Mostly Shopping…

We’ve been busy during the past week or so.  But before I get into what we’ve been up to via verbiage and photos, I thought that I’d throw in a couple of photos that popped up in our general neighborhood.

This cement truck lost it as it rounded a curve approaching the only stoplight in our village.  That guard rail has taken a beating lately with a moving van and lawn care service all losing it on that particular corner.  It may be a problem with braking too hard on a slick surface as these heavy vehicles are rounding the corner approaching the stoplight…

Other local news was of a more serious nature.  A woman in the village was attacked and killed by her own dog…an Alsatian Shepard.  It was the family’s trained guard dog so it’s a mystery as to what set it off.  Police had to put the dog down in order to approach the woman as the dog was ‘guarding’ her.  Very sad indeed…

This stunning photo was taken by a resident in the nearby Rarity Bay residential development.  This is mid-spring in East Tennessee with greenery up close and snow in the Smoky Mountains.

We once again had visitors!  It’s been awhile since Laurie’s sister Bonnie and her husband Bill have driven over from St. Louis Missouri to visit us at our home.  Of course, last October we did meet up with them in Kentucky to explore the area around Lexington.

So, our first ‘adventure’ from this visit involved shopping.  Note: While neither of the sisters buy much they do love looking.  Bonnie’s husband Bill also likes shopping.  I usually take photos and search for old postcards…quickly moving on if I don’t find any. 

Laurie and Bonnie posed for me in this photo.  They sure do look like sisters don’t they?  Bonne was looking for clothes for her granddaughters Barbie dolls…and she scored too!  It’s a good thing that Laurie has stopped collecting Teddy Bears or we would have owned that one…

The preceding photos will give viewers an idea of the variety and quality of the offerings at the unimaginatively but accurately named ‘Highway 411 South Antiques’ shop.  Unlike many ‘antique’ shops, the displays here are not overwhelming nor are most of them cluttered with junk masquerading as ‘collectibles’.  There are 5,000 plus square feet full of items to explore…

I did find one nice postcard as shown above.  It shows the “Cotton Yard” in New Orleans in 1909 or earlier.  Walter wrote Ethel…romantically talking about sweating…and signing it “Lovingly, Walter”.  I look for postcards mailed by 1915, preferably earlier, and still with their stamps intact.  I love the whimsy and history recorded in the images as well as in the prose…

Highway 411 South Antiques is located at 5003 US Hwy 411 in Maryville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-856-5500.  They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Antique-Store/Hwy-411-South-Antiques-Maryville-800783326603545/.

‘Roost’ is a home décor/decorator shop in downtown Maryville Tennessee.  It offers high quality and interesting items for the home with furniture, carpets, lamps, art, and accent pieces.  I generally don’t like stores like this but not in this case.  The items on display are imaginative and interesting, even to me.

This eye-catching outdoor display in the patio at the entrance to Roost is an example of the owner’s imagination.  That cozy little shelter, made with branches by a local artisan, just draws you in and you feel like you have to look closer at the overall display.

I rarely include more than 2 photos of the interior of any shop unless it is humongous.  In this case, I made an exception so that I could show off some of the variety and imagination shown by Paula Osborn, the designer/owner of this classy store.

Bonnie did make a modest purchase, accent pieces for her home.  The fact that our home is already so jammed with items that we have accumulated over these many years saves me (us) a lot of money.  Roost (Interior Design) is located at 109 East Broadway Avenue in Maryville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-984-4100.  Website: https://roosthome.com/. 

One more antique store on this first day of exploration and shopping… This is ‘Foothills Antiques’.  Bill was checking something out when I took this photo.  While this store has more ‘collectibles’ to offer than top notch antiques, the items being offered are well displayed and not piled up on top of each other.   If you keep your eyes open and you know what you’re looking at, there is a decent collection of items available.  I saw several items that appealed to me…but managed to leave without a purchase.

Foothills Antiques is located at 3723 East Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville on the road to Smokey Mountains National Park and Cades Cove.  Foothills Antiques’ phone number is 865-981-9590.  They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Foothillsview-Antiques-296795330345360.

An adjacent antique store is McQuade Antiques.  He was closed when we stopped by but the last time we visited his store, we were struck by the quality of his antique offerings.  McQuade Antiques is located at 4731 East Lamar Alexander Parkway.  Phone: 865-696-1268.  He is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/people/McQuade-Antiques/100057096144903.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave