Living Dangerously in Paducah

 It was cloudy on Monday as I left CG at the hotel and headed out to do a little shopping in Paducah, Kentucky. Many of the shops were closed, but at Courtyard Antiques, the lights were on and I received a friendly welcome from Aleta.  As the shop name implies, there's a beautiful courtyard behind the store. It had started to rain but I couldn't resist a peek outside. 

 Over in the corner I caught a glimpse of  something interesting perched upside down on the wall. Aleta dashed out in the rain to bring it in so I could take a closer look.  It was a beautiful urn....see the closeups in yesterday's post.  She's a keeper, for now.

My next stop was Antiques, Cards & Collectibles.  They are in their final days of going out of business. Everything that was left in the historic five-story building had been brought to the first floor and piled in a heap. A gent named Patrick was working and he invited me to dig.  And dig I did. I started piling things by the counter...old receipts & other ephemera, pull-down maps...and it grew darker outside. 

The rain came harder, bouncing off the pavement.  Patrick turned on the radio. Severe weather was in the area. The tornado sirens started blaring. I took a quick look outside and didn't see a funnel cloud so continued pawing through boxes.  Old games, books and industrial waste baskets were added to my pile. CG called to check on my welfare and the sirens kept blaring. The warnings on the radio grew more serious.

 I reluctantly decided that dying in a tornado in a quest for great junk would probably not be looked upon favorably by my family, (they just don't "get it")!  I settled up with Patrick and we loaded my boxes in the van, getting drenched within seconds.  Back at the hotel CG loaded our luggage and we headed out of town.  I just hate it when a good junking outing gets cut short, don't you?

Tornado Damage at Old World Wisconsin

On Monday night a tornado touched down in the small village of Eagle,Wisconsin, about 15 minutes from here. Many homes were destroyed and countless others were damaged.  Thankfully, there were no serious injuries.  Old World Wisconsin is located in Eagle.  It's one of our favorite historical sites and I've blogged about it twice; last summer and at Christmas time.

Old World Wisconsin was hit bit the tornado and is currently closed for clean-up.  Thankfully there was no major damage to the historical buildings, but many trees were lost.  Check out the amazing photos of the damage here. Our granddaughters are coming to visit soon and two of them are scheduled to attend the One Room Schoolhouse Rocks day camp there.  We're all hoping that the site will be able to re-open soon.

The Old World Wisconsin Foundation has established a fund to help with the clean-up expenses. Here's a link for anyone that would like to contribute.