The fall show in Roundtop, Texas was made especially fun by great friends who drove 4 or 5 hours just to spend the day with us and then drove 5 or 6 hours home the same night! Curtis, Kim, and the “Queen-Lace-Spotter” Tasha, a special thanks goes out to you guys for being the kind of people that value friendship so much that you’d go above and way beyond the call-of-duty to spend just a little time with friends. We love you for that.

Now, thanks to Tasha’s great spotting skills, I came home with a boat load of vintage lace and fabrics. And thanks to Kim, some more great project ideas! Before I go any further, I also have to thank another great friend, Judy, who if not for her, the billion shipments that arrived while I was away from home might not have been there for me when I got back. Thank you Judy, you’re a lifesaver!

Other than a few fall decorations and the HEAT…whew… the fall show was pretty much the same as the spring show – crowded for miles and no way to see everything. So, after 2 days of show-shopping and a lot of driving, we needed rest. In eastern Texas, there’s this place called “The Texas Forest Country Retreat”. It’s managed by James and Jennifer Coogler. We ended up spending a couple of nights in a secluded log home in the middle of the Angelina National Forest. Two large ponds and a lot of wildlife were included with the stay. A couple of miles away from our log home, named “Beaver Creek Lodge,” was the “Saw Mill Mansion”, which is now a bed and breakfast, and Saw Mill Lake sits right behind that. James and Jennifer manage both properties. James is an awesome cook! – five course meals so good you don’t know when to stop! The second night, after dinner and returning to our log home, I said to Andy, “I am sooo FULL, how do you feel?” His reply was…”APPETITIOUSLY red-lined”. I know, I know, not a word… but now it is. And it got a lot of  use really fast!  We ate so much we could hardly move. Jennifer is James’s side-kick in the kitchen and puts the “fluff” in the operation but… she can bake! She made the best pineapple cake I’ve ever eaten. Seriously, if we would have stayed any longer… we would have had to buy larger pants!

Now… I’m under strict orders not to tell the story about a certain man, who shall remain nameless, in his cowboy hat, his underwear, a pair of shoes and a shirt not quite long enough to help him preserve his modesty… and a 450′ walk to a paddle boat. So I’m not tellin!

Home safe and sound and ready to hit the ground running. AutumnAire.com will officially open November 1st, so we’re busy photographing, writing out descriptions and getting our shipping department set up.

I’ll do a shout out on opening day, so until then, stay safe and God Bless you.

Enjoy the scenery…