PA Loot and Lake Erie

As promised, my little pile of Pennsylvania plunder.  We actually visited several places but I didn't buy much since I wasn't inclined to leave my clothes behind, too.  There is always room for buttons.  The prices in PA were better than I expect and somewhat less than in Portland.  We even went to an antique mall that was inside a shopping mall, where I expected the prices to be sky high but they were not. 

We hardly ever see hats with nice millinery flowers around here and I have never seen this tin with the ballerinas before.  My favorite take-homes!  

I dumped all the buttons in to the ballerina tin and carried the tin and the hat in my carry-on backpack.  Apparently it looked pretty peculiar in the TSA's x-ray device.  I was glad I decided to leave some of the metal barn souvenirs behind.

The shore of Lake Erie.  This was the first time I have been to any of the Great Lakes.  I adore how they call it a "sweet water sea"!  It was overcast that day but the temperature was mild and there was no wind at all.  Perfect for walking along the shore.

I was determined that I would finally find some sea glass.  Well, I am back to that "one good eye" thing again so I did not find any myself but my son and The Husband each found a piece for me - bottom center and left.  I picked up the pretty rocks and some sea shells.  I wonder if I should call them lake shells?

There is a marvelous maritime museum in Erie.  They have a replica of the Niagara and we were able to go on board for a tour.

The complexity of the rigging is amazing.  The Niagara played a very pivotal role in history so the whole visit to the museum was fascinating and our tour guide was more than happy to share every single thing he knew.  8+).

Something I found particularly interesting were these prisms on the deck of the ship.  I couldn't get a good picture below deck but they are shaped like a diamond and project light to the interior of the ship.  Oh my gosh, those are some cramped quarters and hard to imagine 50 or 60 crewmen slung from the rafters in hammocks.

Only I would visit a maritime museum and come out with pictures of buttons and needles - lol!  I wish I could have gotten better photos of the uniform buttons but they were behind glass.  If you click them bigger you might be able to make out some of them.  They had a great collection.

I took a picture of the needles because I find this style in poke sacks all the time and they are still made today.  I never knew what they were for.  Apparently the flat curve prevents the needle from splitting the fibers in the canvas.  Good to know in case I need to stitch up some sails.

 Speaking of buttons...  here are my favorites from the heap in the first pictures.

The carved MOP button is my favorite.  I think the brown ones with the black stripe are Bakelite. Sadly, every single one of the green metal rhinestone buttons is missing some rhinestones.  I can't bring myself to toss them so maybe I'll find some green rhinestones in a poke sack one of these days.  Stranger things have happened!

It turns out I am STILL missing a few comments (not as many as before) so I apologize if you have left one and I haven't responded.