antiques.

So the trip to Micanopy did happen on Monday. And Lost Ark Antiques is the best....ever....promise! My mom first took me there about three years ago and on that trip I officially started collecting depression glass and adding to my Stangl pottery. The place is packed (really, you have to be able to get down on your hands and knees to find the "good stuff") with nice things - lots of dishes - and the prices are reasonable. Coming on the tail of the Saturday visit to the Leesburg stores, I wasn't holding out a lot of hope for more great finds. But we found them. And of course had a ball in the process.

I added several Stangl pieces - four small bowls in the sculptured fruit pattern, a tidbit tray in country garden and a vegetable bowl (will be pasta for me, I think) in golden harvest. And 8 more depression glass plates - 4 amethyst and 4 gold (in a pattern called Beverly). Added to the pink glass relish plate and Stangl pink thistle divided vegetable bowl from Saturday, definitely another great "score".

I really need to get serious about the Stangl. I now own 11 different pieces (and that counts "sets" of plates/bowls as one) in 7 patterns! Based on a quick internet search, this is the book to have, but it's out of print, and used copies start at $125 on amazon. Yikes!

getting it all washed
Stangl divided vegetable dish, in the pink thistle pattern, in its new home

Before the Micanopy trip, Katie, mom and I had lunch at Macaroni Grill. We hadn't been in ages - really since they closed the one in Roswell. The fried calamari was delicious - a new recipe - not much breading at all, so the calamari was the real star...and of course two yummy sauces. We even had dessert - a sorbet medley a biscotti in a pretty glass. We didn't play the dot game. Instead, Katie doodled our monograms:

Katie's crayola playground
my monogram
and my mom's in her favorite purple-y color!

We did play Phase 10. Tried to play it the quiet way - where you'd lose points if you talked. And Daddy won that part. Katie and I were second. Mother lost. But Katie won on points. Playing a game without talking is h..a..r..d! (good luck, Karen, if you try it next week!)

The fires were getting worse in Gainesville yesterday. We woke up yesterday morning smelling the smoke in our rooms - yuck! and ashes coating everything outside. But Mother says it's a little better today - not because the fires are getting under control but because the wind has shifted. Pray for rain....