Fall is [not] in the air; our shop is in the mood.

I'm never one for thinking about seasons too early. It nearly makes me throw up when I see the first vestiges of Christmas merch in Costco on a hot July day. Or Halloween stuff in August, for that matter. Yet, as shop owners, we have to think far ahead, and normal operating procedure is to put your stuff out early. As early as you can; if you don't – goes conventional wisdom – people will buy it all first at the shops that do put it out asap. I have no problem ordering, thinking, and planning early, after all, we do most of our holiday buying in January, mere weeks after Christmas of the year before.

Well, it is officially autumn, and we've got our whole fall look going at Pomegranate, even if it is a balmy 82º around here. Our Autumn Open House is this Saturday from 10-5, and while we'll be serving a number of tasty treats, we've decided to nix the hot cider in favor of ice cold lemonade. To drink hot cider properly, you've got to also go outside in a warm woolly jacket and crunch around on some leaves. Not that anyone is complaining about 82 degrees! It's fabulous, but it doesn't feel like Halloween is nearby.

Come in for a little shot of fall anyway. You'll appreciate our lovely autumnal table runners and pumpkins and scarves and cute halloween goodies when the weather does turn...

The hunter deer

This little piece of perfect kitsch (ca. 1950s?) really cracked us up... a one-of-a-kind masterpiece now available at Pomegranate.

{our own little} Little Shop of Horrors

As shop owners, we don't treat ourselves to too many date nights (any of the following reasons will do: lack of time, money, energy...). So it was an extra-extra special occasion the other night to go out and see "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Tower Theater. Whooeeee! We even had a glass of wine and some popcorn. I wore heels (sort of) with my jeans! Put on some lip gloss, too. [I think we need to get out more often.]

Anyway, it was a great production, and ends tomorrow night, so recommend you get tickets, quick, and treat yourself to a fun evening. You can do it all online, with no service fees. We were so impressed with the cast (good actors all, with pitch-perfect voices), the puppeteering, the set, the band. They got an instant standing-O from all of us at the end.

Since then we've been thinking about what little monster we could have in our shop to attract so much attention. It's Mollie the shop dog! She's not a man-eater (quite the opposite), but she does look like she swallowed a basketball (poor thing has a big fatty tumor on her side). Or maybe it's the full-size halloween ghoul Robert created. He stuck Mr. Hideous on one of our benches in the ice house building, and every time I go in there, I shriek when I see him. Not very ha-ha funny.

Shine or Rain: French Flea Market Sat., Sept 18

Let's not believe the weather guys and just assume it will be sunny-ish tomorrow for our French Flea Market at Pomegranate – the last flea of the season and a really, really good one. We have some of our favorite vendors coming, including Tess with her fabulous beachy painted vintage furniture and Michelle with lots and lots of cool vintage repurposed French objets d'art and antiques. Shannon will be showing her wonderful totes she makes out of vintage fabrics and leather bridles. Gina is coming with more antiques and her great candles she creates using vintage vessels. Pam from Les Bloom has been busy with a whole new collection of fall plants, wreaths, arrangements and garden décor for our flea market. Can't wait to see the new hand-knitted and felted cupcakes, flower pins and wallets by Amy. Some of our new people are bringing wonderful antiques, furniture, artwork, prints, lamps... There's transferware and gorgeous vintage goodies from a new vendor who had a lovely antique store in Chicago. And so much more.

Come hungry: A Crêpe Affair will be serving up fresh, gourmet crêpes all day, for the full French shopping and eating experience!

It's Bend's most fabulous flea market, and you'll sob in your champagne if you miss this one. It's Saturday from 10-4 (shop open until 5:30), and if it does sprinkle a bit, you'll be under all the canopies, so no worries there. By the way, the shop is full of new fall merchandise, so give yourself time for a little twirl around inside. See you tomorrow!

Get ready for the French Flea Market at Pomegranate: this Saturday, Sept. 18

Ready for a flea market fix? Here it comes, this Saturday, Sept. 18, in the gardens at Pomegranate, come rain* or come shine. It's the last one of the season, so get your mad money together, clear the decks and the calendar, and get ready to make a dash for Pomegranate. We have so many great vendors coming for this one (as always!) -- all hand-picked by us because they bring wonderful things at fabulous prices. There's cool, funky vintage furnishings and fashion, lovely antiques, hand-crafted goods from local artisans, florals, refurbished and repurposed accessories and objets d'art... and fresh, gourmet crepes served up all day by A Crepe Affair (sweet or savory, they are delicious!).

Feast your eyes on some pictures of last month's French Flea. Yummy.

*rain: not gonna happen, and if it does, we'll all stay dry under the canopies

Good uses for your favorite heirlooms

Some of us have closets full of fine china and fancy serving pieces we never use. Not us. We've pared down all those bits and pieces to just the things we really love and use, and have found new uses for some of it. We were happy to be quoted so extensively on the subject in this article that appeared in the Bulletin last week.

What do you do with all your old china and silver? Use it? Store it? Dust the cobwebs off once a year and intend to use it for Thanksgiving (but end up grabbing your everyday plates anyway)?

Mom's Fun Center... on the way to Sun Mountain Fun Center

Looks like a nice day today, but probably not as toasty as everyone would like. Great day to bring the kids to the Sun Mountain Fun Center and have a little bumper car adventure, perfect your mad mini golf skills, or bat a few balls around.

Mom might like to escape to her favorite little camp right next door: Pomegranate. We're full of new goodies, and open today from 10:30-5:30. Come have a picnic in our garden at our new picnic table, browse our three historic buildings, and enjoy a perfect day off. On River Mall Avenue just behind Macy's.

Euro tea towels... and the best little café curtains I didn't have to make

Tea towels are a little obsession of mine. Like totes/handbags, you can't have too many. When they're brand new, I use them on our table or island counter to set up appetizers or glassware/bar station. Once someone spills wine or googs artichoke dip on them, they go into the wash and become nice dishtowels. I like to have one good one hanging on the oven door, too.

So I was thrilled to find these lovely European tea towels for Pomegranate. They're nicely oversized, beautifully designed, and made of thick, soft cotton. They make a great hostess gift, and also can be the easiest café curtains you never made. Photo above shows our funny little table on the front porch of the shop. We store display pieces, etc. underneath it, and I hated seeing boxes and stuff piled up underneath it. So I did the French thing and attached a little café curtain. The whole thing took maybe ten minutes. Bought a cheapy tension rod and curtain clips at Shopko; folded three black & white tea towels to hit just above the floor; clipped them on the rings, and voilà – my cute curtain treatment. You could do this for a window, console table... any place that needs a little cover.

I personally love the hot pink and orange "Flores del Sol" towels, and black & white fleur tea towels (they can go very modern, especially with granite countertops), but the ones that have been a big hit are the bees, on a pale yellow background, made in Holland. You'll just have to come see them...