Suddenly it’s spring in Vancouver! Warm and lovely, and time to get out of the city, so Chloe, mom and I headed out of Vancouver for the country. Three generation, one 4wheel drive. We took my big car because I wanted to buy two really big pots. I mean really big pots, like, about four feet tall, so I could plant a couple of trees in them on the back patio.

First stop was Cedar Rim nursery in Langley. They had the most exquisite pots and I would have loved them, but $350 each…youch! That’s a ticket to Europe! The quest for the big pots continues. But we had a good mooch around the nursery and we bought $200 in plants instead.

We fell in love with the planted treasure boxes, tried all the lotions and potions, dreamed of a patio full of lanterns and decided we had to have an old milk bottle container as a vase.

Then we saw this little planted treasure box…um…there’s nothing I can say about this one that isn’t going to come across as a double entendre so…moving on.

Next we drove to Fort Langley, had a lovely lunch and walked around the quaint stores. Look at this dreamy froth of clematis Armandii!

In this little antique store C fell in love with a velvet quilt and I fell in love with this artist’s naive paintings. These paintings were so charming and I loved the modern edge to them. The winter scenes were twinkly because the artists added glitter to the white snow. One day I’ll have to paint myself a little painting in a naive style.

We checked out our favorite aroma therapy store. As soon as we walked in we were offered a cup of tea while we shopped. I swear that’s the best way to keep your customers around. Look at their little tea stand. Isn’t it sweet? Plenty of vintage cups, lovely Lavender Chai Yerba Mate tea. So good we bought a small bag.

We worked our way down the street to the big antique mall. C was on the lookout for a vintage evening bag small enough to be repurposed as a wallet. (We try not to buy anything new if we can repurpose vintage.) She loved this pearly, silky, little-lace-surprise-inside number.

Here is C trying to block my view of a cabinet full of vintage Christmas baubles. Very funny C! She knows I’m addicted to these beautiful little shiny sparklies, but it’s true that the tree will topple over from the weight of my collection very, very soon.

We all loved this person’s little booth. Mom’s heart went out to it because it looked so very European. I loved the doll in the perambulator. I think I had one like it when I was a child. C thought it was creep-tastic!

So many lovely things to look at. One person’s booth was all creamy and feminine and romantic with beautiful lacy blouses and shawls, another’s had old Bay blankets, (which I also love to pieces), we found this wonderful idea: canning jars full of buttons and sewing, beads, geodes, sort of a pot-luck in a jar, and mom fell in love with the old milk delivery jugs. She remembered those from her childhood.

We stayed in the country till almost supper time. I drove us around the farms and fields and little churches, and then I drove us back to the city.

This was such a good idea.