A painting under the dust

I don't know anything about this painting. Who painted it? Is the scene depicted real or in the artist's mind? Was it painted for the artist's own home, or maybe as a gift? Was it sold?

We'll probably never know the answers. But, this painting has a completely different story to tell.

I bought it at an auction. It was filthy. Covered in dust and cobwebs. So much so, that I couldn't even really tell what the painting was.

I had bought it for the frame. Once I got it home, I picked it up to take the picture out to throw away. But, I started looking closer at the painting under the dust.

I could see potential. I wiped off what dust I could with a dry rag. Ah yes, definite potential.

I carefully cleaned the frame with a damp rag. The painting was still too dirty, so I actually used a damp rag on the oil painting as well. With a very light touch.

I'm sure there's a proper way to clean an original oil painting. I'm sure a damp cloth isn't it.

But, it worked.

As I was cleaning it, I thought about what a shame it was that this beauty ever ended up in a shed, or basement, or barn, or wherever it had spent enough years to accumulate so much dust.

I'm going to throw some advice out to whoever will listen: If you don't want something anymore, sell it. Or give it away.

Someone will want it. Someone will enjoy it.

I've bought some pieces this summer from a few different folks who had more vintage pieces than they could use. Pieces they liked, some were even family pieces. But, they simply didn't have room for all of them.

When they called me, they said they didn't want to just store them away, they wanted someone to enjoy them.

The painting has already sold to a man who bought it for his living room. I hope he gets years and years of enjoyment out of it!

Quilt treasure

We bought this quilt at a recent antiques auction. There was a note on it that said it was made in 1869. By a 9 year old girl! Her name was also on the quilt, but I won't include that for privacy reasons.

Can't you just see the girl working on this, with her mama sitting beside her, guiding her and teaching her? It makes me smile.

I seldom buy for myself at an auction. Just about everything goes to the store to sell. But not this quilt. It's a keeper!

A Quiet 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

It's quiet here today. Brian & Jessica decided not to make the trip home to WV since they are going to the beach for a few days soon with Brian's family.

Kevin & Katie are spending the day with her family in PA.

George was supposed to have the day off, but ended up working a double!

We planned to go to fireworks last night at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, but those plans fell through.

George & I had hoped to go to our favorite fireworks show tonight in downtown Wheeling, but as I said, he's now working. And besides that, it's raining. And thundering.

I did grill some burgers for our lunch before he left for work, but I burned the burgers. We were able to salvage them, but they weren't the best we've ever had by any stretch of the imagination.

Does it sound like I'm complaining? I'm really not. We've had lots of great 4th of July celebrations in the past, and Lord willing, there will be more to come in the future. And I'm truly thankful to be living in this great nation, today and every other day of the year.

So, for this year, at our house, the chickens ended up with the biggest celebration. Any day they get watermelon is a day to celebrate!

And we still may get to see fireworks for the 4th. They are supposed to have them this Sunday night in Moundsville. Though I'm not entirely sure that will happen either. The fairgrounds there along with the surrounding areas had some severe flash flooding a couple nights ago. A baseball tournament had to be cancelled at the last minute. So maybe there will be fireworks, and maybe there won't.

But if there is, Kevin and Katie would appreciate it. It's not every one who gets to see fireworks for their first anniversary!

Cleaning antiques one way or another

I picked these flags up at an auction the other evening. They are very fragile........ so why are they spread out on my deck? They smell! VERY musty. I wouldn't normally recommend cleaning something like this, but these need air. And rain. And sunshine. I'm letting nature take it's course, and we'll see what happens!

Some of the antiques we buy are beyond "normal" cleaning techniques.

• Never use water on wood.
• Never use a water hose on wood furniture.
• Never lay fragile flags on a deck to get rained on.
• And sunned on.

(I am aware that "sunned" isn't a word. Work with me)

But some of the antiques we buy are beyond "normal" cleaning techniques.

(I am aware I'm repeating myself. Work with me)

Sometimes we use whatever technique will work. It's that, or throw the nasty, dirty, smelly "yuk, no one wants to touch that" item away.

Please don't judge us.

West Virginia's Birthday

Yesterday was a big day here in West Virginia. It was our birthday. Not just any birthday either. Our 150th!

There will be celebrations all weekend, but the one that got the most attention around here was in Wheeling yesterday. Wheeling is the birthplace of West Virginia, and they pulled out all the stops to celebrate.

George went to Independence Hall at noon for some of the events. I was working then, and couldn't go with him. In the evening, Kevin and I went to Heritage Port on the bank of the Ohio River for a concert and fireworks. George couldn't go that because by evening, he was at work.

 

I realize you can't tell who is singing, so I'll tell you. That is the very talented Kathy Mattea, who hails from West Virginia. Before her, we enjoyed another big West Virginia talent,  Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., who won America's Got Talent a couple years ago. We really enjoyed the concert. And check out that cool curtain backdrop. Love it!

We West Virginian's are very proud of our state, and our heritage. Every WV student has a year of WV history in 8th grade, and our history is drilled in. We carry that with us the rest of our lives.

Facebook was alive with that pride yesterday. It did my heart good to see all the WV pride shining bright. My favorite two posts were from my own children....

From Jessica, who currently lives in VA.: 

There's a land of rolling mountains, where the sky is blue above. And though I may roam, I hurry home to those friendly hills I love.
Happy Birthday, West Virginia! 150 years young.

And from Kevin:

Proud to be a native son of the Mountain State on this historic day, 150 years strong. Montani Semper Liberi!

Kevin also wrote this on his facebook farm page:

 

Farming is hard anywhere, but especially so in West Virginia. We have hillsides so steep our legs are shorter on one side, blazing hot summers so humid you could wring the air, and winters so cold Jack Frost moves south. It can be a challenge, but on this historic day 150 years into statehood we would like to say Happy West Virginia Day! We are beyond blessed to achieve our lifelong dream of farming and to do it in the majestic, wild, and wonderful hills of West Virginia. Thank you everyone for supporting us!

Love my kids! Love my state!

Montani Semper Liberi!

Mountaineers are Always Free! 

Long views of the shop

 

It's been awhile since I took "long view" pictures of the shop.

 

 

I tend to focus in on particular items, so I decided to stretch out a bit.

 

 

I didn't get it all, that's not an easy task!

 

 

But, I tried to get enough shots to get an overall feel for the shop.

 

 

These were all taken a few days ago, and things have changed already.

 

 

New treasures come in pretty much daily.

And, I'm happy to say, things go out daily as well.

 

I'll try to get more "long views" to show other areas from time to time.

 

We're constantly changing it up so to speak.

Rearranging is just part of the game.

 

The heavy part.

 

Thank goodness for those little plastic sliders

that make moving furniture on carpet a piece of cake!

 

So to speak.

A Rotating Table

This table from a recent auction seems ordinary enough.........

But it has a unique feature...............

It rotates! It will turn all the way around.

Not sure why though. Our guess is for playing cards or some other game. But that may not be right because it's more end table size than card table size.

The legs were pretty distressed looking, but I liked that. I just cleaned them and put a wax sealer over the old varnish. The top was more scratched up than distressed, which made it rather ugly. A coat of black paint, some sandpaper and more wax solved that problem.

What do you think it was used for originally? Why the rotating top?