Cottage Curio Christmas

It was another big day at Cottage Curio. Hilda worked in the kitchen to bake a variety of Christmas cookies. The recipes for most of them can be found in my book, MOM's FAMILY PIE, that was reviewed earlier on this blog. She had oatmeal and raisin, sugar cookies, cherry winks, peanut butter, and stuffed raisin cookies (that recipe came from Hilda's grandmother). As usual, she sold out before the store closed at 2:00 p.m.


Becky Musko (below, right) did some reading and signing of her books in the "Red" room. Becky's books are delightful and, of course, are available at Cottage Curio. You can link to Becky's blog from this blog (Peevish Advice).





Tristan Perry (left) spent her first day at Cottage Curio. She sold and signed some of her book, Furry Tails. She wants to come back in the months to come.








Many of my regular customers and visitors dropped in for Patrick Donovan's (right) wood art. He designs wooden boxes from scraps of wood that he gets from all over the world. His boxes are made from mixtures of wood from Australia (lace wood, eucalyptus), Latin America, and the good old Appalachian Mountains. Each of his pieces is unique, smooth to the touch, and a treat to the eye. If you want to please a good friend or family member on his or her birthday, stop in and check out Patrick's work. Many of his pieces are available at Cottage Curio. Patrick Donovan



Cottage Curio is now seven months old. Over these months, visitors and customers have commented that "there is a little bit of everything in here." They are right about that!!!!!

During the next seven months, I want to focus a bit more on products made from reclaimed materials by local artists and craftspeople. I already have several examples in the shop:

• Patrick Donovan's wood art from scrap wood
• Donnie Myers' wormy chestnut furniture from wood he gets by tearing down old barns built in the late 1800's; walnut cabinets from trees destroyed by Hurricane Fran; and cherry and cedar furniture from fallen trees
• Brenda's Rhodes rag rugs made of clothing outgrown by her children
• Nadine Cobb's photography is not too far a stretch to include in reclaimed materials. She travels throughout rural Virginia and North Carolina to photograph old abandoned barns and out-buildings. She turns them into exquisite photos as she works with her camera.

Many of these materials, if not reclaimed, would be polluting out environment by filling up local landfills.

In the months to come, I will be inviting more local writers and artists to come to Cottage Curio to read and sign their work. If you know of anyone who might be interested in bringing in their books, stories, poems, paintings, photos, send me a comment. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

Looking forward, PEGGY

You Can Go Home Again

This past weekend, I traveled to Hopkins Gap to distribute Christmas to relatives, and once more I had a surge of appreciation for my heritage. I visited the Ben Franklin Store in Broadway to deliver a box of books. As I wandered through the store, I realized that this old store must be one of the last Ben Franklin's to have survived the road to specialization. I bought some socks, had a picture framed, grabbed some peanuts, and some sewing thread. I could have bought most anything I would ever need right there. I thought about Wal Mart's claim to "one stop shopping" and realized that Wal Mart stole that idea from Ben Franklin Stores and cheapened it down for modern-day shoppers.

I left Broadway and headed for Hopkins Gap to visit Aunt Ethel (she is pictured on the cover of Mom's Family Pie--my second book). At the northern end of the Gap, I stopped at Turner Hams. There I was greeted with smiles from the three generation Turner family. I bought some ham hocks for my winter pinto beans, some ham sandwiches to share with Aunt Ethel, and some good old strong cheese. The road from Turner Hams to Aunt Ethel's house was decorated with ice that had fallen from the trees and small limbs too weak to carry the weight of an ice storm. Shoemaker River ran swiftly as it carried the heavy rain that fell on Sunday night from the ridges and hollows of Hopkins Gap. I felt like a million dollars!!!!!

I arrived at Aunt Ethel's house to find her grieving. "I don't know how I will get through Christmas without Dad, " she sighed. She called my Uncle Shirley "dad." He died this past April at age 90. They were married when Ethel was 15 years old and stayed married for 66 years.
Aunt Ethel cared for him all of his life and he held her in his arms as he died in bed. We shared a ham sandwich and I gave her her Christmas present (sausage, ham, walnuts, and homemade applesauce from my larder). She insisted on giving me a gift (a jar of tenderloin that she canned this fall even though she had to buy the loin at Kroger). She has canning in her blood just like I do. I told Aunt Ethel that her picture on my book cover has gone international. She said, "Really?" Then she shared the fact that folks stop her in the grocery line in Harrisonburg and say, "Aren't you Ethel Morris, the woman on the book cover?" I think she enjoys the attention in her shy kind of way.

When I left Hopkins Gap, I headed for Old Order Mennonite country about 8 miles from the Gap. There I bought free range eggs (10 dozen) to give to friends for Christmas and for myself. I went a bit further and bought Staymen apples and apple cider. I stopped to look at some wooden hand made toys that I might bring to my store in Salem. These are made by Old Order Mennonite boys.

I usually get sleepy on the long drive from Hopkins Gap to Salem. However, on this trip I stayed wide awake with memories of my heritage, sadness for Aunt Ethel, and especially the thoughts of consuming the tasty treasures that loaded down my little car. I think that trip to Hopkins Gap is right up there with my trip to Peru last spring.