Welcome back to my blog. It's been a wonderful long summer, and now that the fall rains have set in it's time to catch up on a whole lot of blogging.
A few weeks ago my family and I went for a visit to a wonderful antique place that they had all visited several months ago, and were eager to share with me ever since. Story has it that Grumpa was once a farmer, and when he was tired of farming he sold all his quota, and started collecting antiques. Now we aren't talking about some very carefully selected collectables, but rather a wonderful, ramshackle collection of all sorts. The farm that once was home to a herd of cows is now full of an organized chaos of treasures.
So here is a quick little tour through Granny and Grumpa's. It may seem like I have a lot of pictures of a whole lot of things, but this really is only a fraction of what there really is to see. I went looking for spinning wheels, but was so overwhelmed with visual overload, that all I could do was ooh and aah, and snap picture after picture.
When you walk into the first barn, you'll see a room full of everything Coca-Cola, and in the centre a pool table with a very large model sailing ship.
In the parlour, all around the milk tank, are thousands of different beer cans. The most interesting thing of it all is the fact that many of them are still unopened. I wonder how much they will be worth someday.
The next room is full of different milk churns, lanterns and also 4 kids rides that are permantely plugged in so that any children visiting can go on them.
The fella sitting in this room gave me a scare at first, as I peeked around the corner and thought for a second that he was a real person! His hat says 'Used Hay Dealer'! :) The shelves all around this small room are lined with ashtrays.
If it's dolls you're after this room's for you.
I've heard of salt and pepper shaker collections, but this one beats anything I've ever seen. Literally thousands of shakers filling shelf after shelf. I only took a picture of a few that stood out at the time. The out-houses are my favorites! :)
The curious mix of baby carts, buggies and ride-on toys.
Musical intstruments (many of them are not in such great shape), a humongous cross-bow, shoe forms, glass milk cans, and if it's a boat motor you're looking for, you've come to the right place.
A variety of phone's spanning the last century.
Gauges of different sorts.
This sleigh and reindeer are life size. Wouldn't this be perfect for a winter photo-shoot?
A large laundry wringer
A old fire wagon
There's a big row of old sewing machines. I just had a hard time seeing them all standing on the ground covered in dust and grim.
A rather nice looking scale
There are also quite a lot of pump organs and old piano's.
Meat grinders
And tucked in between everything, a bit of humour
Off to the next barn. As you can see on the sign, Granny and Grumpa's was on the TV show, Pickers.
Above - one of many spinning wheels. Below- a collection of rollerskates. I used to skate with these things...makes me feel a bit old!
There are old clothes hanging up in different places around the last barn. A huge marble collection, an impressive array of spectacles, and a row of brightly coloured nutcrackers
There are also several jukeboxes
The collection of camera's ranges from old to very recent models
It might be a bit difficult to make out what this jumble of cords and things is. It is in fact an old, electric hair permanent machine. It has a magazine attached to it containing a story of the perils of using this rather frightening looking device.
Angela's favorite is the glass cabinet FULL of all sorts of frogs!
Bee smokers and hay hooks
Above - the charm of old lunch boxes. Below - the horror of a dentist machine.
A shoe-makers sewing machine.
One of the various collections of trunks
And of course the spinning wheels, ranging from small to big, floor models to table top kind.
The black machine, below right, is one of the first movie machines.
I don't know if a display case full of bed pans would be my kind of thing to collect, but to each his own I suppose. On the other hand, I love the old Ford (below)
It's rather unusual to see one of these bikes.
This puppet show really works, and there is a row of old movie seats in front of it, so kids can sit down and watch. Now how cool is that!
I love this vehicle!
This last barn is a favorite of the men in my life. Old tractors!
