ANTIQUES, STEAK, MEANDERING IN PADUCAH, KENTUCKY (Cheri)

The 32,000 quilters who had attended the American Quilter's Society show in Paducah, along with the hundreds of vendors who sought our money, had mostly left town after the show closed late Saturday.  I had seen an antique shop that I wanted to visit Sunday, before leaving town on Monday.

The Antiques Galleria is exactly the type of store I like to shop:  not too fancy, huge, packed layer over layer with bits of every type of history you can imagine.

I highly recommend this page on PhotoNews247.com for many pictures of the two-story store, including a shot illuminating the "ghost sign" on the exterior.  (If they had had the model cars there when I was, those cars would be mine now!)

We saw these on the front sidewalk as we approached:

I've always thought that people would buy robot-inspired assemblages like this if Mark's dad made them, but his artistic joy is woodwork.  (Maybe he thinks that I could supplement our retirement income if I made, say, tote bags instead of quilts and clothing?)

These were also on the sidewalk; they caught my eye because I've never seen vintage typewriters unattended.

I briefly considered that this might mean they were affordable and I should buy one . . . two . . three, but I already have one a very pretty one.  Mine is also the only I've ever seen that has Swedish alphabet keys.

This was one of my favorite purchases.  Take the time to really read it.  I'm keeping it to use as a bookmark, as it makes me laugh each time I read more of it.

At first I thought that the woman who was working the front counter was quite shy, and that I had made a rare connection with her, but it turns out she is anything but shy.  If I told you the things I learned about her life, I would have to double the length of this post!

I imagine that all of the antique shops in town had put their quilts and other textiles at the front of their shops that week, as the Galleria had.

Not too long after I arrived, I was a little ways back in the store when four other people came in.  One woman immediately started looking at the quilts, and the "shop lady" asked if she were a quilter.

"Yes," she said.  "Are there any fabric stores in town?"

(If you've read my other posts about Paducah in the last two weeks, you'll remember the description of 60,000 square feet Hancock's of Paducah, with its thousands of bolts of fabric, and 20 cutting stations.)

At this point, I'm deciding that the new customer has been a quilter maybe about 48 hours.  The shop lady and I side-eyed each other.

"Did you know about the show . . . that closed yesterday?"

"No," says the customer.

So I tell her that she must visit, absolutely cannot leave town without going to, the National Quilt Museum, the one I posted about two days ago.

So Paducah is a smallish town in a quiet agricultural area.  Maybe the customer is thinking about this.  She certainly didn't seem convinced that she needed to visit this museum that I was telling her about, and I didn't see her when we lingered at the museum a couple of hours later that day.  Oh well, I've done stupid things in my life, too.

I puttered on, picking up some things to buy.  This wasn't one of them, but I enjoyed it.  By this time Mark had moved on to taking pictures of things outside, so I texted it to him.

I waited in the truck for Mark for a few minutes after I finished shopping, and took this picture of the side of the next building:

If we hadn't left town the next morning, I might have seen if I could find someone who could explain what that sign meant.  I understand that there were two entrances, but what were they saying could only be done on different sides?

Maybe no one could have told me.  I thought of the unusual plaque in North Carolina that the neighboring firefighters hadn't even noticed.

After going to the National Quilt Museum ourselves, we headed to Doe's Eat Place for a steak dinner.  I had wanted to eat at Doe's for a very long time, although I had thought that it would be at the original Greenville, Mississippi restaurant.

The inimitable late Julia Reed, Garden & Gun magazine raconteur and prolific author, spoke lovingly of Doe's Eat Place in her many books, every one of which I recommend.

Mark and I drove by the original some time last year, at the wrong time of day for a meal.

Image Source:  Wikipedia

This picture makes the original restaurant look much nicer than it does in real life.  From the outside, it's a stretch to think of eating there, but I would have trusted Julia's recommendations.  She was a fun-loving foodie!

Here is part of the Wikipedia entry on the restaurant:

The original Doe's Eat Place is still run from the building in which it started.
It is a relatively small and shabby building in the middle of a downscale neighborhood.
The dining area contrasts with the outside of the building by being clean and
nicely maintained.  Doe's has been described as having a "dive-y atmosphere" and "ramshackle surroundings."  Customers enter the restaurant through the kitchen, and
are traditionally greeted by a member of the Signa family (usually male).

The original Greenville location was named to the James Beard Foundation's list of
"America's Classics" in 2007.  In 2012, the Greenville location was
listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In any case, I was happy to see that there was another Doe's in Paducah.

This picture from their menu tells the very interesting story of the restaurant's development from a "honky tonk" which only served Black people.

I will definitely go back for the bone-in ribeye next time I have a chance.

It was twilight when we finished dinner, so I had time to stop and look at the window display in another fabric and yarn shop, Tuscan Rose, which I had missed out on shopping.

This was their front window, at least for "Quilt Week:"

After looking at these vintage machines, I cupped my hands against the doors  to see the wares inside.

Deep, low growling from below eye-level made me jump away, quickly.  I don't scare easily, but I was not expecting that!

I don't know if the owner was working late, or the dog stays there every night.  I did feel kind of silly when I saw the dog.  I didn't take his picture, but this is basically what he looked like:

Thanks for sharing my last day in Paducah (for a while) with me.