Taking a pretty break and finding a little happy...

I was in the midst of moving my recently widowed 

sister out of her beautiful home due to foreclosure after

she had been robbed, feeling rather blue.    My sister was taking it all in stride but I found myself worn trying to be supportive and strong.  I thought I would drive around a little town between the mountains where she lives and the desert valley where I live...a cute little town, full of sweet shops, nice restaurants and beautiful homes.  As I was driving home I spotted brightly colored balloons at a pretty house where the yard was filled with pretty things calling me, beckoning me, with a sign inviting me in...as if to say "Take a pretty break and find a little happy here!".  So I did.

I lost myself in the cute little booths filled with pretty things from local antiques dealers and crafters including Christy Repasy!  (...she paints old fashioned flowers in an old fashioned, victorian style often done by china painters on boards and canvases...and my mother just loves her work.)  I took my time and wandered amongst the treasures...linens, vintage clothing, jewelry, furniture, accessories, art...so many pretty and creative things.  There were even pretty and creative people...one vendor was dressed in clothing from antique linens that she makes and sells.  The booths were set up so pretty, one vendor had covered her Easy-up in a hodgepodge of printed fabric.  It was just adorable.  Some of the booths and curtains framing the displays.  I forgot my troubles and enjoyed the atmosphere, taking pictures for my mother who can no longer get out like she used to.

           

At one time my mother, sister and I were in the antiques business together.  We started out buying too much at an auction and had a yard sale.  When we realized what a tidy profit we could turn, we did  that every few months, then we started selling at antiques malls.  It grew into a shop, selling at flea markets and paid shows until it took over my life, my home, my garage and then my husband and children said "PLEASE, NO MORE!".  By then my mother and sister had lost interest and I was a raving, McScrooge profiteer losing sight of the romance and beauty that started our collecting.  Now, that is all I enjoy in little visits like these.  I make sure to pick up a small trinket or two...things I will use or can give as gifts with no regard to it's monetary value, just the little bit of happy my money has purchased.

I also spent a little time looking around the property, the house was so pretty as was the garden.  The front porch had cement lions keeping watch, it reminded me of my grandmothers porch of a smaller scale in her house in East Los Angeles.  It's a porch children can spend many hours playing pretend games of all sorts.  I enjoyed the rose garden and the iron gates in the front along the sidewalk...such a pretty and restful spot!

                           

As I left through the pretty gates with my tiered tea table, pretty wall sconces and the eyelet jacket to wear to a tea party, I took a deep breath...fortified to face whatever lay ahead with the grace and dignity of an old fashioned time, sometimes it's a little pretend but I'm never to old for a happy ending!