Annie Laurie's Antiques Archives

December 26, 2013

Amazon Prime Promo

I support buying at local businesses like Annie Laurie’s Antiques, but I like the convenience of online shopping at Amazon rather than schlepping all over town going to Big Box stores. A year or so ago, Kid Matt let me piggyback on his Amazon Prime account so I could get free two-day shipping on most items I ordered. (More about that later.)

Advantages of Prime

Free two-day shipping on millions of items with no minimum order size
Unlimited instant streaming of 41,000 movies and TV episodes. (This turned out to be a surprise benefit for me. I turned into a binge watcher for TV series that I hadn’t bothered to watch when they were first shown. I found myself watching shows on my iPad sitting at the dining room table instead of the TV.)
Borrow one of over 350,000 Kindle titles a month for free.
Invite as many as four household members to share your free two-day shipping benefit

Special Amazon Prime promotion

From December 26, 2013, through January 10, 2014, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. After the trial, a membership costs $79 a year. You can cancel anytime in that 30-day period, so if you want to order a bunch of stuff and gorge yourself on 41,000 movies or TV shows, then bail, that’s OK.

This link will take you there

Why am I excited about this? I get a bounty of $10 for everyone who signs up for the trial, even if you decide it’s not for you after 1 day, a week or on the 30th day.

I will warn you that after my trial, I found I got $79 a year worth of benefits and kept my membership. (I see it’s set to renew on December 30 of this year.)

Of course, it helps me if you do your Amazon shopping through that big Click Here button at the top left of the page. Thanks to you folks who did your holiday shopping through the Big Button.

October 31, 2013

Fort Defiance Fun

I always take visitors to see Fort Defiance, the southernmost tip of Illinois, where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet. Wednesday was Curator Jessica’s turn. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

You have to wade

I should have known better than to say, “You have to wade in the water so you can say you straddled two great American rivers,” because I said something like that when we were looking at a spring in Princeton, Ky.

The next thing I knew, she was splashing and frolicking, much to the amusement of some pre-teens who were watching from a bridge.

Shuckin’ off the boots

After not more than a moment’s hesitation, she started shucking off her boots.

Is this REALLY a good idea?

This is her “Is this REALLY a good idea?” look. To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how quickly the bottom fell off or what might be lurking under the muddy waters.

I don’t think you’re in both rivers

“You need to spread out,” I told her. “I don’t think you’re actually in both rivers.” About that time, a wave from a passing towboat started rolling ashore.

She kept her balance, but I guess a splash wouldn’t have been too bad. Jessica kept saying on the trip that she really likes New Orleans. If the 300-foot rope I carry in the car turned out to be short, I calculated she would be passing the Big Easy in a week or so.

Headed to St. Louis

I have to put her on a plane in St. Louis back to Ohio on November 4. We’ll go up a day early so she can meet Brother Mark, Robin and Friend Shari and do some sightseeing.

I promised I’d bring along some alcohol wipes to clean off an area of the stainless steel Gateway Arch so she could lick it, something that all first-time visitors are supposed to do.

Meet her at First Friday

She and I will be at Annie Laurie’s on Broadway on First Friday, November 1. I’ll have Snapshots of Cape Girardeau calendars and the Smelterville book with me. Laurie says she’ll have cookies and hot cider.

Maybe you can help me come up with other quaint Missouri customs like arch-licking that I can share with our Ohio visitor. I’ve found that she is willing to try just about anything once.

Other Fort Defiance photos

October 29, 2013

Lincoln on KY Courthouse?

Curator Jessica can’t pass a sign that says “Historical” or any building older than me. One of those side-trips took us into downtown Princeton, Kentucky, where we looked at the monolithic Caldwell County Courthouse. Even I could recognize some of the Art Deco features.

I didn’t think the South was fond of Lincoln

One of the interesting touches was that over the entrance on each side was inscribed the compass direction: North, South, etc. Four visages peered out of the east and west walls.

I was surprised to see one of them was Abe Lincoln. I wouldn’t have expected him to be too popular on a Southern courthouse. Maybe his Kentucky roots made them cut him some slack.

Confederate soldier stands guard

A memorial to Confederate soldiers stands facing south. His back is to Lincoln, who is on the northeast wall.

Father of the country

George Washington is on the northwest wall.

Who is this?

This fellow is stuck looking to the west from the southwest wall. Neither Jessica nor I had a clue who he is.

Another mystery figure

This man was on the southeast wall. The dark area under his nose isn’t a shadow. I don’t know if it was mold or if someone had disfigured the image. It was high up on the wall, so I doubt the latter was the case.

Jessica stopped a woman coming out of the courthouse to see if she could be of any help, but she admitted that she had never noticed the figures. It’s a possibility they were local important people.

First Friday

This is a reminder that I’ll be at Annie Laurie’s on Broadway on First Friday, November 1, from about 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Stop by, take a look at my 2013-2014 Snapshots of Cape Girardeau calendars and Smelterville books and give a Southeast Missouri welcome to Jessica who has trouble believing my stories about the region. Laurie says there will be cookies and hot apple cider on hand.

July 6, 2013July 27, 2013

Meeting and Greeting

I usually post the blog sometime after 1 a.m., so I’m not a morning person. Still, I couldn’t pass up a chance to appear on Faune Riggin’s KZIM/KSIM morning show the day after the 4th to talk about Smelterville: A Work in Progress. The station and the host are a bit to the right of what I’m comfortable with, but Faune did a good job of playing it down the middle. She seemed to really like the photos and asked good questions.

I gained a new appreciation for what happens when the station in short-handed and the host is simulcasting on two stations, doing promos, reading the news, giving the weather and screening telephone calls. She had a lot of balls in the air, but still had time during pauses to talk about how we were going to do the interview.

First Friday at Annie Laurie’s Antiques

Laurie Evert, my wife’s niece, was kind enough to give me space (and sweet iced tea) at Annie Laurie’s Antiques to meet folks who were interested in the book and the Snapshots of Cape Girardeau calendar. Jon Selph, Class of 1964, showed up a little early.

Fast and furious

After Jon got settled in, there was a steady stream of former classmates, some, like David Hahs, who went back to Trinity Lutheran School kindergarten days. I discovered that I have lost the ability to talk and take pictures at the same time. I kept kicking myself for not shooting (photographically, that is) the folks who were kind enough to stop by to say a nice word and to pick up a book or a calendar.

I loved it when someone said this blog was her morning newspaper. Looks like I’m back where I started in 1959, except that now I’m pitching prose and pictures into virtual puddles instead of the kind that go “Splash!”

How do I get one?

Annie Laurie’s is going to carry a limited supply of books and calendars. If you can catch me before I leave Cape in a couple of weeks, we can arrange to meet. Or, if you aren’t local, Wife Lila is standing by to take your order. If I can hand you the publication, the price is $20 for either. If it has to be mailed, it will be $25. The easiest way to handle the mail order is to press that Donate button at the top left of the page. Make a $25 donation per book or catalog, tell us what you are ordering, your name and your mailing address. Wife Lila will get your book or calendar in the mail as quickly as she can saddle up the horse.

Also available at the Cape Convention Bureau in the H&H Building on Broadway

Calendar sample pages

The calendar covers October 2013 through December 2014, so you can start filling in appointments right away. Here is what it looks like. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the sides to move through the gallery.