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 things I liked.

  Right away I spotted these two 6" x 6" hand-painted Delft tiles of quaint 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? lol

After I left the antique shop I thought I would cut across 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 eyes. This cheered 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 my son. He likes jade and I like getting him pieces when I find them in the right shape and good color. Anala 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. I wished her all the best.

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 me 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.