Why do old things smell funny?

It’s amazing what you can find in antique shops. All you need is time, and patience because you can find yourself wondering around and looking at other people’s old stuff for hours, and STILL not find what you’re looking for. That's if you know what you're looking for in the first place.

That’s why you should not have any pre-set ideas of what you want.

This past weekend, I headed out to Canonsburg with D&C. They are avid antique shoppers and since I have never done the whole, “let me buy some old person’s things” thing before, off we went.

Canonsburg itself is a quaint little place, so it’s easy to see how they would have a row of antique shops there.

We meandered through the little aisles and the cubes of things they had in cabinets and on shelves.

D found an old glass thing that looked like a shot glass – until he explained to me that it’s what people used to use to swish water around in their eyes. How odd. Didn’t they just have eye drops back then? Apparently not.

The only thing I don’t like about antique shops is they smell old. Much like death. I’m in my early 30s so death must keep his distance. But standing in that antique shop, I could see him standing by the door. Scythe in one hand. Cig in the other. He throws back his head in a nod and coolly says, “Howzit, bru.”

*shiver*

I flipped him the middle finger and kept rummaging through dead people’s things.

It was then that I found a smelly 1916 edition of a Rudyard Kipling book. I know it was old because the title sounded like a Shakespearean poem. And it smelled funny. Age and odor for just $8. What a bargain!

Hanging from the ceiling they had beautiful old stained-glass window frames, at beautiful prices. $400 for a small colored window? Seriously? I can stop at the local stationery shop, pick up a few acrylic paints and make my own colored window. Thank you very much. $400 indeed!