A lovely, if lazy, Saturday*

Sharon, or "Open Rose" 12.5" platter in amber by Federal Glass Co, circa 1935-1939

Windsor "Diamond" pitcher in pink by Jeannette Glass Co, circa 1936-1946

When I woke up this morning, I just decided it was too damp to paint still. It may or may not have been, but I suppose I am just not virtuous enough to write off my entire weekend. I had offered to help Russ and Billy at the shop today, but they said there really wasn't anything to do over there today. They did invite me over tonight though, which I was happy about.

I was honestly feeling too lazy to go to the flea market today, but boy am I glad I did! I was too lazy even to go to the store for coffee, which I was completely out of, but then remembered I would have to have fruit for next week. Since I'm going to be gone all day tomorrow, what I got done for next week would have to be done today. I dragged myself to get dressed and headed over. It was a pretty enough morning though, and once I got there I decided to walk around a bit.

The first piece of glass I found was the Sharon platter. Ordinarily I don't buy amber glass because I don't like it that much, but this looked to be in pretty good shape, and I like to have serving pieces because I can use them to entertain or at parties. When I picked it up to get a better look, the guy told me wanted a QUARTER for it! So of course I couldn't resist that. It has some wear marks on it, which really don't bother me. It also had some rust stains on it (apparently a lot of folks had tin kinves then, and if they rested on the glass wet, they would leave rust marks - I know this because I have some of those old knives), but those come right off with toilet bowl cleaner. There is also a very small flake chip on one side I didn't notice until I got it home. Book price on that piece is $16, but in the shape it's in, prolly only about $12-14.

The other piece I found was the Windsor pitcher. That guy knew what it was, but only wanted $15 for it. Book price on it is $25. I couldn't reist. I had looked everywhere for one last year, and only found one in an antique store that I thought was too high. I quit looking when my friend Terry sent me a bunch back in May. But as I say, this was a deal, and I couldn't resist. I didn't realize how dirty it was until I got it home, but it scrubbed up nicely.

Since I was cleaning glass anyway, I decided to go ahead and put the display cabinet Russ gave me back together. It went back to one piece beautifully, and I got it all cleaned up and the shelves and sides all put back in it. Then I arranged glass in it. It looks GREAT. I'm really happy with the way it came out. Justin will be pleased too, since I'll be able to have more of my glass on display. I've decided to clean out some cabinets in the kitchen so I have more room to keep more glass downstairs.

While I was doing that, I baked some glass with oven cleaner on it, which I have heard sometimes taks mineral deposits off. I didn't work on my little green "test" bowl, but it worked like a charm on the old Fire King pie plate lid I got on my birthday shopping trip. It had baked on food in all the little crevices, but came clean as a whistle. It looks great. I also put on my broccoli for lunch next week and cooked it.

Well after all that cleaning and fixing, I ate some lunch, and then decided I needed a nap. When I woke up about 4:15, it was because I had a message on my phone, but whoever it was didn't leave their name. I thought it might be Michael, but when I called him, he said it hadn't been him. Since I had been meaning to talk to him anyway, we talked for about an hour. Mostly that was me catching him up on stuff around here.

By this time, I was late for Russ and Billy's. They had asked me to come over early, since I can't stay late tonight. Eve, Dad and I are leaving at 8:30am in the morning for NC. I got cleaned up and went on over. We went out to El Matador for dinner, which was lovely as usual. When we got back to the house, we watched the latest "Little Britain", which is always funny. We also watched the last episode of "True Blood". It is still making me mad because of the way they're protraying Sookie's brother, but it is a good series. Bill is being shown in a more sympathetic light now, at any rate.