Car Show Weekend

      I worked in Atlantic City last Thursday, 

helping my man set up his booth at the Car Auction.

I had to take a break and go down by the sea. 

 I got there just in time to experience the

 spectacular sunset.  I stood there and instantly one thought- 

 a praise song, came to me, and I sang to myself, right there on the pier,

"Oh Lord, My God,.........How great thou art!"

Atlantic City, New Jersey

      The day before the big show, the Auto Auction, and the Convention Center

 was full of anticipation!    It's sorta like a circus coming to town, setting up.

      Travel weary,  and somewhat cynical vendors, who've paid dearly for a space, 
were building displays with all sorts of car -related products, art work,  memorabilia, 

books,  parts and accessories,  were eagerly arranging their wares,  and silently

 praying that this time they will successfully sell enough to meet their 

ever-increasing overhead,  and then some to pay some of their mounting bills.

      This is a hard life, being a vendor, weekend after weekend,  going from city to city

trying to show enough merchandise, make it look appealing, remain cheerful.

 Never giving up,  these hardy entrepreneurs, artists and dealers, never know if they'll

 make it or not.    Many take great financial risks, and suffer huge disappointments,

show after show1    Especially in this cold-hearted gambling town.-- Atlantic City.

Just getting here is difficult, with highway tolls and gas going up all the time.

$20 parking, another $20 admission, coffee is $2.50., expensive hotels.

 Will the customers be able to buy anything at all, after they get here?
Will there be a good attendance?

     Then there's the cars.  Expensive cars. Score of trailers and transport trucks, 

maneuvering through tight aisles.   Anxious sellers frantically polishing and 

buffing, some desperate to sell.    Nervous buyers  and serious  bidders are arriving 

early, scouting out the right vehicle,  and then closely scrutinizing the object of their 

desire, their next acquisition.  It's serious business,and there's a lot of money involved.

Antiques

     There is an antique show going on  also, not so big this year.

Poor sales at the last show kept many from returning. The dealers  work very  hard
 putting out a varied assortmentof one-of-a kind trinkets and treasures, 
 only to have rude customers  repeatedly ask if they will take less than
 their asking prices.

    Nevertheless, the car show remains an exciting destination for families,

 couples on dates, guys and their buddies,  people who love cars.  Young and old alike.

 The automobile continues to fascinate the public,

 and there is something for every taste at the Atlantic City Car Show and Auction.

                                           I like this pretty pink 1956 Lincoln Premiere.

                                                     Fantastic vintage cars!

            This is a '63 Beetle. It makes me feel nostalgic!

          My first car was a red 1973 VW Beetle!
 " Punch Buggy Red !!!"

1956 Chevy Nomad
A nice family car.

1949 Lincoln

Ford Model A  Street Rod

A rare Jeepster

1987 Buick Grand National, a highly desirable car,

 the fastest  production car of it's time.

1948 Cadillac

A cormorant, the hood ornament of the post-war Packard,  a swan figure.

  The Packard Club's publication is named  The Cormorant.

Neon signs for sale

A T-Bird you could win!

Our booth, a traveling library of car magazines, vintage ads, and prints

Tired of the cars, ladies?  
There was an antiques show at the Convention Center also. 

Some vintage jewelry for sale

A fifties dollhouse and some other tin toys from yesteryear

Elvis, Beatles, Betty Boop, Kiss, Rolling Stones memorabilia

Cool emblem on the Mustang grill

Fantastic hood art on a  Corvette StingRay

My friend, Dan Reed's gorgeous art work

        A 3-D  wall art project by Dan Reed
        and  the barn doors open and close.
                  Dan, a super-talented and really nice young man,
 does wonderful custom work,  

             and he will paint any car or scene you like!

                                                     Don't you love this chrome grill?

A Woodie

     I had a busy weekend selling automotive literature. 

I met some fascinating people, and saw lots of old friends.

      I liked  learning more about the old cars, and seeing the expensive, 

exotic new ones.

      But, what I liked most of all,  was seeing the families strolling along, 

and watching old couples hand-in-hand, reminiscing. 

 I liked helping my customers find information about their car.

      I loved seeing fathers with their arms draped around their young son's shoulder,

 explaining all about the cars.  I  liked encouraging young people eagerly learning history 

and taking an interest in cars.

    The automobile, changed our lives, and it's rich history is amazing,

 but I'm most interested to know the stories of the fascintaing people behind the cars,

 the designers and inventors, like Henry Ford, Duryea Bros.,  Walter P. Chrysler,

  Tucker, Delorean,  the  automotive artists  and hot-rodders.  Our books and magazines

tell about car enthusiasts and personalities of long ago and now. 

  But I really like to talk with our customers, about their very first car, the car they raced,

 the cars they collect or restore, or the car they only wish they had!.

To me every hour of the day and night

 is an unspeakably perfect miracle.

                                                                 ----Walter P. Chrysler

The real secret of success is enthusiasm.

----Walter P. Chrysler

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, either way you're right.

                                                                                     ---Henry Ford

Cars is like women....if ya ain't married to 'em, don't touch 'em. 

                                                     ----Ed "Big Daddy" Roth

Thought maybe you'd like to see another part of my life,

 how I spend some of my weekends! 

This week, my man will be helping me set up my booth at the

 Women's Club  Antique, Collectibles, and Crafts Show,

 for next weekend.

Have a great week as February ends, and March comes in.

 Will it come in like a lion or a lamb? 

Love, Linda

Garden Dreams

I woke up this morning and threw back the drapes, and OHhhh!, there was this glorious bougainvillea!   It had a couple blossoms last week, but now it's going crazy!  I stuck it in the bay window, last fall  before frost, so it could winter indoors.  It looks like a jungle in my bedroom!  There's also a banana tree,  a mandevilla, some other large tropical plants and assorted houseplants.  I have no where else to put them in my small mobile home,  and I want them alive and well, for the porch and patio come summer.

 I also convalesce the African Violets that are not blooming, in this area.   It's my "plant hospital".
The blooming ones are displayed more prominently throughout the house, but the sick plants go hide in my bedroom.  Do you do that too?



 There is a beautiful deep purple hydrangea out front of my home, and I dried a couple blossoms. They dry such a pretty blue shade!   Next year I will save more!

Top of my bedroom  dresser.

 A kalanchoe  atop of my microwave, from my little Valentines

Here are my garden books.
Now is the time to read about gardening, before everything is growing
 and there are so many gardening tasks to be done.

Amy's dried roses

"What is so special about a rose that it seems far more than a flower?  Perhaps it is the mystery it has gathered through the ages. Perhaps it is the joy that it continues to give, humans have constantly  used it to transmit sentiments that they lack words to express, for the rose is different......." Princess Grace of Monaco writes in My Book Of Flowers.  This wonderful book, published in 1980, by Doubleday &Co. tells the history of many flowers and flowers in art, stories and poems, and the meaning and myths of flowers and herbs, "and the enchantment they bring into your life".

My toys, a collection of  Marjolein Bastin's miniatures, and a cute sign

  I dream of a garden where Tommy and I will sit on my little cement bench, have a picnic and watch butterflies.  We'll pick fresh herbs to use in our dinner dishes when we cook, and a handful of posies for his mommy when she gets home from work.  I will help him plant seeds and watch them grow.
I will grow some Jersey tomatoes, and  peppers.
  "Parsley, sage, rosemary  and thyme......." (Pardon me, while I sing!)
   I have to replace my beloved herb garden, I miss it so!
I wish I had a pond. I left that behind too, last summer.  Perhaps I can have a patio pond, a container pond with a little fountain, and a few fishes, at my new home.  Yes!  I shall!

My mother's favorite hymn is "In the Garden".  I  just read that C. Austin Miles, the writer of one of the most popular gospel hymns ever written,  wrote this in a "dreary, dark New Jersey basement that didn't even have a window. let alone a garden view".  I felt sad for him, so I researched it further, and learned what his great-granddaughter,  or Wikipedia  failed to mention, that he was a faithful  man, who had a vision while reading John 20 in his Bible, about Mary visiting Jesus' grave.   He was once a pharmacist, but he said  he  wanted to be remembered  most for writing these songs, because that how he was of the most use to his Master.
The song was published in 1912, and became popular when the Billy Graham Staff regularly used it.  Two of my childhood  favorites, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans recorded it in 1950, and then Perry Como recorded it in 1958.  I often sing it to myself in the garden. (sigh)

"One is closer to God in a garden,

than anywhere else on earth."    

Sweet dreams of gardens to you!

Love, Linda

Ain't Love Grand!

"What a grand thing to be loved! 

              What a grander thing still to love."

Love suffereth long, and is kind; Love envieth not;

 Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.  Doth not behave itself unseemly,

 seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 

 rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things,

 believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,

Love never faileth.                         ---I  Corinthians 13:4-8 KJV 

I spent the weekend at Anne and Andy's house.    Really! That's the real names of Ted's sweet daughter and her husband.  We were housesitting, and looking after the animals.

They have an extensive collection of Raggedy Anns and Andys, because we all get a kick out of hunting for unusual or vintage ones for gifts, and they like buying unique ones for each other also..
 It's so cute!

This is a loving home, you can feel it everywhere!  It is such a wonderful family!

I missed the grandchildren terribly,
 but, (sshhh!, don't tell I was playing with their dolls) I amused myself by having  a tea party with their little friends.

 Then I went shopping at our brand new Hobby Lobby near their home.  Love was in the air  at the store!  In every department I saw Love.  I heard Love in the background music.  I even saw Love in the faces of the customers!

 Wow!     Lots of  love  inspiration for gifts, and  love  things for the home!

Wouldn't this be cute to serve tea to my girlfriends?

For my sweethearts, I'll bake some love cookies!

Ted and I stopped at Larry's II in town, for some refreshments.

 Their dessert case has scrumptious muffins, pies
 and chocolate-covered strawberries!
 There's a little cafe there, where the sweetest young people
 will serve you all sorts of fancy coffee drinks,
 or make you a fabulous crepe dessert!

Later, Ted's other  lovely daughter gave me a pretty little plant,

 from our darling little granddaughters.

     Spending the evening with them was such a delight. 

 It's beautiful to see the two little sisters playing  and sharing 

 so nicely together,  lovingly caring for their baby dolls.

    The love of family is so important to us.  We like to encourage 

the young parents to go out  occasionally, because we love 

spending time with the kids, and feel that  our married  kids should 

still go out on  romantic dates alone as often as possible! 

I am so blessed, because I  love, and  I  am loved.

Love

There is no difficulty that love will not conquer

no disease that enough love will not heal

no door that enough love will not open

no gulf that enough love will not bridge

no wall that enough love will not throw down

no sin that enough love will not redeem.

It makes no difference

how deeply seated may be the trouble

how hopeless the outlook

how muddled the tangle

how great the mistake

A sufficient amount of love

will dissolve it all.

If only you could love enough

you would be

the happiest

and most powerful being

in the world.

---Emmet Fox 

     I wish you love!    That you may know and feel God's love-
  because  He loves you no matter what!     
   May you have the love of friends----to have a friend, you just have to be one!  And someone special to love, on Valentine's Day and everyday!

Love, Linda