about me
So- what about me, anyway?
I’m a mixed-media artist and mother of 2 boys. I live with my family in a repurposed barn overlooking the Ohio River in Goshen, KY.
It’s a sweet life in Goshen. We bought some old structures a few years ago and moved them here to my husband’s family farm. The house that resulted is a special place that we’ve used over and over again for family gatherings, throwdowns, weddings, fundraisers, hootenannies, slumber parties and weekend retreats.
In the spring of 2008 we started a small biodynamic vegetable and cut flower operation and decided to move to the Barn permanently.
My husband Steven saw a need for a comprehensive local source for organic farm and garden products, and started Fresh Start Grower’s Supply (www.freshstartgrowers.com) Things are going well.
This blog is intended to focus on my major passion for decorating with and collecting antiques and unusual objects, relics and fragments that I prefer to find in out-of-the-way places rather than a traditional retail environment. Everyone is good at something- this is my raison d’etre! My destiny! I am the Queen of Crusty Cast-offs, the Empress of End-Bolts, the Princess of Primitive Painted Plunder- the Flea Diva!
I’m a life-long obsessed collector of unique and amusing things with a history. My father’s side of the family are all similarly afflicted.
Some of my earliest memories are of going to Fulton Beasley’s weekly auction in Franklin, Tennessee with my father and grandmother Mimi. Fulton was kin to Mimi somehow- and she bought a number of things from him over the years. Because of her keen eye for a bargain and cutthroat competetive auction skills, he had to establish a permanent minimum bid policy of ten cents. (The thrill of aquiring a coveted item for what we consider a bargain price is also a family trait. We can all tell you exactly what we paid for everything we have, unless we think we paid too much- then we pretend not to remember.)
I recall vividly my first flea market find…
My friend and junk decor mentor, Nancy Smith, gave me a dollar and took me to a local market, where I bought a Sanka can full of antique marbles. I was five years old. Some of them would be very valuable to a collector today, but sad to say, I don’t know where they are. I suspect the party responsible for this devastating loss is my mother, “the Cleaner”, but c’est la vie, not everyone can spot such a shrewd investment.
I’ve been buying other people’s stuff ever since, and taking friends with me to the wonderful places they would not consider walking into otherwise.
I recently began offering my services to the general public as a guide to antiques fairs, flea markets and auctions. I’m going anyway- may as well take others along! You can check out the website at www.fleacircustours.com for details, or see the FLEA CIRCUS page on this blog.
See you at the flea market!