Don't Ask, Won't Tell

Thursday was my monthly junking afternoon with two Portland Art Collective sisters, Steph and Tory. It's a standing engagement and we're always trying to figure out different places to visit. We received a big tip for a potential place (more on that later), so off we went, leaving Portland in our dust.

We gave ourselves explicit instructions: keep an eye out for antique, junk, or thrift shops. It wasn't too long before we spied a sign advertising a thrift store and a low income bread store. We pulled up and two guys were just locking the door. Steph asked if they were closed and they replied that they close at 2:00. Steph asked if there was any possibility that we could just peek in the window. The guys looked at her like she was nuts, especially since there was only a small window way up high (we would have had to hoist each other up). We all finally realized we were talking about two different things! The men were telling us the bread store closed at 2:00 and we were inquiring about the thrift store, which happened to be in a different building and around the corner! Whew, glad we got that cleared up. To read Tory's account of this, click here.




Okay, back to the shop that we learned about through a very hot, but secret, tip. It is WAY out of town, actually way out of several towns. Everything was for sale, nothing was priced, but oh baby, it was worth the drive and the visit.





















We made several other stops along the way, one second hand store had a delicious bin of old knobs!





I left the house for the Portland Art Collective meeting at 8:45 a.m. and after attending the meeting, having lunch with the PAC ladies, then junking the afternoon away, I didn't get back home until 8:45 p.m. What a day!

Bye Bye Baby Spiderman

I've been invited to participate in a round robin altered book exchange. I've hosted a couple of these, so it is fun to be a participant and not an organizer this time around. There are six of us who are playing and all we had to do was find a children's board book with at least five two-page spreads, sand the glossy pages, prime, and art up the outside covers. Viola! I put my prepared book in the mail yesterday where it will wing it's way to Milwaukie, Wisconsin. Did I mention that this round robin is a national one!! Thanks, Destree, for spearheading this energizing and fun swap.

Which book to use? So many shapes, so many sizes.


I decided upon a smallish one, but I liked the tabs that run along the sides. Sand sand sand.


Prime prime prime.


Some paint, a couple of images, a title, and some words.

Mount Angel Abbey: Right in My Backyard

I took my parents on another Wednesday Wanderings this week. Our destination was the Mount Angel Abbey, located about a dozen miles northeast of Salem. Here's a description from the Abbey's brochure:

Mount Angel Abbey is a community of Benedictine monks founded in 1882 by the Abbey of Engelberg in central Switzerland. The Abbey shares a monastic tradition that has been a vital part of the Roman Catholic Church for more than fifteen hundred years.

The Abbey adventure starts with a lovely tree-lined drive up the hill, Stations of the Cross all along the roadside walking path.




We then arrived on the campus of the Abbey and started our visit using the self-guided walking tour that was available in a brochure.


First stop, the Abbey's Museum. The museum unexpectedly turned out to be more of a natural history museum than a religious one. We discovered pig hairballs right next to a crown of thorns. And a mutant calf right next to the Class of 1953 photo op! It was eclectic and random. My kind of museum.













We continued on our walk, roaming the grounds and visiting the church (where a monk was playing the huge pipe organ on the second floor), the library, monk's cemetery, and finally a cup of coffee in the Abbey coffee shop.