fun on a Saturday afternoon

  Yesterday AM, the floor guys came and fixed the ripples in my vinyl flooring.  After I put back all the stuff I have removed from the hutch (so that they could move it), I needed to get out of the house.  The glue they used to hold the flooring was unpleasantly smelly.  So, I called my friend Patty and suggested we go out and visit some antique stores.  We hadn't gone antiquing together in ages.  She was delighted to go, so off we went to Ellicott City, just a few miles up the road.  We started at the bottom of the hill (the shopping district is on a fairly steep hill) in an antique store that was new to me.  I found the red bowl shown below in that store.   All the stores in Ellicott City are in very old buildings and as a result have many levels, some just a few steps up or down from the adjacent level.  Believe me, we got lots of exercise going up and down those stairs, as well as walking up and down the hill!  Of course, we found some treasures.  We nearly always do.  I walked into one store and spotted the orange and gold bowl first thing.  Had to have it!  We shopped in three antique stores in Ellicott City and then headed over to Gambrills to one of our favorite stores.  It's a small store, but always has beautiful displays.  By that time I was pretty much "antiqued out" and only found one small glass cruet, clear glass with a green handle.  As you can see, all I bought was glassware.  The orange/gold piece is a real find - I have nothing else like it.  The small red glass bowl isn't as unusual, but is very lovely.  The little pitchers are just interesting additions to my collection of small glass things.

After nearly 3 hours, we left antique stores behind, and drove to a nearby shopping center to visit a 'bird' store where we bought some seed for our birds.  (With all the snow, the birds are eating a lot of food and so are the squirrels!) Then we walked down the street to Applebee's for dinner.  Luckily we got there early.  We were seated at once, but the place was filling up and it was only about 5:30.  By the time we left, there were no empty tables.  It's a popular place, especially on Saturdays.  We indulged and each ordered one of their small desserts, called shooters.  They come in a juice glass size and are just the right amount of sweet something to have after a full dinner.  A lovely way to end the day.