Santa & Mrs. Claus

Just down the hill, the town of Evergreen will be hosting some very illustrious guests this weekend. The Evergreen Downtown Business Association is holding its 20th annual Holiday Walk in downtown Evergreen, on Friday, December 2, beginning with the 5:00pm arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Lake House to light the community tree. Santa & Mrs. Claus will arrive in a fire truck to light the tree and sing carols. Caroling will be lead by the Evergreen Lutheran Church Choir.

After the tree lighting, you can continue the holiday cheer by walking with Santa and Mrs. Claus to historic downtown Evergreen for photos, roasted chestnuts, choirs, bell ringers, face painting, dance performances, and more.  You can make your own Christmas ornaments and wooden toys too!  Join in the celebration with local merchants, taking advantage of holiday specials, live entertainment throughout the evening and holiday treats. Photos with Santa & Mrs. Claus will be at the Ice House Café. Photos begin at 6:45 P.M. and the cost is $5 (and well worth it since this is the real Santa and his wife.)

This is an incredibly fun event, especially for the little ones. Bundle up your kiddos (and yourself, too) and come out for a night of merriment and memories. Shuttle service will be available from Hiwan Homestead, Church of the Transfiguration, Lake House, and RTD parking lot next to Christ the King Church on Hwy 74.

Meet Me in Idaho Springs – Connection

Great Aunt Pearl had been a great hit with all of the Halloween Walkers, scaring the children just a bit with the baggy support hosiery around her ankles and the large mole on her chin, and making their parents, the ones who might actually buy jewelry laugh and share stories about female relatives with the same lovable, disheveled persona.  Ricky had marked everything in the store down by her usual Halloween discount of 35% and making deals of earrings thrown in with pendants and toe rings with bracelets.  The “Black Heart” pendant had gone to an out of towner,  who had come up for the festivities, and who ended up purchasing a chocolate diamond and pearl set for his wife for Christmas.  Stanton Christophersen, the Ryan Reynolds guy, came to the shop after his store closed and bought a pin to send to his mom who it turned out lived in Roanoke, Virginia, where Ricky had attended college. Stanton, who sometimes went by Stan, was a geologist and quite knowledgeable about some of the stones Ricky used in her jewelry, which gave them something to talk about without getting too personal, which by Ricky’s estimation, felt quite safe.  When she asked him how a geologist got into the vintage clothing, consignment shop business, he smiled and said, “I think a piece of clothing, just like an old rock, that serves a purpose, or brings joy into someone’s life should be given a chance to do it again.  You and I are really in the same business,” he continued.  “You give rocks a second chance to shine, and I do the same for your grandma’s shoes.”  After that they shared a cinnamon roll at the Main Street Restaurant, and Stanton insisted she take the gooey sweet center roll.  Ricky was starting to like him.

Steamer Trunks

The name steamer trunk is frequently misused. Many people tend to generalize and call all old trunks steamer trunks; but a true steamer trunk is about half the height of most regular flat top trunks because they were used by passengers in their quarters during steamship voyages. Everything they would need during the voyage would be packed in that trunk and it was allowed in their room. Their other trunks, if they had them, were stored in the cargo hold and were not accessible during the journey. So, the term is associated with steam ships but not all trunks that traveled on steamships were steamers.

The classic flat top trunks we generally think of as steamer trunks were made from about the 1870s to around 1920. These trunks were the workhorses of that period, although flat trunks have been around since the very earliest Egyptian trunks. Another popular design during the flat top’s heyday had a rounded top. There are many stories to explain why the popularity of trunk design went from flat top stagecoach design to the round tops and humpbacks. Some say these rounded trunks came about because people were fed up with baggage handlers stacking their trunks and damaging them, so the round top evolved. It probably took porters about half-a-minute to tip the trunks over on their side and continue stacking them. Maybe that’s why flat top trunks came back into fashion.

Flat top trunks make beautiful coffee tables, and can be used to store blankets or toys. Adding a classic trunk to a room adds charm and a little history to the space. It even brings a touch of glamor, as we imagine the ocean liners the trunks traveled on and the items they carried.

Meet Me in Idaho Springs: Good Answer

Ericka Van Dreyton was never one to take the bait, as it were.  This guy, who looked a little like Ryan Reynolds, by the way, obviously thought that his card left on the table was her cue to call him.  She’d been carrying the card around in her coat pocket for a week, and had decided she definitely would not call him … today.  Halloween was soon on the menu and in Idaho Springs that meant shop windows strewn with cobwebs and cat-sized spiders hanging from ceilings.  There was a festive spirit of goblins lurking around corners and ghosts dancing in the street.  Idaho Springs was a town built into the mountainside, houses tucked into the nooks and crannies, with hidden mines at the end of every other street.  Ricky looked across the way at the waterwheel that was still turning despite the cooler temperatures, the sun streaking its timbers with promise of a warm day.  She made a stop at the Wild Grape in search of a Birthday gift for her sister, then wandered through Canyon Outfitters to see if they still had the tooled, silver studded handbag that she had decided she couldn’t live without.  Purchases made, she stopped in for a hello to Asta at Java Mountain Roasters and one of her famous Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  The roasting was done and the whole shop was scented with coffee magic as one of the girls ground beans for a customer.  Ricky sat down at a table to wait for a break in the counter action and that’s when she spotted him, the Ryan Reynolds knock off.  He was going to think she was following him.  She walked over to his table and waited for him to look up.  “I just wanted you to know,” Ricky explained, “that I just happened in here.  I’m not following you.”  He smiled – disarming – annoying. “I didn’t think you were following me,” Ryan said.  “But it would be fine if you were.”  “Good answer,” Ricky said, then went and sat down at another table.

A Touch of Glamour

Sometimes the smallest changes make for the best results. For instance, creating a place in your bedroom where you can shut out the noise and hustle of the world and quietly prepare for what’s on your calendar can set the proper tone for your whole day. You don’t have to change your entire house or even your whole room, just that one corner that you claim as your space, and yours alone. An antique dressing table can help you make that space come alive with glamour and charm. Today this table is called a vanity table; in the 19th century, it was known as a dressing table; but in the 18th century, it was a toilet table.  A mirror that could be tipped for a better view was attached to the top of the table by the 1750s. Thomas Chippendale designed a “toylet” table in 1762 that had not only a mirror but also a fancy, ruffled fabric skirt. Whatever style suits you, giving new life to an old vanity/dressing table can lend new life to your personal space. Go ahead – create that charming, glamorous corner. You deserve it.

Candlelight

Live in rooms full of light.  ~Cornelius Celsus

Candlelight is romantic, mysterious, beautiful, even spiritual. A table lit with candles lends a certain ambience to a dinner gathering and there is an ethereal beauty to the flickering shadows cast on the walls by the flame. The light cast by candles is soft, gentle and welcoming ~ unlike the glare that comes from a 60 watt bulb. There are, of course, times when we need a bright light to do work or read; however, when what you’re looking for is a light that caresses you and fills the room with warmth and comfort, candlelight or a fire in the hearth are the way to go.

Now, when you place those candles in lustrous antique candlesticks, you not only achieve the above mentioned atmosphere, you also add a touch of glamour to the whole room. The quality of old silver that has been polished with love over the years has a deep richness to it, a weathered kind of beauty that comes with age. The candlelight is reflected in the silver, winking and sparkling as it dances over the surface. Antique silver candlesticks are not just for the antique lover. They are for any aficionado of the small dinner party, the perfectly set table, or the flawlessly decorated home. If you want to add a little glamour, a little richness to your table or your home, find a pair of lovely candlesticks ~ and use them.

The Glamour of Crystal

Chandeliers have been around since the middle ages, when they were made of wood and used to hold candles to illuminate churches and monasteries. In the fifteenth century, they evolved, becoming decorative pieces as well as sources of light. They were also a status symbol, and frequently held the crest of the family whose home they graced. By the eighteenth century, glass making had developed to a point where lead was being added to glass, making an inexpensive and beautiful glass crystal. Crystal was incorporated into chandeliers, generating great sparkle and beauty, and quickly became a favorite item among the elite.  These chandeliers were luxury items, and afforded by only a few.

Even today, crystal chandeliers evoke images of glamour, wealth, class and elegance. The lead in antique crystal pieces create an extremely brilliant refraction of light. They are art pieces, not just light fixtures. Even if you aren’t a collector of antiques, a crystal chandelier might be what you’re looking for ~ that perfect signature piece for a room, that item that will give your home a special flair.

Antique Books

As long as a book is still in print, one can get the words anywhere – even electronically. But for book lovers, there is something irreplaceable in holding a bound book in one’s hands. There is the smell of the paper and the ink. There is the solid feel of its weight. There are the feelings it invokes of past reading pleasures. It’s pure satisfaction.

That satisfaction is increased when the book is an antique. When one acquires an antique book, one acquires a treasure. Old books have unique bindings and beautiful endpapers. Frequently, there are hand-drawn illustrations and elaborate fonts. They are works of art and make beautiful displays.

Then there is the possibility of unexpected discoveries. The original owner’s name may be pencilled in on the first page. Or an old postcard or picture may be tucked between the pages. Our family has a well-loved book of poetry that is just like this. It was owned by Mildred, who wrote her name inside the front cover with her precise schoolgirl penmanship. She went through the table of contents and marked her favorites. And inside is a postcard, written to her by a friend many decades ago. When we pick up that book, it sparks the imagination ~ taking us to a different time. We sometimes imagine Mildred holding that book, and reading those poems. It has become more than a book. It is a work of art, and a treasure map to the past. 

Annie’s Gold has many antique books. When your adventuring spirit puts you in the mood for treasure hunting, come in and see what delightful nuggets you can find to spark your own imagination. 

To Top It All Off

It was in the late seventeenth century that women’s headgear began to emerge in its own right and not be influenced by men’s hat fashions. According to HatsUK, the word ‘milliner’,  a maker of women’s hats,  was first recorded in 1529 when the term referred to the products for which Milan and the northern Italian regions were well known, i.e. ribbons, gloves and straws. The haberdashers who imported these highly popular straws were called ‘Millaners’ from which the word was eventually derived.

By the mid 1800’s Swiss and Italian straws, together with imitation straws made from paper, cardboard, grass and horsehair were available to women, along with the introduction of velvet and tulle. Throughout this journey, as hats evolved, they became works of art. True craftsmanship was required to create hats, which at this time were all made by hand. The fact that many antique hats in good condition exist today is a testament to the quality of haberdashery and the care taken by owners to preserve their hats. A hat put on display can become a beautiful conversation piece, or simply a lovely object to fill a special corner of your home. And for those of us with that certain sense of ‘style’, they can still be worn — for the right occasion, of course.

A Little Brazil

Josh and Micheli, two Idaho Springs locals, are the owners of Mainstreet Restaurant on Miner Street. The restaurant has a quirky unique feel that is all its own, lending to its charm and appeal. The feeling of comfort and welcome one has in the eatery is in part due to the decor.

Micheli is Brazilian, and several authentic Brazilian dishes on the menu attest to this heritage. But if you take a moment from your scrumptious meal and look around, you will see many hand-painted Brazilian plates on display that are sent to Micheli by her mother who is still in Brazil. These plates are hand-crafted works of art, each one unique, with a special beauty all its own. They are certainly something special. Between the food and these lovely plates, Micheli has created a little bit of Brazil right in the heart of this cozy mountain community.