Tin Stars, Tent Cities and Ten Gallon Hats

The countdown is on.

Almost, but not quite, time to send in the clowns.

 

Cue the circus music.

 

Ladies and gentlemen...

 

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

 

Come one...Come all!

Now appearing at Marburger Farm, Tent H9 for a limited 5 day engagement, October 2-6...

Talking Trash with her one and only Cat Daddy!

Watch in amazement as the Cat-in-the-hat pulls Trash's foot outta her mouth!

As my friend Liz pointed out this past weekend...there's nothin' left in the barn to beat the dirt out of.  Everything that can be crammed into that 40 footer is crammed and any part of me that can be covered in dirt is covered!

Y'all...I'm feelin' ugly as an ol' pair of worn out work boots.

Grocery store feet?

I WISH!

Law...the bottoms of my feet are beyond Wally World dirty and I think my nails are permanently stained Special Walnut...or maybe that's Johnson's Paste Wax I'm sportin'.  I forget which and at this point...doesn't really matter.  Ugly is ugly and my feet and hands are uhh-gly!  It's a cryin' shame no one is re-making the movie Deliverance...'cause I'd shore nuff be a shoe-in (if I wore shoes) playing an extra.  Hark...do I hear banjo music playing in the soundtrack of my mind?

My hair?  Oh mylanta...my poor head o' hair is in dire need of a shearing trim.  I wonder if Evelyn Chickie Baby RobUhLyn can lop about an inch off with a pair of wire cutters...while she's swingin' from the top of our space hangin' lights of course. (One must be able to multi-task when hangin' with me...ba- dump-bump!)  I sure as shootin' hope so 'cause somewhere in the past few weeks, I've morphed from Crystal Gayle-land straight to resembling Cousin Itt's twin.  Someone hand me a coupla zip ties...then stand back and give me room.  Scooch on over Pippi Longstocking...there's some new braids in Tent City!

(Hmmm...just thinkin' of all those beautiful tents sittin' in the middle of cow pastures puts me in the mind for a good ol' fashion revival. I got me a hunch there's gonna be a whole lotta hallelujahs when that bell is rung and those gates thrown wide open!)

We've both been flat out like a lizards gettin' everything ready and man alive...it shows.  We look like we've been rode hard and put up wet.  We've got bruises on top of our bruises and we're totin' bags under our eyes big enough to hold enough britches for two weeks, but don't y'all worry none about us.  It only hurts when we laugh and boy howdy...are we ever planning on doing a whole lotta ouchin' startin'  next week!

For better or worse, the Catman and I are ready to make like a bread truck and haul...ahem...buns.

SQUIRREL ALERT!!!

Talkin' 'bout Cat Daddy, he's chompin' at the bit to get rollin' and strut his stuff, but I gotta stop and wonder.  Y'all know the man's exudes pure animal magnetism...right?  You've all witnessed how he's catnip to the ladies.  Tell me...do y'all think Marburger Farm is ready for my hunka-hunka burnin' love?

  If I know him...and oh I how do...he'll be on the prowl lookin' for new kittens to add to the litter box in his cat house. Do y'all think I should send up a warning flare...or just wait and let 'em be surprised?  He's tired, but if I know him...and again, I do...he won't let a little stagger in his swagger slow him down!

Fact is, when I mentioned the VIB party at Marburger's being held in SweetT's building, the Gulf Warehouse, on opening day at 3pm, I opined one of us should stay in our booth and work.  He was quick to reply it was a shame I wouldn't get to go.  Really?  The man is a legend in his own mind!

Ten gallon hat?

Pshaw!

Watchin' him grin like the cat who ate the canary...I'm wonderin' if cowboy hats come in ten barrel size!

But back to me...'cause I am the star of this dog and pony act...even if he doesn't realize it!  Do y'all reckon I need to come with a warning label too?  Y'all know I can be just a bit much every now and then...'specially if you feed me. I practically ooze muchfulness and if you make the mistake of feedin' me pimento cheese...I foam over...and at the mouth...with muchiness!  Maybe a sign sayin' something like the Mouth that Roars or just simply Mighty Mouth pinned to my back would be in order?

I'm tellin' y'all...I'm excited, nervous, giddy and I cannot.wait.to.get.there to see the all the folks and get my hug on!

The only thing left to do is finish packing.  I'm off to pack plenty of clean drawers, shine my rhinestones and polish up my witty repartees...'cause like Pammie's FIL always said...

If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance...baffle 'em with bull----!

Catch y'all after the bull ridin'!



(On a serious note, would y'all please go here and lift Lezlee and her partners up. They were in the process of getting a new shoppe, Elsie Mae On Market, ready when it caught fire yesterday. No one was hurt and the wonderful Mabank firemen worked quickly putting out the flames, but I know the girls are feeling a little disheartened and could use some prayers. Thank you.)

~Curiouser and Curiouser~Lewis Carroll

Goodness kiddos, but from the looks of the red X's on my calendar...we are two weeks out from hitting the dirt running.  The Marburger Farm Antique Show officially opens October 2nd, but we'll be throwing up gravel next Friday morning.

~Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!~Lewis Carroll

The trailer is filling up quickly and I've just about finished all my...ahem...projects. If I don't mention my oh mylanta-almost-not quite-give me a couple of days-good grief-law-what so soon-I'm not ready for prime time-may not make it to the show projects, y'all will never know the difference...right?  Believe you me...when it comes down to a coupla piddly projects that won't make or break our show or picking out the right accessories to help me shine like new money...y'all get two guesses each on which I'll tackle first!

~Why this watch is exactly two days slow.~Lewis Carroll


(Remember...Tent H, Space 9.  I'll be waitin'!)

You know, when I talk about Antique Week, Marburger Farm and Round Top, I just assume everyone knows all about it.  Well you know what they say about assuming and what it makes outta U and ME?  Yeppers...seems I'm guilty as charged of being the rear end of a rented mule.  I get so caught up in my world that I forget junk/antiques aren't the center of everyone's universe.  Fact is, I was recently asked on FB about our business and what the big deal is with Round Top and Marburger Farm.

I'll be honest.  I assumed it would be a piece of cake to explain the shows and the love of antiques, both selling and buying, but after 5 tries at this post...seems I'm now the front end of that rented mule too!

How do I describe trying to catch white lightning in a bottle or carrying moonshine home in a mason jar?

Well y'all...here goes nothin'!

~Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.~Lewis Carroll

Twice a year, in the little town of Round Top (pop. 80+) and the surrounding areas, people from near and far flood tiny Hwy. 237 in search of antiques and a good time.  They come to pick and choose from hand selected, fine antiques and to dig in piles of rusty, crusty treasures.

I can't even begin to guesstimate the number of vendors there are at all the venues.  Merchandise is squirrelled away just to be brought to the shows...and it's always the best of the best.  I guarantee you one thing...you can't see it all in one day...nor should you want to.

There are circus tents in the middle of pastures where a few weeks before cows had been grazing.  There are charming buildings and dance halls reinvented into shows.  Marburger Farm itself is a collection of old buildings and football sized tents, crammed jammed full of treasures to rival the Comstock lode.

Front yards, store fronts, anywhere a tent can be pitched...it's pitched.  These are all individual shows and they don't always start on the same date.  Some of these folks are down there two weeks before us.



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The Zapp Hall Show always starts the last weekend in September and March.  Marburger Farm starts the Tuesday after that.  Like I said...it's a lot of shows, dealers, and great stuff.  The Show Daily is a great resource for show dates, times, etc. and is available at all the show locations. The Howdy is the official Marburger guide. Both are excellent at guiding you through the shows.

But it's not just the antiques and junk that lures folks in...although there is plenty of both.  Seldom does anyone go home empty handed.

~So come with me, where dreams are born and time is never planned.  Just think of happy thoughts and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land.~Sir J.M. Barrie

No...it's more than the antiques.  It's a feeling that sneaks up on you as you exit off I-35 in Waco and make your way down the backroads leading to the fields of dreams.  As the hustle of the city slips away in your rear view mirror, it's the realization that your neck suddenly doesn't feel as stiff as it did on the interstate or that stressful situation in your office doesn't matter quite as much.  It's a peace...and a giddy excitement...that fills your whole being, making the hair on the back of your arms spring to attention.

It's something akin to the wonder Dorothy felt as she stepped out of her black and white Kansas and rubbed her eyes at the glorious technicolor world of Munchkin Land.  Sitting on a bench, listening to a live band with a Shiner in your hand, the hurried world melts away like the ice crystals on your longneck.

It's Lone Star Beer, Lucchese's, and long prom dresses. 

It's laughing out loud for no reason other than you want to.

It's dancing in the moonlight (all by yourself if you got the notion to) and feeling like a tumbleweed.

It's handsome Texas sheriffs mounted on horseback and shoppers jaywalking like crazy, dodging vans, trucks and bikes.

~There is a place like no place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery and danger. Some say to survive it, you need to be mad as a hatter.
Which luckily, I am.~Lewis Carroll

It's wearing petticoats on the outside of your skirt, turquoise bracelets up to your shoulders, cowboy hats, raggedy jeans with silk shirts, and believing you're beautiful.  'Cause at the shows...everybody is somebody and everybody is beautiful!

You find yourself strutting 'stead of stumbling.

Dancing 'stead of sitting.

Smiling 'stead of sulking.

It's eatin' slices of Royer's pie with your fingers 'stead of a fork with a big ol' glass of sweet, iced tea. It's lickin' your fingers to catch every crumb while grinnin' like a possum, knowing everything tastes better when you're sittin' on the back of a tail gate.

It's decadent, homemade ding dongs guaranteed ring even Quasimodo's bell.  It's cinnamon rolls the size of a catcher's mitt.  Cheesecake fresh from a kitchen, so perfect you'd slap somebody up the side of the head if they tried to get between you and your fork.

It's tangy BBQ the likes of which you can only find in Central Texas.  It's bitin' into a Jethro-sized pimento cheese sandwich and hollerin' Yee Haw...with your mouth full!

It's bluebonnets in the spring, hay mazes in the fall...and Blue Bell all year long.

It's a week long costume party, elegance in the dirt, and people watching at its best!

It's antiques, ancestry, and accents...Southern, Texan, and all points in between.

It's looking for an excuse to say y'all and down yonder ways in your best drawl...even if you're from Ohio.

It's getting dusty dirty one moment...bathing in the rain the next...and loving every minute of it.

It's stomping through the pastures during the day, amazed at all the vintage goodness to be found and relaxing at night, blanketed under an endless Texas sky, amazed at all the stars the heavens hold.

It's big skies, big hair, big jewelry...and bigger dreams.

It's a meeting up place for old friends and the opportunity for finding new ones.

It's Never Never Land, Wonderland and Oz all rolled up into one big ol' playground folks 'round here call Antique Week.

It's over the rainbow and...

it's Texas at her finest.

To get here, the directions are simple.

~Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.~Lewis Carroll

Just step through the looking glass, follow the Yellow Brick Road down through the Rabbit Hole to the second star on the right and straight on till morning.

You can't miss it.

Just listen for the sound of laughter.

That'll be us and about a gazillion others having the time of our lives. I hope I've enticed you to join us...if not this time...next.

~All you need is trust and a little bit of pixie dust.~Sir J.M. Barrie

From Warrenton to Fayetteville to Round Top and all stops in between, folks this ain't no flea market.  It's friendly business by day and an office party every night.

Tucked away like a well loved diary, this my friends, is where one goes to get lost from reality...and find their way to back to what makes 'em happy...a well lived, joy filled life. 

~Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.~Frank Baum

Any other questions...Y'all?


(For those of you who are Texas history buffs like me, here is a link to a wonderful interview in the Round Top Register with Miss Emma Lee Turney who created this remarkable gathering over 44 years ago.  Not to drop names, but Miss Ima Hogg was also instrumental in the creation of this Texas legend.  Round Top...a legend that continues to grow in the fertile pastures of Central Texas.)