I mentioned that most of the week was pretty gloomy, so when Saturday dawned bright and sunny, I knew Dave would want to get out of the house and “go do something!!!”

I bundled him into Dory and we headed down to Chatham to one of our favourite flea markets.

First…. let me note that Dave and I usually do our antiquing/flea marketing during the week… and Saturday reminded me why!!! There were people EVERYWHERE and ALWAYS IN MY WAY!!!

Also.. though I don’t have kids, I am by no means anti-child. But what is it with the current child-bearing generations insistence on bringing children absolutely EVERYWHERE??? And I’m not talking school-age kids… I’m talking babies and toddlers. A flea market just really isn’t the best environment for children under five who are basically just hurricanes with legs.

Especially when many of the “aisles” look like this.

Yeah – it’s “that” kind of flea market. Not and ideal place for the little ones.

And don’t get me started on people trying to bring strollers through places like this… Thankfully, there was none of that this time, though we have seen it. No… this time we had to play “watch your step” because a mother thought it was a good idea to let her three year old lay on the ground and zoom a toy car around while she wandered off to look at some dishware. If I was a little meaner, I would have just stepped on him…

And of course, when she finally did come back to pick him up because she finally realized he was a bit of a nuisance, he had a meltdown when she took the toy away. I don’t blame the child at all – he was being a child as he has every right to be… but as I said – there’s just some places you just shouldn’t take small kids. And I don’t understand why that’s such a hardship for these parents? And why they WANT to bring their littles in the first place – they NEVER look like they are enjoying the experience because they are (usually) on constant watch and dealing with miserable, overstimulated toddlers.

And again – it’s not that I think these places should be child-free. I went to lots of flea markets as a kid… but that was when I was old enough to keep my hands to myself (even if I totally wanted to touch everything!!!) and understood that it wasn’t a playground. It’s just… what are these parents thinking? Whatever happened to common sense??

Okay…rant over.

Despite the people, big and small, we did have a decent day out. One of the vendors there knows us, and knows our love of history – he was very excited to show us something special

That, my dear readers is an 1853 Lee Enfield muzzle-loading rifle, complete with bayonette. It belonged to his great, great grandfather who was British/Canadian soldier in the mid-late 1800s. And it wasn’t just his rifle he had.

He had his dress belt, and a picture of him wearing the dress belt. Check out that buckle – I just love that little beaver!!! So Canadian!

He had his medal from the Fenian Raids.

And a letter of a land grant – providing him 160 acres for his service!!! How cool is that??? This kind of stuff just gets me so excited – I probably should have worked at a museum.

And of course, since we were antiquing, I didn’t come home empty handed.

I found another little Corningware piece for my collection – this one a 1 3/4 cup casserole – no lid but it sure is cute!

And these little guys were the priciest piece

The Salt and Pepper shakers that go with my Spice of Life collection! They were $19 and normally I wouldn’t pay that much for something as small as a set of shakers, but this is the first time I’ve EVER seen them. And a web search has confirmed that they are more on the rare side. And going for a lot more than I paid too!

And I’m not starting a shaker collection – but these little mushroom shakers came home too (they were a much more reasonably priced $6). I thought they’d look cute with my Gnome set at Christmas, when it’s handy to have an extra set on the table.

After the flea market, we hit up a couple close-by thrift stores (Dave got a new stool for his work bench) and then the Chatham reStore.

There I found this cute little bird house. Hopefully I’ll find some time to do some decorative painting on it before spring.

After that we stopped for some lunch (and got some underwhelming Souvlaki, I’m sad to say) and while we were eating, Dave suggested we look to see if there was a hobby shop (the modelling type) nearby. That kind of hobby shop is a dying industry here, so Dave tries to support them wherever we find them. (He build model ships) There was one, only a few minutes from the restaurant… and wouldn’t you know it, there was a fabric store right beside it!!!

So after he had a good look around the model store (he didn’t buy anything but we now have another location to get his paints if we need it), we popped over to the fabric store.

I was a very good girl and only got a few things. The ant fabric is flannel – and it was on clearance! I got enough for a back for a small quilt. I have some watermelon fabrics, and I thought them paired up would make a fabulous picnic quilt!

I also grabbed a few fat quarters. They weren’t on sale, but they were pretty and it was nice to support a brick and mortar store. Quilting seems to have a better following than Dave’s modelling, but if we don’t support them, they will disappear too!

It was certainly a great way to spend a sunny Saturday.