second hand Rose or Deb?

Well This morning on the today Show they were talking about shopping second hand, these days it seems to be fashionable to shop in thrift stores. I have been doing second hand since a child. I would search the attic as a pre teen for my Mom's old dresses and would cut them off making them into mini dresses and add lace and a new belt and have myself a new outfit from something old. I don't recall my Mom encouraging me to do this ,where I got it from is beyond me. Back in 1969/70 ,we had our first Frenchy's used clothing store here in Liverpool. It was behind what was then the Dominion grocery Store and is where Curves Gym is today. Myself and the many girl's from the local Fish Plant were the only people shopping there, I wore a lot of Turtle Necks back then and had one in every color and can remember shopping and smelling the fresh fish smell from the girls on their breaks with their hair nets and rubber boots still on. Over the years I continued shopping second hand and when I lived in Lunenburg in 1974 we didn't have a Frenchy's but the Anglican Church ran a little second hand store ( The Economy Nook)down by the Bluenose Lodge and I believe it has since been torn down .Everything in there was 10 cents not much more, one day while out on my bike I went in and low and behold there was a muskrat full length fur coat for $5.00 ,wow!!!I simply had to have it, my bike back then was nothing like my bike today, my bike today has a wicker basket as well as saddle bags, my bike back then was a 12 speed ,no where to carry anything but a water bottle. Not wanting to leave this great find ,I bought it,I forgot to mention, it was in July when I found this treasure, so here I am on my bike in July with a full length Muskrat coat on and anyone who knows Lunenburg knows very well there are a lot of hills and I lived at the end of Pelham Street. I made it home, took a bit longer and I must have lost a few pounds of sweat that day ,as well I bet I got a lot of looks...but I had a great coat, I might add to wear that following Winter with my steal toed work boots, I was a forklift driver ,shipper and receiver at ABCO,another story to yet be told:-). So this has been in style ,shopping second hand for me ,for ever. Here in this picture of Chuck and I on our Wedding day in 1983 take notice of my lovely cream color lace wedding dress and Chuck looking so dashing in his Tux, so handsome we were back then and still today because of our bad eye sight in our later years.:-) I remember while Chuck was away at Sea and I was home planning our Wedding , going everywhere and bringing home dresses ,trying to decide just what I wanted and finding nothing I liked, getting very frustrated ,one day after returning three dresses which simply would not work for me, being so unhappy with all I tried on. That one day I went home and sat in deep thought ,I had days before picked up a wonderful pink satin curtain and I had two Antique Cream color lace curtains planned for our bedroom window. I held up the Satin and put the lace over it and a bright light came on in my head, there was my dress. I made the pink satin into a spaghetti strapped under dress/slip and not wanting to destroy the lace curtain because I wanted to return it to my window after the wedding, I designed the outer lace dress to look like a lace jacket over a lace dress, folding both lace curtains over to the front and back , tacked them together at the shoulders and cut down the front of the one front curtain and basted the raw edges , I wore my Mom's wedding Amethyst necklace ,given to her on her wedding Day by my Dad and bought my shoes along with Chuck's shoes at Bills Store in Mahone bay for under $20.00 for the two pair, and there is a follow up story I will share about Chuck's shoes, so as of right now ,besides time ,my wedding outfit has cost me not quite $9.00. After the wedding I took the lace curtain dress apart and hung it in our first home. Yes I did, all I have left are the pictures and pink Satin under dress,which no longer fits me,what should I make from it?

Now for Chuck's shoe story. Remember I got our shoes at Bill's Store and they were on sale, we were married by our Dear Friend and morning coffee buddy Rev. Bruce Howe who a few years just after us moving away lost his Wife to Cancer and he moved with his three girls to Ontario where last we heard he rose very high in the Anglican Church and became a Bishop. Our car streamers were made from scraps of Spinnaker cloth which back then,not today I am sure were being thrown out from the nearby sail making loft. Our homemade invitations ,read in lieu of gift bring food and drink. Our flowers were picked by us from a field outside our rented house down by the Ocean. Back to the shoes, Chuck remember was at Sea while I was home making wedding plans and when he got home ,he and I headed again to the second hand stores to find him a suit, we found a great Tuxedo for $40.00 from the Salvation Army thrift store in Halifax,which we did think it was a lot back then, but so worth every dollar. So Chuck was all set to go, the day of the wedding he got ready at our Best Mans house .We went ahead with the ceremony and Bruce led us to the Alter to kneel as he wrapped our hands with a ceremonial cloth and while there we heard a little sneaker from the congregation. Come to find out later ,Chuck still had the international orange SALE sticker $9.99 on the bottom of his shoes, his Father did photograph it and he has since passed away and we never did get a copy of that picture . We laughed about that for years and still are laughing today, it must have looked like I payed $9.99 for Chuck and him being such a good cook and all, I really lucked out,you might call him the "Catch of the day" . Our homemade punch for the wedding was made in clean white buckets from the Sauerkraut factory down the road and we covered them with pretty fabric and ribbon, as folk's came to our home for the reception they would bring a pint or so and add it to the "with punch" we had store bought flowers brought to us from Ivan ,"Cosby's Garden center". Our friend's brought their Kid's and we had a huge slumber Party well into the morning ,we ended up sleeping in the back of our friend's car after we gave them and the Kid's our room . We were suppose to have left for Yarmouth the night of the wedding and catch the ferry the next day for Bar Harbor but we were having such a fun time we ended up staying ,like I said in the back of our friend's car where they were going to sleep, well while we were getting ready for bed ,they ,everyone who was there had a bit of fun which would be at our expense later, like the Princess and the Pea ? Chuck and I slept on a dog chain which was hidden under the very thin mattress in the back of their car. We got in our big Yellow truck the next day and headed for Yarmouth smelling fish the whole way and actually days ,many days later and while getting parked lower deck in the confined ferry headed for Bar Harbor we kept smelling fish,looking all around for a fish truck, guess what? yup, we found out way after the fact that indeed the fish smell was coming from under our truck hood, we found fish bones weeks later. Our dear friend's put fresh fish somewhere under the hood of our truck,here we were looking at everyone else thinking they smelled fishy and the whole time it was us :-)

So when it comes to second hand Rose's, well I must be one.

Adding just a bit more about St. John's Anglican Church in Lunenburg, the one that was so sadly almost burnt to the ground some years back now. I sang in the Church Choir back then ,the whole time I was pageant with Clay ,I remember I would drive to Choir practice Friday nights while listening to Blue Grass on the car radio and then go into Choir practice and when Clay would hear the pump organ or should I say he must have felt it as well for he would turn and move and dance around inside me, today he enjoys listening to "Johnie Cash" that's our Boy:-) Johnie Cash?

I made a banner for the Church from all recycled materials ,which I was so proud to see hanging on those wonderful walls , I will try and find a picture of it ,I assume the banner was lost in the fire. We were living in Charleston on the farm when we took Clay back to St. John's to be Baptised,back to the place where we sang and were married .There is a picture of Clay and I up in the Choir dressing room with all the Choir Girl's that day . We lost his "Binky" going into the Church and Rev .Bruce had to stick his pinkie in Clay's mouth to stop him from crying during the Ceremony, found the "Binky" later under the car seat. Leave it to us, never boring.

So when this beautiful Church was almost destroyed ,we were along with so ,so many People ,heart broken. Today it is rebuilt and a Blessing for that..

Above is the Church banner, I had to scan and upload it..so small but will give you an idea of how it looked and maybe someone out there reading this may remember seeing it,from back then. .