The North Myrtle Flea Market

Coronation "Banded Rib" 4 1/2" berry bowls in ruby red by Anchor Hocking, circa 1936-1940

Old Cafe mint dish in ruby red by Anchor Hocking, circa 1936-1940

I love this place. It's really junky, and that's where you tend to find the best bargains on glass and good yard sale type stuff. I was thinking if I was going to find glass anywhere (the beach is not the best hunting ground, usually) this would be the place to find it.

Sure enough, we hadn't even gotten in the door good before I found an Old Cafe candy dish in ruby red, continuing the streak of ruby red I've been finding lately. I wasn't sure I was going to get it - I wanted to check the price. But we walked on, and Mom stopped to look at some stuff, so I scampered back to the car to check the book. Turns out it was good, not great, but I decided I wanted it. When I went back to the table, there were 4 ruby red 4 1/2" handled Coronation berry bowls to match the set of three I just bought in Anderson the other week. I was pretty stoked about that! The woman sold me the four berry bowls and the candy dish for $20. The berry bowls alone were worth $32, so that was a really good deal.

As we walked on, I just kept finding more and more glass. I found a black bowl that I couldn't find the pattern for, and I found a yellow one that I know I've seen in a book somewhere (it was a Fostoria mold), but apparently not in one of mine. That really bugged me, and I checked the book several times. I found what I thought was a cubist Black flower pot, but must have been Fostoria since Cubist wasn't made in black apparently. I also found a set of four yellow Cameo tumblers for a decent price, but I decided not to buy them, since even at a discount they were $44. So I saw a lot of junk, a lot of glass, and basically had a fine old time.

Unfortunately, the jewelery seller there disappointed Mom. She loves jewelery, and I know she wanted a new pinky ring, but hasn't found anything on this trip that she wants. She passed it off, saying she didn't really "need" anything, but since when does need have anything to do with it? That was only a slight blight on the day. I think she enjoys seeing me have a good rummage almost as much as having one herself.

We stopped at another little antique place on the way back down the road, but without very high hopes. It had proven to be pretty slim pickings in the past. But even here, I found a piece or two of glass to look at, if nothing to buy.

By the time we did all that, we were getting hungry, so we went back down to Myrtle and had a splendid Mexican lunch at a place called El Cerro Grande I had read about online before the trip.

After lunch we were at last ready to go to Kohl's. We had been looking for a Kohl's the whole trip, and apparently there isn't one in Myrtle Beach proper, although we both thought we passed one the first night. There were some jackets there I had wanted Mom to see, since they looked like her, and she had told Lisa she would help her look for a Christmas present for Eve. She thought they might have what she was looking for there.

Mom didn't get the jacket, and they didn't have the gift that Lisa was looking for, but they did have Christmas ornaments. Mom remembered that she hadn't bought me an ornament yet this year, and we started looking at them. She thought we might run through The Christmas Mouse on the way back, but honestly, the more we looked at them, the more upset I got. I started thinking about the ornaments I have, and where they came from. I have a lot of ornaments that Michael gave me, and the center of my tree is an ornament I bought on our honeymoon. I had thought I might put the tree up this year, but now I'm not so sure. I picked out an ornament from Kohl's and Mom got it for me. It is pretty, and I really like it, but honestly I just couldn't bear the thoughts of more ornament shopping.

By the time we got back to the room, Mom wasn't feeling like a beach walk, and I was feeling pretty subdued.