We spent several days in Kennebunkport, Maine, on our trip. This little village at the mouth of the Kennebunk River in southern Maine is a great little getaway. Yes, it is touristy, especially in the summer, but it is much less so after Labor Day. We stayed in a wonderful B&B on the tidal region of the river ... the Bufflehead Cove Inn . Our little cottage was named "The Hideaway" and it lived up to its name. The family owned Inn is run by Harriet and Jim along with their son Erin with help from Erin's wife Paige. Service was awesome ... and the setting was too! The front porch of the Hideaway Kennebunk tidal basin from our front porch "Upside down lilies" on the porch Flowers were everywhere! The driveway leaving the Inn In the room was the guest book, which we enjoyed reading. One post really caught our attention. It included beautiful handwriting (as most did), some little sketches and a drawing of the room! Then we checked the ...

We are back from our trip to New England. We spent the first few days at Brimfield searching through the largest outdoor antique market in the USA. Then we went up to Maine, where we scoured shops and markets for vintage items to bring back to Vintages. We did well. Brimfield Antique Market Here is a sampling of the fruits of our search. We will be pricing these and putting them on shelves and some of them online as quickly as we can. Beatrix Potter figurines to add to our already extensive collection. Wonderful, colorful buttons on display boards ... plus other sewing items. Some very nice vintage compasses, opera glasses, a mini telescope and a few old maps. These are two gorgeous ostrich feather fans! WOW! We have a couple of lovely silk ones in the shop as well. Silk hankies from England and France. Several excellent old brass jewelry boxes, plus a couple of Italian wood ones too ... and a few pieces of jewelry as well. Delicate old French lace, plus trims ...

I recently found this wonderful old 1933 Almanac from the San Francisco Women's City Club, a member of the National League for Women's Service of California. It is filled with stories, recipes, calendars and good old "common sense," as almanacs were back then. What are truly amazing are the woodblock prints! This club had some extremely talented ladies as members. The cover was created by Nadine Hammond. This fantasized map of the San Francisco Bay, pre-Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, is just super! The monthly entries are headed by a series of calendar images that are both whimsical and symbolic. These woodblock prints are the work of  well-known wood-cut artist Bernita Lundy, who was also the Art Director for the club.

We will be closed for a short vacation from Labor Day (Sept 3rd) through the following Wednesday (Sept 12th). We will re-open on Thursday (Sept 13th). Leave us a message or email if you need to contact us during that time. We will get back to you as time allows. Sorry for any inconvenience.

 Bob will be the guest speaker at the September 19 th meeting of the San Jose Stamp Club . Bob’s presentation will be about using Mixed-Media Techniques For Enhancing Stamp Collection Displays . The meeting will begin at 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 19th, at Hilltop Manor, 790 Ironwood Drive, San Jose. The meeting is open to the public, but please contact San Jose Stamp Club President, Brian Jones, at 408-927-6861 (or email Brian at bfj39@yahoo.com ) to get details.

We have these really neat stainless steel flasks that are wrapped in Italian leather. We have the funnels for filling these flasks as well. Plus, we have received a new shipment of reading glasses that come in Italian leather cases. Check them out! These 6 oz. flasks range in price: Glittery Hot Purple ($26.95) • Pink leather ($37.95) • Black & Brown Leather ($39.95). The tall 10 oz. flasks in Black, Pink and Stingray leather come with two shot glasses ($39.95) These reading glasses, in a full range of magnification, are only $15.95 including the Italian leather case. Great gifts. Just add a special beverage for the flasks (make mine Courvoisier ), or a favorite book with the readers.

Here's my latest installment in this irregularly posted series. Sue Stewart was a young girl who grew up in Juneau, Alaska, and later attended Stanford University. This little torn sheet was found in here Juneau High School scrap book, so it dates from the late 1930s. Poor Allan ... I wonder what happened to the second pie? Click on the image for a larger size.