I'm baaacckk!!! Whew...a few months with NOTHING because it's been so hectic!

We moved home & business at the end of Sept. from Oregon to Washington to the top of the Olympic Peninsula. We are just across the Strait of San Juan De Fuca from Victoria, BC and the San Juan Islands, just to the west of the Puget Sound.

We have a great location and more warehouse which is very good, as now I can actually find some of the crates from our last English buying trip.

We had our first snow on the surrounding Olympic Mountains in Olympic National Park just to the south of us. It's beautiful. And having lived for years at 5,000 feet with lots of snow it's great to have it up THERE.

We have the office and photo room set up and have gotten back in the groove with photographing great items for the websites. We have almost 2,000 items online at Time Was Antiques at http://www.timewasantiques.net
and will be adding more every day.

VICTORIA Magazine is Back!!!! My favorite for years until 2002, I think has been republished. You can see more info online at http://www.victoriamag.com/
We are so excited. Like meeting a close friend you haven't seen in a while and realizing just how much you have missed her.

We are part of a cooperative full page ad in Victoria by one of the other publications I advertise in, Tea House Times. You can visit them at http://www.teahousetimes.com.

So, we are back on track and excited about the coming holidays. I have gourds, autumn leaves and red candles on the table and am enjoying the crisp air and the anticipation of new traditions to establish in our new hometown.

Pull up a chair, fix a cup of tea or hot cider and browse our fine English antiques and collectibles at http://www.timewasantiques.net.

BACK TO REALITY AFTER ENGLISH BUYING TRIP

I've been awol for a bit. A combo of allergies and an annual buying trip to England. But am back, recovered from jetlag and back to listing fab items for Time Was Antiques.

The trip was fun and featured a lot of walking and shopping in different venues. The last week of the trip was in London in unseasonably gorgeous weather in the 60-70s. We hit the various daily antique markets and this photo is from the Saturday antiques market at Portobello Rd by Notting Hill in London. If you have claustrophobia or enochlophobia (fear of crowds) you don't belong there!!!! It's always the most packed, and amazing at what a mass of humanity can be packed into 4 blocks between shops and street stalls, and how much STUFF! Valuable to junk. Amazing! This year though, prices were up, variety was down and we came away with less than usual. Sigh...

I've got London pictures at the moment. A bit out of order for the trip, but haven't gotten to the other to transfer/upload from my laptop.

We also spent 2 days between/after markets being London tourists and walking the north & south banks of the Thames on the Thames path which is always fabulous, especially in the good weather we had. We did the British Airways London Eye which we tend to do every year or so. Love it for great views of the city.

As for the stock we purchased, we have started adding what we brought home with us in our carryons. Because we flew back on Maxjet (http://www.maxjet.com) an all business class airline at an incredible price, they didn't weigh our carryons so we were able to cram a lot in. The rest is starting to arrive as well.

So we have added/adding British royal commemoratives, Shelley China, small silver items like knife rests and sugar tongs, motto ware, china and lots of interesting things. Quite fun. It's neat to remember as you unpack them where you found them. Like reliving the trip. Awesome.
New items can be seen at:
http://www.timewasantiques.net


Back to listing on a gorgeous day in southern Oregon. Supposed to be high 70s which is about perfect! Plan to first go to the weekly Grower's Market for some organic produce thena cup of tea and a pastry with my DH in the park then back to work!!!
Have a great day!
Ruth

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's 2007, and we have drawn our winner for the Time Was Tea Time Gift Pack. We want to congratulate Alan L. of California whose name was drawn from all of our customers during the months of November and December 2006. Alan's gift pack was shipped today.

We will be announcing a new drawing in our next newsletter. I have to decide what it should be!

We want to thank all of our customers for a great year and many new friends. I had tea the other day with a local customer and very much enjoyed having a customer become a fried. We plan to meet for tea again. We had a lot in common and had a great time.

We are planning our annual buying trip to England and will be leaving the US on the 13th of April. We will only be gone 3 weeks this time instead of the usual month because of other committments, but let us know if you have anything we should be looking for for you.

Have a great week. Our kids & grandkids are in town for the next few days so we will be busy having a fun time with family!