Craft Shows and Such...

Fall is a great time for craft and antique shows, the air is cooler and Christmas is coming (oh yes it is!) so you have an excuse to shop!  My husband mentioned an ad in the newspaper calling for crafters for a local show.  He thought that it would be fun to sell some of my beach glass jewelry there.  It's always nicer talk with people face to face and answer any question about the origin of beach glass. 

Well the show was this past weekend and it was a glorious weather day.  The sky was so blue.  It was a wonderful contrast to the pumpkins and chrysanthemums.  

As you can imagine, I talked to a lot of people about beach glass!  Many remembered picking it up when they were young and told me stories about where they found it.  Some had traveled to different parts of the country or different parts of the world and had recollections about their finds.  Some said that they still had a jar full.  One couple bought bags of beach glass for their daughters.  They said they had lived in California years ago and remembered a TON of beach glass at the beach in Fort Bragg, CA.  It is even named "Glass Beach".   It used to be a huge dump, so there are all kinds of bits of glass from bottles to car windows.   Sadly, they didn't keep any and bought the glass for their girls who were fascinated with their story.  Here is a link to more information about it in case you are visiting California.  Glass Beach

If anyone has been to this fabulous beach, let me know if the pictures are true.....looks like lots of great smooth pieces!

This weekend made me remember selling my things at craft/antique shows in my "other life".  Before I moved to Maryland, I lived in New England.  In this former life I was an Antique dealer who sold at "group" shops and shows in the New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts areas.  I have great memories of the whole thing - conveniently forgetting all the hard work! There was a little show that my friends and I used to do in early October in a quaint New Hampshire town called Kingston.  This show was on the village common in the center of town where the dealers set up.   It was a grassy square with a lovely small, white bandstand.  The mature maple trees all around the edge of the green were turning beautiful colors of oranges, yellows and reds and the two story antique houses, church and town hall that ringed the square were mostly white with black shutters (very New England!).  

I'll be back in New England this weekend visiting family and I think that a side trip to Kingston will be on my list of things to do.  Also a little antiquing!