Shawnee Hunting in South Carolina

We're back on the road in the Casita, spending a few days in one of our favorite places, Charleston, South Carolina. I love the low country and could blog about it for hours. But I'll start with a story about Friday's "antique road trip" to the little town of Walterboro, about an hour from Charleston. It was recommended for its antiques and cafes.

Walterboro is a cute little Southern town but, sadly, many of its antique shops have gone out of business and the tree-lined main street is marred by empty store fronts. Antique shops seem to be struggling everywhere. At home in New England the same is true. "The girls" and I used to be able to spend whole days driving from one antique shop to the next looking for bargains; not so anymore. Is that true where you live too?

We did find a few shops open. One was located in what was the town's only movie theater back in the day. After the theater closed, the grandson of its original owner turned it into a group antique shop. After hearing stories about the "old days" in Walterboro (and even seeing black & white photos of Grandpa!), we began hunting through the piles of  "stuff" in search of ever-elusive Shawnee Pottery miniatures to add to my collection.

 And, sitting on an old tray of dishes in the back of the store, I spotted one!

This little two-handled vase is the first one I've found in many years. Score!

And, at $5.00, I didn't even dicker; they're now selling for $20.00 to $30.00 each online.

These tiny (<3")vases and pitchers were produced from 1937 through the 1940's and given away as premiums at stores and movie theaters. (Back in 2011, I wrote a post about my collection, with lots of photos, which you're welcome to revisit here.)

Finding this little vase seemed like quite a coincidence because just last week, Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage, who also collects Shawnee miniatures, posted about two she had just purchased and how hard they are to find. I replied to her post that I hadn't found one since 2011. A few days later, this one appeared, in Walterboro, SC of all places.  Karma?

On the way back to Charleston (Mt. Pleasant, actually) we passed this funky barn, "Linda Page's Thieves Market".

After yelling "Stop! Stop!" to DH and encouraging him to take a hair-raising u-turn, we pulled in. 

What a fun place!

I loved these big tobacco baskets; great size, color and texture for $30.00. I wanted to buy one of the larger ones for the wall over my couch but finally had to let it go . . . we simply have no more room for "stuff" in the camper. (Tied to the roof, maybe?)

I did buy two rusty old egg baskets to use as Easter decor, a metal tray in which to display all the whelk shells we collected in St. Augustine, and 10 colored glass bottle stoppers. (There's no rationale for the bottle stoppers except that I already have a door knob collections so, for 10 for $1.00, why not?)

Outside the "Thieves Market" was this bicycle. Can you see it? I wonder if the rider is still in the barn somewhere? If so, she must like to hunt for "junk" even more than I do!

Tomorrow we'll load up the Casita and head for Rome, Georgia. Before we do, I'm determined to finish at least one more post about one of my all time favorite places . . . Charleston. 

It' s raining in the low country today so I just might get that done!

This post is linked to:

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Thungs

The Imitation Game

I was blog-surfing yesterday and enjoyed a review of the movie American Sniper at At Rivercrest Cottage.  Because I don't usually like "war movies", I saw American Sniper reluctantly . . . to keep DH company and to have an excuse to indulge in a bucket of that bad-for-you movie popcorn. I was surprised; the movie was very well-done.

While at American Sniper, we saw the trailer for The Imitation Game and I knew right away that I wanted to see it. So this time, DH went to keep me company and we shared the buttery popcorn.

This movie was so good that I cried.

The movie is based on the true story of Alan Turing and his colleagues who broke the German Enigma code, helping the Allies to win WW II. The movie was overpowering as it explored the "beautiful mind" of Turing as he struggled with his genius, homosexuality, and an asperger-like inability to understand social cues.



The movie reminded me of how far we have come in empowering women, accepting homosexuality, and embracing technology. By creating a machine to decode Enigma, Turing actually developed the first computer.

 

Right after the war, my Dad worked on a classified project for the NSA. It involved taking what was learned from Enigma and its later version, Ultra, and developing the first computer, initially for intelligence use. Later, Dad went on to work on Univac, Remington Rand's first computer for commercial use. I remember Dad taking me to see the computer when I was a child; it was huge, filling up a very large room.

Dad  1941

Dad never talked about his work during the war until more than 50 years later. I thought that was just coincidence . . . it wasn't.  My sister, Nancy, and I interviewed Dad on Veteran's Day 2003 and he explained how he was chosen for the project he worked on (he was good at crossword puzzles!) and how he continued his work with the NSA until 1952. 

 

Dad was 80 then. He slid a scrap of paper from Nancy's notebook and, with a hand trembling from the effects of Parkinson's disease, drew something that looked like this:

 

 

 He was drawing the design of the Enigma machine, from memory.

 

"You will lie to your friends, your family, everyone you meet, about what it is you really do."  - The Imitation Game

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one imagines."  - The Imitation Game


There are some good movies in the theatres right now, including American Sniper and  Unbroken.
Surprisingly, I thought the Imitation Game was the best of the three.

I hope you'll get a chance to see it.

 

Who remembers Saturday Matinees???

I do!
 And I miss them.

photo courtesy of wehadfacesthen@tumblr.com

 

 Mom and Dad would drop a girlfriend and I off at the old Fine Arts Theatre in their blue and white '59 Chevy Impala. We'd each have 50 cents in our purses:  35 cents for the movie ticket and 15 cents for popcorn.

 

Fine Arts Theatre, Westport, CT 

 

The boys were really into Davy Crockett, but we probably went to see Disney's Sleeping Beauty or the Shaggy Dog that year.  Nobody seemed to worry about "stranger danger" back then and we loved being able to sit by ourselves . . . no parents. (OK . . . maybe a sister sometimes . . .right, Andi?)

 

By 1961, I was an official "teenager" and clearly remember going to the Saturday matinee with my girlfriend, Kathy, to see Elvis in Blue Hawaii. We spent half of our time waiting for Elvis to sing  "Just Can't Help Falling In Love With You" and the other half checking out which "boys" happened to be in the theatre that day and where they were sitting.

When DH and I went to a matinee at our local Cinemagic yesterday, I couldn't help but think about how different going to a movie is now.  The old single-screen theatre is gone, replaced by a "multi-plex" with 10 screens, a café, reclining seats and Dolby surround sound.  Heck . . . this theatre is so big I couldn't find the boys now if I tried!

 

And my 50 cents wouldn't go very far either.
 

 

 $7.50 for a bag of popcorn?

 

 

Are they cracked???

 I miss those Saturdays at the Fine Arts.

 

We got the movie (with a newsreel and cartoon), the popcorn, and . . . the anticipation of a boy we "liked" actually talking to one of us. . . . all for 50 cents!

 

Do you remember going to the Saturday matinee as a kid?

 

 

 

 

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Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home