BACK TO THE PAST, IN BLANCO, TX (Cheri)

While Mark and his father Harry enjoyed the wagons and buggies in a nearby museum earlier this week, I strolled through Cranberry Antiques in Blanco, Texas, which is one of my favorite Texas antique stores.

Of course when you go to an antiques store with me, you get a view of my favorite things, including so many books:

I saw at least two collections of Hardy Boys mysteries, which reminded me of the puzzle that Mark and I finished in November:

This painted gourd probably isn't vintage, but it is a reminder that Mexican heritage in Texas is much older than Anglo presence:

as is this beautiful photograph:

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I had great time talking with a couple that is basically another "Mark and Cheri" travelling the region!

I'd seen Phoebe and John across the square at the Uptown Blanco Textile Studio, and gave her a hard time for not stopping at quilt shops at earlier stops on their trip.

Then they gravitated to the same booths I was haunting at Cranberry Antiques.  She is a quilter, and we've been to some of the same shops, museums, etc. throughout the Midwest and South.

They live just above Oklahoma City, which is where my father grew up, so we shared town names, and they gave me several tips for additional experiences that they'd discovered in Oklahoma and Texas.

I told them about MakeMyDriveFun.com, which I still haven't used much, but am looking forward to referencing.

John was wearing this shirt.  He hasn't been to Savannah, but he and a friend each buy and exchange souvenir shirts on their travels.

​I should have set up him and Mark for the same system!

I bought these two postcards of activities at the Langley Airfield in San Antonio, the first as a bookmark for Harry, and the second for myself:

Harry spent 50 years as an airplane mechanic.

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​I was surprised that I never heard of Skeezer Vegetables, since we lived for 30 years just down the road from Salinas, California.

​The only thing I found online was multiple listings for the labels.  My guess is the brand didn't last too long and the company was left with more labels than crates.

The first page of a Father's Day card, and a great advertisement for grass seed:

A couple of political postcards from the 1976 presidential contest:

Had you ever dreamed that there was a "National Plowing Contest"?

Not only was there such a contest, but there still is.  I did not take the time to find the dates for the 2026 contest, you can do it yourself, and read about the World Plowing Contest as well, by clicking here.

I really wanted to buy this old medicine chest, but it was heavy​, and would have to be installed in the wall, so I had to leave it for another treasure seeker.

​Once Mark and Harry were finished at the museum, we had lunch at the great Old 300 BBQ:

Frankly, neither they nor I were actually "finished," but if you look at it as saving more for another day, and you reward yourself with barbecue, it's easier to move on.