My sister & I went to the winter antique show on Saturday. It's held in the cafeteria of a local high school and always something we look forward to.This year they had some new vendors and a lot more to look at, which meant we soon found some items to take home. The photo is of my purchases. Yes, that's another giant pine cone, but a bit smaller and more colorful than the one I got last year. I was thrilled to find a copy of "Wind in the Willows" with Arthur Rackham illustrations, I really like his artwork. There's also several vintage Cleveland postcards and a small print of red deer in the snow, which was part of a pair, but the other image featured a hunter, so I didn't want it. There's also a tall green jar, with a home canning type lid, not sure what I'll end up putting in it, but it was so pretty, I couldn't resist.
My sister bought a story book and an antique pin and we both had an enjoyable afternoon, even with the sharp wind and snow pellets swirling around our walk to the car. We stopped for Chinese food on the way home, capping a fun day.

Though my cold is still lingering, I had improved enough to attend the library's annual book sale on Thursday. They have 3 rooms of books, divided by category and I always focus on the big nonfiction room. It took me longer than usual to start finding things, but I ended up with 9 books, all of them animal/nature and history, except for a lovely thick book(Literary Britain) about the locations portrayed in English literature, which I started reading that very evening. It has a small font, which I usually reject due to difficulty seeing, but the passages that I skimmed were so interesting that I had to have it.
A slim volume pairing flower quotes from Shakespeare and beautiful illustrations of them is one of my favorite purchases. It's a terrific idea and the watercolors are so richly done, it's very inspiring. I'm looking forward to reading the Medieval and Victorian history books, the latter has intriguing drawings and vintage photos that I want to study in depth.
As always, there were a number of books that were in the wrong categories at the sale, so my mild OCD had me moving some of them around to the proper tables.For instance, they had Stephen Colbert's book in biographies, not humor. Does someone NOT know who Stephen Colbert is? There was a castle book in home decor, which I found amusing and a Henry VIII book somewhere very strange, until I put it in history. There were also quite a few books which ought to have been in the childrens/young adult room, and I'm sorry I didn't correct those. A fellow shopper came over at one point and asked if I was a volunteer or a customer, but walked off when I was explaining(in the middle of my sentence!), maybe she needed help?
Anyways, though it was sharply cold with a biting wind, I was glad that I was able to go to the sale.I spent less than usual, but wasn't for lack of trying. lol It was a nice day.