Something old, something new…

Will someone please slap me the next time I say the weather in Southern California is boring. I’m beginning to realize that I didn’t appreciate what I had. It’s beautiful here today. It’s 66 degrees outside and the there’s not a cloud in the sky. It’s an absolutely perfect day to spend with a friend antique shopping, which is what my friend T.M and I have done today. Neither of us found anything but it was still fun to look.

T.M and I began to frequent antique and thrift stores about 2 years ago. We both like the hunt for treasures although, we don’t always find anything. We discovered this common interest when we discovered we both collected different types of dishes. He collects several different types. I collect Franciscan Starburst and Franciscan Ferndel dishes.

It’s a long story as to how these collections started. About ten years ago I was teaching high school in Ohio and the principal of our school decreed that all items in the theatre prop storage were to be thrown away. She felt the properties room was messy and thought that throwing everything away would take care of the problem. So over the weekend she had the custodial staff put everything into the dumpsters. When I realized what was happening, I made a couple of piles of things to take home that I liked. One pile was the beginnings of a set of dishes from the Franciscan Starburst pattern. I though they were cool and I really like kitchen items from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. So I took the dishes home, put them away and didn’t think much about it. I discovered over the years that they were valuable collector’s items and I began to look for more pieces to add to my collection. So when T.M and I discovered we both collected things like this we began to make dates to search antique stores and thrift stores in the San Diego area. We would go every couple of months. Sometimes we would find things…sometimes not. But it was fun just to look.

I now have a huge number of pieces in this pattern and through a strange twist of circumstances began collecting the Ferndel pattern as well. I told you people I was gay. So today we hit one of our favorite antique spots. We both found a few things interesting but nothing worth the price they were asking. As I said though, it was a perfect way to spend the day.

Tonight we are having dinner with my friend A.C. and then going to the theatre to see a show my friends have described as awful beyond belief. The one saving grace is that there are scantily clad boys in the show…and I know some of them and they are beautiful so hopefully it’ll make it worth while.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

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