Weekend Getaway, Fun Finds, and a Giveaway

My husband and I had a wonderful weekend at Shenandoah Crossing. We enjoyed the new pool complex that had just opened, rented a canoe, and had some friendly competition down in the game room. My husband was really excited about going canoeing and thought it would be romantic to paddle me around the lake - it did sound nice. The reality was that I spent the hour worried that we were going to tip over. So what he heard was "the boat's tilting, why is the boat tilting" or "please don't let this thing tip over" or "is the hour over yet" or "why are you moving around" - his response to that was "because I have to paddle" - poor guy, he was very patient with me. I'm not usually so wimpy and if the lake had been full of pretty, clear blue water I wouldn't have cared if we tipped over, but this lake water was very dark and I kept picturing the Abyss and swamp monsters and snakes. When I wasn't worrying, I really enjoyed the canoe ride. In one of the coves, we saw a beautiful white crane and a blue heron.

We drove to town one day and meandered thru all the little shops. All I can say is that Gordonsville, VA must be home to some immensely wealthy people as most of the shops were very high end. We did make one discovery (within our budget) - a garden/antique shop had just acquired some windows from an old church (they were putting in new windows). I just fell in love with them and we bought the last small window. I am still thinking of ways we could use the big window and we may go back and purchase one. Isn't it just darling!

I like it just the way it and want to hang it on this wall. My husband thinks I need to strip it and either paint it or stain it. He also thinks that just hanging it on the wall will be too plain. Any thoughts, ladies?

The larger window looks just like this but is 4'. I would love to purchase it, remove the glass and replace it with mirrors, and use it in our upstairs bathroom.

On our way home Sunday, we stopped by a delightful antique mall "Blue Moon Antiques" and we found some treasures. I fell in love with this little table and the best part is that it matches a table we already have. This has found a place in our 'pink room' (a guest room). We found a second table but as we were in my car and the window took up our trunk space we are retuning this weekend to pick it up.

This was my favorite find, it's called a Canasta Shuffler. You have to be a member of my family to fully appreciate what a great find this is. As a kid, when we would go visit my grandparents, my mom, her siblings, and her parents would play Canasta for hours and hours. We still do that today, whenever I get together with my family, we spend every evening around the dining room table playing Canasta. Those hours around the table are full of wonderful memories and a few arguments as we tend to be competitive :-)

You place the cards in the middle, crank the handle, and shuffler spits out cards on either side. Interestingly, today's playing cards are too big - they must have made cards smaller back then. I have a couple of old decks I found at a yard sale and they fit perfectly. I will have to be on the hunt for more 'old decks'.

Last, but not least is a little finish I did a while ago. Once I find material, I will make this into a pillow.

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Oh, almost forgot, Mary Kathryn is having a give away! Enjoy your week.

Cari