Saturday, July 04, 2009

A Secondhand Fourth

I don't mean that headline to read as snide. Actually, it's a tribute to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, by this time the only department store that remains in our downtown. Not only did the store have a great selection of patriotic tschokes, but its windows were thoroughly decked out for the holiday.

Above, picnic gear; below, a patriotic touch added to the flamingo wheelbarrow always outside the Sal's antique boutique.

Inside the store, a variety of flags -- and a themed tshirt or two.

Neat cup, candle holder and big bread basket.

Plus a rather sober-sided, British-looking Uncle Sam.

Finally, my special pot for the Fourth -- red/white dianthus, white alyssum and blue lobelia with white eyes. Now I'm going to watch the fireworks at the resort/casino out my front windows. I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth!

Cool Links: Warren of Touch Wind came up from Tucson to visit Prescott recently and did three posts about our town you should see, especially the creekside dragon (scroll down). For a very different series of posts, visit Wasilla Alaska by 300, where photo-journalist Bill Hess details a Nalukatak (successful whale hunting celebration) in a 10-part series with wonderful pictures. Closer to home, Always an Adventure is a family blog that also includes posts about gold prospecting in the Bradshaws. And Susie of Arabia, currently on vacation in Arizona, has recovered her driving muscles and thrown off the black abaya for the duration. This just in: Rich has posted a bunch of pictures of the Fourth of July parade and Meggie has pictures of several English owls.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The vendors sure love these holidays.

Granny J said...

steve -- our downtown merchants live off the ebb & flow of tourists! With the exception of the Sal and the restaurants, there is little of interest for the locals. Apparently Northern Arizona had lots of Phoenix visitors this weekend. I hope the businesses had lots of sales; otherwise, our downtown is D*E*A*D!

Anonymous said...

The Courthouse keeps the downtown "alive" with tourists.

But, alas, the locals "always" get pushed aside for tourism, especially in "shee-shee" coastal towns on either the Left or Right Coast. (Doesn't matter.)

But, the Courthouse "is" Prescott, and I always loving taking a stroll around its perimeter!

~Anon in AV.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe some wisenheimer hasn't already posted:

"A variety of spellings exist for the English usage of the term tchotchke, e.g. tshotshke, tshatshke, tchatchke, chachke, or chochke, because there is no standardized transliteration."[Wikipedia®]

Assuming that's what you meant of course.

Granny J said...

anon av -- Unfortunately, old-fashioned downtowns are not built to house the sort of shopping experience that local folks want these days. Without our big tourist events, our downtown would wither away as has happened in most smallish cities across the country. Too bad, but that's the way of the world.

anon #2 -- mea culpa. Tchotchke has always been my downfall in the spelling department -- and it isn't in any of my dictionaries. A pity, since it's such a great word. I think I'll remember from now on.

meggie said...

Thanks for the shoutout GJ. I just love those owls, & find the photos quite magic really.

Granny J said...

meggie -- aside from the zoo,the only owls I've ever seen have been ghostly figures sitting on power lines at night.

 
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