IT'S A SMALL SMALL WORLD

Hi everyone, we're back and I am in the mood to reminisce. This business of ours is the best vehicle ever for meeting new friends. You have to be a particular breed to love flea marketing, selling antiques and collectibles and taking just plain old junk and remaking it into something remarkable (even if you are the only one who thinks so). Today I am writing this blog from my own heart.

I have been in this business and working for this type of business for almost ten years, although I did run an auction business in what I call "my other life". You know, the time before my divorce. It is funny how things turn out. In my other life I was also a law clerk/paralegal. My closet was full of conservative business attire. Now I don't own a dress and my current attire is somewhat bohemian like. My hair is usually in two braids and my eyeglasses are bright purple embedded with rhinestones.

I did own one dress until a few years ago. It was black and I wore it for two occasions only. The first was funerals and the second was our annual Victorian Christmas at the store where I used to work in Cookstown. Now anyone who knows me knows two things about me. One, I am very crafty and two I am very absent-minded at the best of times. I like to do all my craftwork while in bed watching TV and it is not unheard of for my life partner Gerry, to wake up glued to the bed where I have inadverently spilled glue and not realized it. It is a standing joke that I do my best work in bed.

This particular year I waited until about 9 p.m. on Friday night before getting my dress out of the cupboard to wear for Victorian Christmas the next day. When I pulled it off the hanger I cried out with dismay. The skirt had been torn off. My first thought was rats (although I had never seen any indication of any varmints in or around my home). I shouted for Gerry who proceeded to look all over the house while telling me there must be some reasonable explanation. He finally walked out of my craft room holding a three foot witch that I had made for Halloween. Very calmly he asked me "Dear, isn't this witches' dress and hat the same fabric as your dress?" I took one look and the memory came flooding back, albeit a little late to save Victorian Christmas. I had, in the course of making my witch, needed some black material. I somehow managed to use my dress for my witch and then after folding it neatly with some other clean clothes, to transfer it onto a hanger and hang it in my closet, ready, or so I thought, for either my next funeral or Victorian Christmas. Needless to say, I was the only non-Victorian for Victorian Christmas that year. Being the ecclectic people most antiquers are my good friends (fellow employees and customers alike) found this whole episode hilarious, although my boss did her very best to transform my everyday clothing into something Victorian-like. I like to think that everyone was laughing with me as opposed to laughing at me.

Well, time goes by fast and soon enough I found myself transplanted from Cookstown to Woodstock. Working at the One of a Kind market I have met a whole new group of friends, each one more eclectic than the last. It is amazing in this business; each place I go I run into old friends. Just this morning we received an e-mail from a vendor inquiring about space at One of a Kind. He identified himself as having a booth at Stratford. Seeing the e-mail address I quickly realized it was a fellow vendor from Cookstown who actually lives in Etobicoke. From Etobicoke to Cookstown to Stratford to Woodstock and here we have the opportunity to re-acquaint ourselves with yet another person who has touched our lives since embarking on this business adventure ten years ago. This is not the first time we have encountered old friends on our travels and I am sure it will not be the last.

Now on to another topic. Summer is finally here and without weather issues to cope with we have been enjoying seeing a lot of new faces here at the market. Several of our vendors have sales on right now. We have a great selection of outdoor garden-type things and our furniture selection is growing daily. Of course, we have tons of smalls as well. The market is a wonderful place to lose yourself as you spend hours browsing. We are looking forward to seeing you whether you are an old customer or a friend whom we just haven't met yet.

Until next time

John, Jack and Staff