Girls Just Gotta Have Fun--Marburger Farms

DEBORAH CROMBIE: In spite of the chaos of the last couple of months, I did get in a little road trip R&R, when I was still a little wobbly from the bang on the head. My daughter and my oldest (I mean as in since we were in third grade!) friend and I made our second annual pilgrimage to Round Top, Texas, home of two semi-annual antiques fairs that bring buyers and dealers from all over the country. Last year we went to the official Round Top fair. This year, we went for the Marburger Farms fair, a week earlier, and I think even bigger now than the Round Top fair. Check out the Marburger Instagram feed.

We stayed in Brenham, which is about halfway between Houston and Austin, at a lovely place just off the picturesque town square. The first afternoon we explored Brenham. It's the home of Bluebell Ice Cream

and a lot of cool murals.

The first thing we discovered was--you guessed it! The book shop!

An hour later, here I am with my friend Franny and my loot.

Then we discovered Brenham at night.

Seriously, it was very cool.

In a Larry McMurtry sort of way. And very, very quiet.

It was bluebonnet season, by the way, and the wildflowers were gorgeous. Here's Kayti among the bluebonnets planted beside our hotel.

The next morning, it was off to Marburger Farms! This is the first thing we saw, which doesn't look all that impressive until you realize that there are more than half a dozen of these tents, and that they are huge, and filled with stall after stall after stall of STUFF.

 Here's just one vendor.

 And a stall I discovered with English pub signs--and the vendors turned out to be fans! But I still couldn't afford a sign, even if I'd had a place to put it.

Here Kayti and I are getting photo bombed by some guy in a red shirt.

And, now, for my finds.

In the very first tent, I came across these Royal Doulton bird plates. They looked like they were hand-painted, and I adored them.

Here they are in my dining room so that you can see all four.

Here's the stamp on one plate.

And then look what I found on another!

Does that look like a signature and a date to you? 1755???? That would be amazing!! I definitely have to do some research.

And here's my other treasure

a gorgeous 1920 Arts and Crafts ceramic pot. I can't quite make out the artist's name on the tag, so am going to have to do some research on that, too.

There was lots more shopping, until we were very hot and very tired. We gave up about four, just as the thunderstorms rolled in. Back in Brenham, we had some great Mexican food, and maybe a margarita... or two. And the next morning we got up and drove back to Dallas.

Great memories, and I hope we can do it again next year! 

REDS and readers, do you have any special "getaways" in your life?