilled worms? YUM.

What Do You Do With All That Stuff? Part 2

     Fair is fair, so here are photos of my home so you can see where more of our vintage pickings live after they are discovered on our picking adventures. None of them

 were expensive, but in addition to being reused instead of discarded they are

 unique and happy reminders of our travels.

Ignore my mess. This is my computer desk with an enamel metal top that used to
be found in lots of kitchens!

This painted rack for 45 RPM records holds my postcard collection.

I have vintage shelves everywhere. The Milkbone  jar was found
on our first highway sale for $1.00.

This screen separates my office from the bedroom. The size was perfect!

I love horses and paint by number paintings so these two are perfect. 

The biggest one was only $1.00!

A lovely shade of aqua on this shelf drew me to it. The bird painting was $.50.

My collection of sea-colored Christmas ornaments.

Small chairs make  great holders for my always expanding book collection.

I have three fixer-upper pets. They are all rescues and make grand companions.

This is Sallie, part Lab, part Rottweiler and 100% sweet.

This is Tiger in his Spanish mood. 

This is Jellie and she has a really  super sense of humor.

Picking Plus a Parade in Darien , GA!

     The Picking Sisters headed south yesterday for Darien, GA & the traditional annual Blessing of the Fleet. The shrimpers are a vital part of this area & the blessing is celebrated with an

All-American small town parade down Main Street, which is actually US Hwy. 17. With I-95 now running through Georgia, you can easily skip Darien, but if you love a treasure of a little town like we do, go enjoy the history, the oaks covered in moss & a scenic working shrimp dock.

     Laura was already  waiting in my driveway at 6:30AM yesterday morning, but it was worth the early hour - we found the kitschiest of all kitsch at a church sale! It's a poodle made of shells. We also bought 8 goose decoys (which we had never seen & were told they were 60 years old).

We sat on the curb & enjoyed the floats & the patriotic tone of the parade.

 A Shrimp Boat float!

Who doesn't love to hug a giant pig?

When is a golf cart a parade float? When it's decked out with a grocery cart on top and accompanied by the Piggly Wiggly pig.

Ronald McDonald on one of a large fleet of old & new fire trucks.

Shriners do the most incredible charitable work so they are forgiven their

antics where big men ride small bikes.

Fort Stewart is closeby and the crowd welcomed the 3rd ID band.

These horses were smokin' (well not the horses themselves - look closely.)

Big dogs get to celebrate too.

No parade is complete without the wonderfully wacky Shriners.

This clever creation represented the McIntosh Art Association.
There is an art gallery in the Old Jail.

This shrimpy painter was our favorite!

The Picking Sister ready for the parade.

Perhaps a delightfully no-nonsense candidate?

What IS under those kilts???

 And of course there are the beauty queens...

I can't seem to get enough of  funky & unusual signs. 

This was definitely worth the u-turn for the photo.