Today, Saturday, Dec. 16th, two friends and I had lunch at my all time favorite lunch place, Maritza's on Main Street in Maple Shade. I was dropping off a painting for the small works show at Main Street Art, same Main St. as Maritza's. An old college classmate of mine, Diane Paul is proprietor and artist-in-residence. By the way, looking for a great holiday party, birthday party, or just for fun place, she has great sip and paint classes and a new addition, bleached art t-shirts! She also has a wide array of wonderful gifts.
I was dropping off the 4th in a short series of paintings of historical places in Maple Shade, the railroad station, the one-room school, and the stone silo on Collins Lane with farmhouse, and the Dairy Queen Drive-in. They are $100 each, 8 x 10, framed and ready to hang, so if you are looking for that special and unique gift for a 'Shader' or former 'Shader' drop in and have a look.
After lunch and our errand, we went to Merchantville to check out an all-hand-made health items store called Spirit to Sole Connection, 23 N. Centre St., where I sampled the tea, and home-made cookies and bought a fragrant lavender sachet for my daughter's Christmas stocking.
Next we headed over to the Railroad Station for coffee and for me to show my friends the upstairs gallery where I may try to have an Art Show for my birthday one upcoming year. I love the setting! There was an art show up and several small works at reasonable prices that would, again, make excellent gifts. You can also get lunch there, but we had already had lunch, so we settled for iced oatmeal cookies and hot drinks. I had a pumpkin spice latte' - super delicious and perfect for the late afternoon of a snowy cold day - and also a perfect day for a drive around Merchantville looking at the gorgeous Victorian homes with their snowy white skirts. Just along the railroad beside the station cafe' are several noteworthy Victorian beauties!
Merchantville is the town where I went to high school, graduating in 1963 at age 17. They no longer have a high school because Maple Shade, where I grew up, built their own high school and Merchantville lost the transfer population they needed to keep the high school open. That's too bad. It was a fine high school with dedicated and dignified teachers and a serious and hard-working student body. I learned a lot there, and in fact, became a teacher myself many years later. I always loved that town.
So if you are looking for a nice place to visit, right in your own backyard, give Merchantville a chance. There are several interesting small stores worth trying too, which I am saving for my next visit: Decotique, fine vintage at 13 N. Centre, for example. And I would like to make a return visit to Spirit to Sole connection.
There was a little Christmas shop that we passed while driving down Centre Street that I would like to visit as well.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
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