June 16, 2003 - St. Clair, MI - 6 (Shipshewana Flea Market, 6/3/03)
WOW! At last, sunshine and warmth. Eventually we'll get this full timing thing figured out, and live wherever it's like this a lot more. 79 degrees, slight breeze, and 37% humidity. What more could we ask for? Been like this for 3 days now. Must be getting ready to rain or something.
We're entering at gate 14. That means there's at least 13 other entrances to this place. Actually, there were 20 other gates. That gives you an idea of the size of this flea market. Many people had told us we "had" to go to the Shipshewana flea market--the largest in the state with over 1,000 vendors! Well, in my humble opinion, they've not been to Quartzsite AZ. But it was different than Q'site. And look at the crowd on a chilly day with rain threatening! Good grief! They open at 7:30 and close at 5. I managed to talk Barb into having a "normal" start to our day, so here it is a little after 10 AM and we're just getting started.
Don't recall ever seeing a discount Christian book store anywhere before in my life, but here we are. Oh, yeah, now I remember. There was one in Branson. No surprise, I guess. And would you look at that exquisite steam engine made from wood and the other hand-made wood "gadgets"? What precision and care these Amish/Mennonite people take in their handiwork.
Goose clothes? Large, medium and small? Ah, c'mon, give me a break, would yah? For goodness sake, whoever heard of such a thing. Doggie sweaters were bad enough. OH! Wait a minute! It's for decorative plastic and cement lawn ornaments. OK. That's better. Kinda cute, actually. Different costumes for different seasons of the year and various celebrations. That's really a first for us.
Now, look carefully here. Ever been to an Ace hardware store? I've been to lots of them, and Barb to more than a few, but neither of us had ever seen anything like this in our lives. Two people couldn't meet and pass each other in that isle on the left, and then the ceiling wasn't any better! We never saw so much new merchandise jammed into such a small place before in our lives! We'd worn ourselves out at the flea market, decided we'd have to come back tomorrow to finish up, and in the meantime, let's go find Bill who works at the hardware store. He was the husband of the family that had invited us over for dinner after church. Only it was his day off, so we'll come back another day.
Good thing we didn't need any gloves. Barb poked the cat to find out if it was alive (letting the sleeping dog lie is one thing, cats are another), and it was, but it refused to wake up. And outside is the buggy parking. And if the owners were there in the store, we didn't see them. Of course, with the merchandise all over the place like that, we were lucky to get out without breaking anything, including ourselves!
The town of Howe, IN, is a cute place and this sign really caught our eye. We'd chuckled several times over it as we drove through town on our way to someplace else. And these horse and buggy signs are along many of the streets we traveled.
Second try at finding Bill (who was at lunch this time), and I spotted the sign on the door to the hardware store. Yeah, right. AFTER you woke it up maybe. And even the bathroom in that store had merchandise stacked in it. Can you believe this? What a life style, this poking around the country seeing odd ball stuff like this, eh? (Sorry, John) Friend John has been on the cusp of selling his place and going full time ever since we met in July 2000, and whenever I make some comment like "Is this a great lifestyle or what?", it adds fuel to his fire.
This is the antique auction. Or rather, antique auctions--12 of them, all in the same room. What a cacophony of sound! On the left, the guy up on the chair with the headset on is taking bids on the Michelob sign. Somebody bought it, but I sure couldn't figure out who or what they paid for it. On the right, I took a picture of the room from one end looking at the other. Can you believe 12 different auctioneers, each with their own little loudspeaker, selling this stuff all at the same time? Made both my hearing aids whistle!!
Well, well. Here in the midst of a conservative crowd (from Barb, no, the crowd is not conservative at all; other than a few Amish wandering around, it looks like any other crowd), here's this hard, cold, life-size woman just lying there. What a hussy!! Rather shocking, don't you think? The purple, I mean. Wouldn't something in a print be better? But then look at these Tiffany-style lampshades. A closer inspection verified that they were all leaded glass, and very intricate. Must have been expensive, but since they weren't being auctioned off just yet, we never learned.
What's this? A real Edison Standard Phonograph? Sure was. With a box of cylinders to go with it. We moved quickly along, because I know for sure I could have found a place for it somewhere. That's an original Victor recording there too, by the way. And then what's this? More goose clothes? Sure thing. With lots of dressed up geese besides.
And what's an antique auction without a livestock auction to go with it? Every Tuesday and Wednesday is the flea market, and every Wednesday is the antique auction. The livestock auction is on Wednesday as well, and I could just imagine Mom being at the antique auction and Pop being at the livestock auction, and both spending the whole savings individually. Didn't matter if it was one cow or 9 calves, it was being sold. Lively participation, too.
Well, we finally found Bill Mast. Wanted my friend Bill Mast back in Puyallup, WA, to see another Bill Mast. Of course, just try to find a place to stand to get your picture taken in this place, eh? And even the little strip malls have hitching posts for the horse and buggy folks.
Several ways to spot an Amish home. First off, the house will be white; there will be no trim anywhere; the garage will have a buggy in it rather than a car; the grounds will be immaculate; the barn usually (not in this case) will be larger than the house; there will be horses as well as cows in the fields immediately next to the house; and the driveways typically will lead to the barn rather than the house. Most are beautifully manicured, lovely places, and, in this area, there are lots of them. If cleanliness is next to Godliness, these folks are pretty close to Him. Of course, that's not from the Bible, but it does sound attractive.