From my childhood -----------

I was born in a small town. (yes now you may sing the Mellencamp song - I did.) I grew up in that same small town -  Royston, Georgia - Home of Baseball's Immortal TY Cobb. And from the time I was born we shopped at a local shop called Philips Variety Store.

I have searched and search for images of it as I remember, but this is the only one I can find.

Agnes Shipp ran the store -- And yes it was one of those Inconic things. She carried Dixie Bell Lingerie - also known in my house as little girl and old lady panties. This store was piled high literally with clothing and such. She never clearanced anything either. She simply piled new stock in on top of the old stuff. Tables and racks and shelves of "stuff". I so wish I could find pictures of the interior of the store as it really was. There are no words to describe it - one of those "had to be there" kinds of places.

My mom and I have often talked about buying it and continuing the business - from the time I was a teenager until recently.

Then Miss Agnes was killed in a car wreck. Her family closed the business and sold a lot of the stuff out of the building.

Fast forward to Saturday - January 28, 2012.

I was in Royston with a friend - headed to my Mama's. Cell phone rings and indicates that we have been spotted, so on the way back through town, we stop and visit with more old friends. They have purchased the building and are in the process of renovating. As I walked in I remarked - I would love one of those shelves..... and just look what happened.

An 11' 11" long by 6'2" tall shelving unit that was site built in that building landed on a trailer -- (that's billy in the picture)


and.......

Rode to my house.

Yes - that is a massive item - and it is one section too long for anywhere in the house.

There was measuring and pondering and such.

It has been determined that chopping off one section will make it work.

There are fun little details that I hope I can keep --- I plan to clean it up, do a tiny bit of sanding and then simply seal/protect it.

Apparently some things were just a quarter.

Saw marks from the rough cut lumber

Medium Maybe???

No one has figured out the "y" it appears to be random.

I know these pictures look fuzzy and all white washed out. That is actually years of dust and crud. Got a ton of cleaning to do.

One end of the shelf has been painted - look at the picture of it on the trailer at my porch - and you will see that there are two colors on it. Gonna try and get this back off and just have the wood tones.

I cannot wait to start filling it up with my stuff.

Now for the fun part of being in the right place at the right time ---- an early 1900's site built shelf out of a building from my childhood, an items representing a place from my past. All of this coming to my house to live. Money is not important on this one, but I paid less than a 100 buck for this bad boy.

Love love ---- happy girl. I'll keep you guys posted as I get this in the house.