Vintage collections, Ottawa, IL

Today, a friend and I played "Thelma and Louise" (without the packin' heat part) and took a road trip to our farm. I consider myself an avid collector -- a collector in the first degree -- C1.  She, however, is 3 times better (or worse depending on your perspective) than I am so I would put her at the C3 level.  She "gets me" and my addiction and never questions my love of old primitive items or my desire to go look at "just one more thing".  Since C3 had never been to the farm, it seemed that a grey rainy day was the perfect time to go.  I don't think either of us stopped talking long enough to take a breath during the entire trip!  As I drove into the farm, the mailman pulled in behind me and told me that I had 2 years worth of mail that they had been holding for me.  What?  I sent a change of address notice when I moved 2 years ago but they swore they had never received it.  Now I ask you, how ironic is it that the post office lost the mail I sent to notify them of my move? After the house tour, we went to the post office and picked up the first class mail that had been saved -- Christmas cards from 2011, several bills that were past due (obviously!), 2 birthday cards from last year (apparently not close friends since they didn't know I had moved the year before!), and numerous other things that were out of date and long overdue.

Then the fun began.  I took C3 to a little sandwich place in Ottawa, IL called The Cheese Shop.  Someone stayed up all night thinking up that name because . . . it was actually a place that made cheese on the premises many years ago.  Duh! When we walked in the door, C3 went nuts!  We were both starving but she completely forgot about food when she saw all the collectibles in this place.  The owner was a huge collector and took the dining tables, covered them in green felt and placed his collections inside then built a frame and covered it with glass.  What a unique dining experience to sit there and see and discuss the memories these items invoked.  Nostalgia at its finest!

My husband was an avid fisherman so I was immediately drawn to the vintage reels and lures.  The orbs are from the overhead lights and I had trouble getting the shots without the reflection.  Sorry.

There were hundreds of milk bottles in all shapes and sizes.  We were interested in the cases that had been built specifically to hold the cream pitchers -- each marked with the name of a different creamery.  Most of these were from IL and neighboring states but others were from much further away.  I had not seen this type of labeled pitcher before and they were almost all in brown with a sponge ware affect.  You can be sure that I will look for these from now on!  I love the size and colors and the history -- wonder how many I have passed up because I didn't know what I was looking at?  And if you are in the area, the food was delicious and they had hundreds of unique spices and edible things for sale.  The fudge was tempting but we were good and left it for someone else to enjoy.   I had a great time and hope that she did too!