October 23, 2019 – I didn’t know that & Missing: not yet found

         My older brother, Ken, was here for two weeks on vacation.  Surprisingly we had good weather – except he left glorious foliage in New England and down here, we were at the muddy green, no leaf tips turned red or orange or even yellow yet foliage.

         We did short trips to see the local sights and one destination had been on my list for several years.  It was the closest and we checked that off the first day when I simply drove by to see what hours the FARM MUSEUM in Forest City, North Carolina would be open.  There was a car parked out front and the front door open so I decided we might as well stop and see it right now. We did.

         We both were raised in New England and have seen our share of antiques of all kinds before – some at Grampa’s farm in Littleton, Massachusetts, some at the Fruitland Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts, as kids on school field trips, and even more as family heirlooms passed down through the family.

         Just a week or two before I had noticed an old tobacco mopping piece of equipment hanging from the ceiling in a viable hardware store in Chesnee, South Carolina, and it piqued my curiosity. 

         “What is that?” I asked the gentleman store owner.

         “That’s to apply insect repellent on tobacco plants,” was his forthcoming answer.  Of course, I wanted more details and he was gracious in explaining how they used molasses to adhere the insecticide potion to the young plants.

         “How about that,” I said imagining the sticky mess process, a bit of history to savor and possibly share with someone in the future.

         So, when I saw another one in the FARM MUSEUM I knew what it was before I even read the sign and pointed it out to my brother. 

         We poked around looking at all the treasures; there are rooms and rooms of items at the FARM MUSEUM in Forest City, North Carolina, and we each pointed to the other what we’d seen before and tried our best to one-upmanship each other – I’d say it was a tie – no actually Ken knew all about the engines which I didn’t.

        

         We pointed to one old artifact then to another and nudged each other when we had one in our house as kids. Good example – a bottle capper – that we used making root beer – which I now have in the mudroom on a shelf and glance at it once in a while and remember that idyllic time as a kid.

         My biggest delight was seeing the murals and the actual bail of cotton in the room to the left.  It was bigger than I thought a bail of cotton would be.

         My brother pointed to some blue Shirley Temple glasses and I admitted,

         “Mom gave me hers years ago.”

         “I’d wondered where they were,” was his casual answer.  In my mind’s eye, I knew mine were in better condition. When we got back to my home, I went to pull them out of where they have resided for years – in the back corner of the china cabinet and – they were not there.  How unusual, they had been there for years.  I pondered that.

         Since Ken has left I have been searching for those Shirley Temple glasses and they are still “missing” somewhere in this house.

         Few days ago, I switched out my mantel piece to my collection of colored water filled maple leaf bottles of various sizes.  They are re-purposed maple leaf shaped maple syrup bottles that I have collected over the years.  Then I pulled out the two velvet stuffed pumpkin pillows that I bought probably 25 years ago from the Hallmark store.  But, when I went to pull out the 6 or 8 small wooden pumpkins that reside in one particular vase – they were not where they should be – something else “missing”.

         I’ve been on a hunt for my “missing” items now for about a week and I am still empty handed.  Maybe when I get out the Easter decorations I will find my Halloween pumpkins – who knows – the hunt is still on – I’ve a few more days – Oh, maybe I should look in the Christmas ornaments and see if I put them there when I switched from one season to another last year.  It’s a thought any way.