Why Monday Trade Days Are Never On Monday

Texas has a long held tradition of holding gatherings called Monday Trade Days. 

I'm a transplanted native Californian who married a native Texan from an old Texas family. 

When I first moved to Texas in 2005, I was somewhat confused since Monday Trade Days are held on the weekend and are never held on a Monday!

I've learned back in the olden days of Texas, farm and ranch families often lived far out of town and made monthly trips into town in their wagons to buy dry goods (flours, sugar, fabric) and to sell or trade their farm produce, along with ranch animals and such. 

In these Texas communities, the people waited for the "circuit" judge and "circuit" minister to come to their town at a set time period. 

The two would ride a circuit, arriving in town to conduct weddings and church on Sunday, and then court business on Monday, before riding on to the next town. 

One town would be given the first Monday of the month to conduct court business, another town some riding distance away would be assigned the second Monday, another town the third Monday, and another the fourth.  

In Canton Texas, the town was assigned the first Monday of the month. First Monday Trade Days is still held in Canton on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday prior to the first Monday of the month.

Since next Monday is the first Monday in June, Canton's First Monday Trade Days for June will actually start this Thursday (May 31st) and go through the weekend.

In McKinney Texas, where my husband's family is from, the town was assigned the third Monday of the month. 

McKinney still carries on the tradition and holds monthly Third Monday Trade Days on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the third Monday of the month.

According to my in-laws (ages 92 and 95), McKinney held a dance on the Saturday night of Monday Trade Days, as most Texas towns did. 

When I first moved to Texas, I was surprised at how much Texans love to dance, especially the men! 

The Texas Two-Step is the dance of choice here, and you'd better be wearing your boots 'cuz you can't dance The Texas Two-Step without them.

My father-in-law remembers from the time he was a young boy, his father had a Boot and Saddle Shop in McKinney (in this building in the picture below), played a mean fiddle, and "called" the dances at the Saturday night events. 

Now you know why Texas' Monday Trade Days are never held on Monday. 

This week I'm joining the Share Your Cup party at Have A Cup Of Mrs. Olson's and the Vintage Charm Party at My Thrift Store Addictions. Hope you'll join these parties too.

Thanks for dropping by!

Carnival

How long has it been since you've been to the carnival? 

When we were kids back in the last century, the carnival was a big deal for us small town kids.

Every spring, a carnival now comes to our small town in Texas. The carnival sets up on a Friday and stays through the following weekend. 

For the last two years, the carnival has coincided with a spring break visit of two of our grandkids who love to go to the carnival. 

The kids love the rides that are a little more tame than these two, and mom and dad buy each of them a day long pass so we stay as long as we can...

The littlest granddaughter usually lets us know when it's time to go home...

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The Garden: What Came Back This Year

Outside in the front, the pots are starting to come to life. Several plants from last year even sprouted up on their own...

Bless my little brown thumb...I'm as shocked as you are!

For instance, this Hydrangea died out early last summer, but look...here it is again.

I was just a few days away from buying a new Hydrangea plant when I realized this one was coming back on its own.

I'll bet this happens to you all the time, but it's a first for me.

Wild Bill's little fig tree popped right up again and already has figs coming out. 

It's a 3rd-generation-cutting tree (cutting from his grandparent's tree became his mother's tree, and a cutting from mom's tree became ours) that wilts and dies down some in late fall each year, but as soon as it gets some sun the leaves start popping out again. It's a hardy one!

It's long past time to put the little fig tree in the ground, but we're trying to keep it in a pot so it's movable.  That way, if we sell the house this year we can still take it with us.

Rosemary, Mint, and Boxwood are three more plants that came back this year along with a few more that I have no idea what they are!

Boxwood And Rosemary From Last Year

I read last year that Mint is one plant that can get away from you if you're not careful where you plant it. Lesson learned! 

This is one of the Mint plants after I pulled half of it out...

Mint Gone Wild

Why plant Mint? I read that Mint will keep vermin away so I had to try it. Don't know if that's true, but it sure smells good as does the Rosemary.

There's even a few Ruellia plants that popped up by themselves in the rock bed...

Here's what Ruellia looks like once the flowers bloom. 

Source

Ruellia's nickname is Mexican Petunia, and this plant loves the heat and takes very little water to grow. It also spreads like crazy and will come back each year, filling in your empty spaces by spreading itself as far as you'll let it go.

I bought several new plants in pairs to plant in the pots on either side of the entryway.

Doesn't it always seem like you bought a lot of plants until you plant them? I'll have to make another trip to the nursery soon to buy a few more to fill up the empty spaces in the pots.

I'm thankful today for all the rain we've been having and all the plants that came back this year without any effort, especially that Hydrangea. 

How about you? Do you have any tips on what you plant that returns to your garden each year?

Thanks for dropping by!

A Change Of Heart

Sometimes just when you give up on something, a spark ignites.

This piece of decoration has been around the house for probably 5 years, but I never really liked it, so I put it in a box of donations a while back. 

Before I had a chance to donate it, I saw something very similar in a pretty post by Butterfly and Bungalow...

Butterfly And Bungalow

So I had a change of heart and out of the donation box it came! 

I decided to try the new white paint and dark brown wax by Vintage Paints that I bought at Birds & Words in McKinney recently.

Sorry to say I was disappointed with the white paint by Vintage Paints, at least on the metal. 

I would say it had a kind of slick plastic look to it! I quickly painted it with another paint I had on hand, One-Step Paint by Amy Howard. 

Painted With One-Step Paint By Amy Howard

I've always had a great outcome on metal with One-Step Paint, and from now on I plan to make it my go-to paint for metal.

Painted But Not Waxed Yet

I used the dark brown wax by Vintage Paints, and I was happy with the way it turned out. It was easy to apply and removed easily when I wanted to take some of the dark wax away.

Dark Wax Added

This just proved to me, once again, that everything looks better with a little chalk paint and wax.

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Sharing this week here:

Feathered Nest Friday

When You Love It, But Let It Go

Have you ever loved something, but no matter how you try it just doesn't work for you? 

That's how I feel about this sweet vintage cabinet...

I thought about painting it several times, but it's a lot of work to do that with all the little nooks and crannies. 

Here's a picture of it in the shop where I bought it years ago.

We have quite a few other cabinets, so I put the little cabinet up for sale on Craigslist the other day and it sold that day.

It was fun to dress it up for different occasions, but we're planning on selling our house in the next year so reducing "stuff" is what's happening around here. 

All the glass in the door, front, and sides would have made it hard to move any distance so it was the obvious choice when it came to reducing cabinets.

Happy Mother's Day this year to all you ladies out there! 

Thanks for dropping by!

Join Me Here:
Vintage Charm Party
Sundays At Home Party

Vintage Paint And Window Shopping

Everything painted in this storefront window was painted with a chalk paint line called Vintage, which this shop sells. Don't you love that old world look? 

Storefront Window - Birds And Words Shop In McKinney TX

The painted furniture inside was even more lovely, but I got too involved with mooning over their vintage cubby cabinet I showed a while back and didn't get photos once I was inside the store.

All their paints, waxes, and creams were displayed on that old green cubby cabinet I whined over recently. 

Of all the colors, this gray-blue dresser was definitely calling to me!

I bought this book a while back at another of my favorite stores in McKinney called My Favorite Room...

Since buying the book, I've been looking for the paint. I found it right down the street! 

The best thing about the book (besides all the wonderful projects featured) is that on the right hand corner of the page the book shows each of the paint colors and waxes used to complete each project. 

I'm planning on painting some light fixtures similar to this sconce, so I bought the paint required for this light fixture. 

They used one paint color and two waxes: Warm Cream to paint the fixture, then the brown wax and white wax to age and finish it.

I was happy to find the Vintage paint at the shop pictured here, which is called Birds And Words in McKinney, TX. 

Here's a few "inside the shop" photos of some of their painted furniture from their Facebook page...

Birds And Words Facebook

I bought several small samples of the paint to try along with their dark brown aging wax. I already have a white wax from another brand that I want to use up so that will do for now.

Now all I need is a victim to practice on! I'll go out to my stash in the garage and find a small piece of furniture to use to try out the paint.

Thanks for dropping by!

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