April Dowd

What's Aunt Merri's Trunk worth?

Our daughter, like most little girls, had a favorite toy. One Easter morning she got up and found a wonderful basket filled with candy and toys. One of the toys, a stuffed animal, was an eight inch, pink and white...

Chocolate Barn items on the block

My husband and I used to drive on weekends to learn the area when we first moved to New York's Capital Region more than 30 years ago.Route 7 seemed a lovely trip, passing all the antique shops, the...

Quilts of many colors

My parents had a cabin about a half-hour from where we lived. It was their getaway place and we spent most of the summer and some winter weekends there.The cabin was quite large with a wraparound screened-in...

Cocktail time remembered

My husband began collecting cocktail shakers some years ago. He remembered the parties at his childhood home on Long Island, and wanted to bring some of the elegance into our home.For the holidays thereafter, he received as many types...

Riding the dream

Everyone has their favorite memory or memories of childhood. One of mine is a lovely carousel in a small, modest park in my hometown.I was very young when my parents would take me to this park to ride the...

Alice's wonderland back in style

Collectors, grab your running shoes and start scouring flea markets, antique and collectables shops for Alice in Wonderland memorabilia."Alice in Wonderland," the movie, opened here in Albany, NY, across the nation and Canada March 5th to a...

Schenectady: City of lights and old dreams

Flea markets can be so much fun. They are another way to “go green,” by purchasing items you remember as a child such as the types of mugs you drank cocoa from on Saturday mornings while watching Mighty...

Girls' best friends on sale in Boston

BOSTON, MA -- When Marilyn Monroe sang "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" in the 1953 movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," she echoed the sentiments of many a woman.There is something almost magical about receiving a...

Visiting the home of Edna St. Vincent Millay

AUSTERLITZ, NY -- Like many people, I've always had a fondness for historic houses. One of my all-time favorites is, ... well, everything in Colonial Williamsburg, VA, a whole town at its historic best.But, closer to home in the...

Seeking Re/Dress

BROOKLYN, NY -- Special occasions can create a lot of stress. Most of us want to look our best so we check our closets for what we are going to wear. We push the jeans aside. Hanger after hanger is checked...

Currently in Los Angeles