Antique-ing

Imagine: getting up every single day for fifty years to hang out with old stuff: dishes, postcards, clocks, stuffed animals, silver, and crocheted tablecloths.

Charlott, owner of Charlott's Antiques on Austin Highway, has been running that store since she was 33--50 years ago--and says she loves every day of it.

Oscar and Mary were regulars there, I could tell. "I just love spending hours here and looking at things that remind me of my mother and grandmother," she said.  "Everything in here is a blessing that way."

Oscar was a character.  Before he introduced me to his "better half," he spent half an hour giving me ideas for what to do with the chicken coop I'm looking at for a coffee table. "Paint the floor green and fill it up with decorations," he said.  "Hens and roosters and eggs, things like that.  Put a glass top on it and some legs and it will be a real conversation piece."

Mary--with her radiant face and perfect skin--had trouble navigating the aisles, but when we talked, she lit up telling me about how much she loves antique-ing.