A Ramble In Old Hilo Town

By the time I started feeling better from the flu I was so stir crazy I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to take a ramble through the shops in Old Town Hilo. I wandered first into one of the few antique shops and was pleasantly surprised to find a few Delft nic nac's I liked.

 This small Delft shoe was so cute I couldn't resist it. I am a sucker for windmills on Delft.

 Here is the same shoe from a different angle. It is only 4" long and very well hand-painted.

 In the same cabinet was this delicious little butter / sugar crock with a lid.

 Here is a shot with its lid off, it too is very well hand-painted with a windmill and town scene.

 In the same collection were these two 6" x 6" hand-painted Delft tiles of lovely windmill scenes.

 They were so lovely I had to take them home with me. It must be my Dutch ancestry calling out to me or something?!

 In another part of the cabinet I spied these cute little windmill salt and pepper shakers.

 I have seen salt and pepper shakers before, but none this well done. I had to have them for my Delft shelf.

Here they are in my shop, I think they make a lovely gathering of Delft. I do love small pieces and these were just too delightful to stay in that dim dingy shop.  I think they cleaned up very nicely.

After I left the antique shop I thought I would cut across the Hilo Market. Since it wasn't market day, all the vendors were gone, and it was easy to cut across the gravel under the market tents. As I was walking along I glanced down and found two real pearls in the gravel. A couple of steps further and I saw a bit of bling in the gravel. When I bent over to pick it up, what should it be but the above purple sea turtle necklace, complete with little purple glass stones. This chirked me up no end.

 The next shop I venture into is one of my absolute favorite shops. It is called Dragon Mama's and has a couple of very nice Japanese ladies who run the shop and do all kinds of custom sewing. They also carry bolts of fabric that are to die for. I couldn't resist getting a yard of this hilarious doggy fabric. It made me laugh just to look at it.

 I had a surprise in their shop too because they had a big basket full of fabric scraps which they were giving away for free. I felt like it was my lucky day and so picked out a few bright scraps to take home with me and use for my projects. Aren't they delicious?!

 After Dragon Mama's I passed on up the street, window shopping as I went. In the window of a lovely gift shop I saw this whimsical little fellow and fell instantly in love with him. Doesn't he just want to make you laugh?!

 I must admit I am a lover of funny little stuffed animals of every kind. I am pretty picky about what I like, but this funny fellow hit all the right points. Soft, cuddly, cute, and whimsically silly expression.

 

I couldn't resist his delightful charms. He is a Jackson Chameleon, and the company had put Colin on his paper tag. Colin the Chameleon just came across as too trite to me, so I renamed him Franklin, which suits him much better. Beside he doesn't look like a Colin to me at all.

I thought Franklin was going to be my last purchase, as I was getting pretty tired, but I decided to go clear to the end of the street to my friend Anala's who has a lovely jade shop called Anala's Jade. While I was there chatting I saw this lovely purple jade cricket in a cabinet and couldn't resist buying it for Andrew. He likes jade and I like getting him pieces when I find them in the right shape and good color. Anala had these in green too but all of them were too pale. She was busy making jewelry like mad and packing up most of the contents of her shop for a trip to Los Vegas over Christmas to sell her jewelry. Normally this fellow would be hanging from a fine cord, so I will have it strung for Andrew when she gets back.

After I left the shop I had a long walk back to my car and was pretty pooped out. I think this flu took more out of me than I expected, but I am so glad I went for this ramble, it really cheered up. It was so nice to chat with people and see a few friends I hadn't seen in ages. It was also nice to get out in the world instead of laying at home in bed or lying on the couch, staring at the four walls until I went mad.

My husband has just come in to say he is going off to town so I shall avail myself of the opportunity to get out again, tho going to town the day before Christmas may be some form of madness all in itself. Wish me luck!