Ch..ch.. changes - inevitable

Spent a lovely (but hot) day yesterday with my dear friends, the Smith Sisters - better known as Sandy & Wanda. We had heard that the Williamsburg Pottery had undergone a radical change and wanted to check out the new place. Way back when I was a teenager, the Pottery was a wonderful place for my friends to go and shop for bargains. Back then (late 60's) it was a ramshackle collection of buildings (often tin roofed warehouse type places) where you could find anything from pottery and lawn ornaments to quality West Virginia crystal stemware and for less. It continued to be a great bargain place, at least during the 70's but gradually the bargains became less substantial. I think it was in the early 80's when it started being taken over by outlet stores. Anyway, we went to see what the new Pottery was like and what goodies we might find. the new buildings are pretty. It's laid out nicely with lots of paved parking spaces, which is a big change from the old Pottery where lots were often unpaved and you could get bogged down if it rained. The first building we went into housed pottery, mostly pots for plants and plants too. Nothing inexpensive and there was lots of free space. Other buildings contained "gifts" - mostly signs, small pillows with slogans, cutesy photo frames, some bed linens. Elsewhere there were multiple areas featuring various lotions, soaps, and the like. All specialty lines and no bargains. In fact, I can get better prices on similar items locally. I did pick up a chunky bar of lemon verbena soap which is a fragrance I don't often see. I'm hoping it's really hard milled and will last 'cause it was $6! Picture framing was available but nothing special and prices no less expensive than you can find at Michael's or AC Moore. There is a shop that has international food products and that was fun to look at even though locally we have a couple places that carry some of what I saw. We were especially interested in the tea section as Sandy & I both love teas but we didn't see much of interest. She did get a white peach tea by a well known company to try. We rounded up a couple cold fruit drinks (sparkling pink limonade from France for me) and a box of Walker's Lemon shortbread thins to nibble on. After the disappointment of the Pottery, we headed down to the Villiage Shoppes at KingsMill where we can usually find some goodies. A lot of those shops have closed up. Two we frequent, Savy Home & Garden and High Cotton are getting ready to move because they just aren't getting enough business there. Sandy found a couple things at Savy like some nice beads that were on sale. At High Cotton, we found a bundle of linen napkins on sale to be used in crazy quilting, some teardrop shaped pearl buttons, some a yard of very delicate lace,a little napkin (?) of 2 blues in batiste with embroidered chickens. Wanda loves anything chicken and is working on a chicken themed quilt. I picked up the little napkin for her to embroider and use as a quilt label. The best part of visiting the Shoppes at Kingsmill was finding Discover Teas. That was so much fun. One of the owners, Kenneth (forgive me sir for not having your card at hand and having to resort to the use of your first name), took us for a tour of the shop, pointing out what was available. He was so warm and friendly, he made our visit a treat. We started with complimentary sample of an iced mango tea (yummy and refreshing),were introduced to the Sit & Sniff table where you can sit down and open little sample tins of the various teas and become beguiled by the delightful aromas. We learned that Discover Teas offers a variety of educational classes to acquaint people with the health benefits of tea drinking. There's a tea lounge where you and friends can sit and socialize while you sip. Lots of tea equipment and oh so many loose leaf teas! Discover Teas will even do custom blends for you. How cool is that? I cam home with one of those silicone steepers I've been wanting, apricot/peach tea (one of my favs) and a new tea to try called Kama Sutra Chai. Can't wait to try that one as it has so many good things in it. Check them out here: http://www.discoverteas.com/ We also discovered a little antique shop called Plum Pudding (cute name!) where I found a miniature tea pot for my collection and an elephant mug for a friend who collects elephants. Wanda found a cool desk lamp to go by her computer. Can't remember what Sandy got. Tried to visit the Antique Mall at Williamsburg which has over 400 vendors but it was going to close in 20 minutes. Sadly, almost everything in the area closes at 5 or 6pm. We still had a few more shopping hours in us before we collapsed but had to give it up, part and head back home.