February 25, 2010

We have a bright and sunny day here at the lake today.  It was quite a welcome site to see our good old friend the sun today as I think he took some vacation time off and went south for winter.  There is still plenty of the white stuff on the ground and I can’t complain about that as it is winter after all.  I heard the other day that this is one of the few times in recorded history that all 50 states have measurable snow fall somewhere on the ground at the same time.  So much for global warming.  It has been a wild ride this month with many many issues that seemed to want to keep us from getting The Treasure Map out on time.  But here it is and I am looking forward to this weekend and to taking a good long hike in the woods.  We are suppose to get more snow so it should be a very scenic day.  I’ll bring my binoculars as the eagles, hawks and our usual thousands of snow and blue geese are in every corner of the park.  I love to watch the eagles fishing off of the ice in the early mornings.
I’m happy to announce that we have seen a few more stores opening up in the area.  A couple of them choose wisely and have placed ads with us as well as a couple of existing stores have come in too.  There is a new antique store in Galesburg being opened by Hawthorn Center and in Poplar Grove we have Rags to Vintage new and Second Hand Rose moving.  In Winfield there is Village Square and Up Stairs Down Stairs in Hampshire has come back around.  Junk Warehouse in Barrington IL, in Normal we have the Bronze Giraffe and Dixon has organized a page for the local shops.  If you want to organize a page for your town, let us know and we can try and help you out.  It’s a great way to bring in traffic to your show and to show people what else your town has to offer.  Oregon has a couple of show coming up and if you like glass, you have to check out the Antique American Glass Show in Northlake IL.  It seems like every time I go to hit the road and check out these new stores, the weather has turned bad or we have last minute urgent issues come up at work.  So if you get there before I do, send me a note or an e-mail and let me know how you liked the store. What you liked best or found to be unique. (thetreasuremap@att.net).  Or if you have a favorite haunt or even stumble across a great find, I’d love to hear about it.  Go ahead, make me jealous.

August 28, 2009

Hey there treasure seekers.

Here are a few of the upcoming events.  Just in case you are looking for more to do while you are out and about looking for those special items.

Carlyle IL: Our First Harvest Thyme Festival is Saturday Aug 29th and Sunday Aug 30th. Sponsored by A Tisket A  and the City of Carlyle.  It is in the Carlyle City Park and starts at 9:00am and runs into the evening as it finishes up with a movie in the park at dusk.  There is even an icecream eating contest.

Morris IL: French Country Market at Canal and Port, Sept 12th from 5pm to 10pm ( yes it promises to be a bewitching evening under the stars and also 0n October 10th from 8am – 2pm.

Morris also had their Log Home Festival Sept 25 & 26 (see page 17 of The Treasure Map for more details) 815-942-5774

Genoa IL has their Open Air Markets going on Saturdays Sept 26th and October 24th.  It is downtown from 9am to 2pm with antiques, crafts and fresh produce as well as second hand and new items for sale. 815-784-6961

Elkhorn WI has their Flea Market on Sept 27th at the Walworth Co. Fairgrounds. 414-525-0820

Brodhead WI host a Flea Market and Farmers Market on Oct 10th from 8:00-4:00 at Sugar River Mall. Call 608-897-2001 or see page 5 of the September issue of The Treasure Map.

Have a great day and be sure to tell them you saw it on The Treasure Map web site.

August 3, 2009

 

Family is a wonderful thing. This weekend we had many (eighteen I believe) of my family come out to the lake for what seems to be evolving into an annual event. A great time of camping, fishing, swimming and of course sailing was had by all. Nathan, my 4 year old nephew was a hit. He is so much like my younger brother Mike that it’s a little, or a lot, scary. He just wanted to fish, fish and fish. And of course we all know that 4 year olds have great patience. The first time out fishing, he just could not wait for everyone to get going so he promptly got his poll and started to put the bare hook in the water. (After he was asked to wait). So he says “I’m not fishing, I’m just pretending to fish”. Well, next thing you know he caught a bluegill with a bare hook. He was quite excited and proud of himself. So we finally got out on the water and I had rigged a pole up with one of those special double hook systems that the locals like to use. As soon as the boat stopped he picked up the closest pole (the one with two hooks) and cast away. First cast he pulls in two fish at one time! I don’t know about the rest of you, but It’s hard to compete with a 4 year old who can out fish you like that!

It was great catching up with siblings and what is going on in their lives. We make the attempt of keeping in touch throughout the year utilizing todays technology. We use the internet, with e-mails, instant messaging, face book, blogs, instant messaging and such. Or our cell phones with its text messages, twitter and so forth. But there is no substitute for one on one contact and face to face conversation.

It is much the same in our business lives too. We would be amiss if we did not utilize todays technology to help promote and sell the wares of our businesses. I know that many of you feel the same way too as I have recently received photos of items that I collect. With these in hand I now know it is worth the trip to drive several hours to check out first hand what I am hunting for. So as consumers, I urge you to check out the websites of the shops you find in The Treasure Map or on www.thetreasuremap.net and use that to help you plan your trips. As a store owner, you need to put your best electronic footprint forward to help the consumers in making these decisions thus amplifying the enjoyment of their visits.

Each week our website seems to grow with new stores and locations wanting links to their web pages. It’s great to see so many people using the web to help promote their businesses and to help locate the collectibles they are on the hunt for. As with our families we need to keep in touch with our customers until we can get together for that one on one time and face to face connection that is so important. There is just no substitute for walking into a well stocked store and the fun and enjoyment of finding that one special item tucked back in the corner that you just can’t live without. Or the interaction you get from the store owner who is glad to tell you how they came about your new find and if you are lucky, some of the history that goes with it.

Yes we live in a wonderful time. One where we can enjoy the benefits and the convinces of todays electronic age and can use them to help us to remember and appreciate the past that has helped to bring us so far.

Until next time, www.thetreasuremap.net

God bless and jibe ho!

Joe Bartman

June 29, 2009

         I know that there are a few of you that the first thing you do with your new Treasure Map is to
open up  this page and read my monthly log.  Not because I think that it is so fantastic or anything, but several of you have told me so.  Yes you know who you are.  Well that would be the only way you haven’t yet seen us promoting our web site.  www.thetreasuremap.net   Yes we have been promoting the snot out of it. By the time this comes out it should be up and running and I wanted to be sure you had the chance to see it.  The web site isn’t new, just rebuilt again.  We actually hosted our first web site back in 1992 (before it was just another part of running a business) and have had several versions and upgrades since then.    Here I thought we were being right on top of technology when one of my nephews informed me that I should come into the 21st century.  I had to admit he was right. This time one of our newest and greatest items is The Treasure Blog.  Yes we added a blog section to the web site. (we actually had to throw out the old site and start over).  Now we can blog to our hearts content. Just look for the link.  This is still new to me so I’m looking for your ideas and help with subject matters and such.  If you want to talk antiques – lets blog about it.  If you want to talk about new stores opening up, so be it, or maybe you have a special event going on in you store or town.  Go for it and we will see how things work out from there. 

            Now if your feeling the pressure to join the 21st century too, it’s ok, we can do it together. We can host you on our site and make it look just like you have your own and have been doing it for years.  Sort of like a new millennium self help group.  Maybe your one of those who are right on top of things and have a great site up and running.  That’s fantastic. I would love to link our sites together and bring more traffic to them both.  Either way we need to use the Internet to our best advantage and get the next generation to shop your stores too.  Then they too can see that nothing beats being able to actually hold and look at an antique or a collectible before they buy it.  Give us a call or send us an e-mail and we will see what we can do to help.

            This week at the lake it was our annual Jr Sailing Camp.  We had 39 kids ranging from 8 to 16 years of age running around learning how to sail.  Almost 1/2 of them were here for the first time.  What a hoot.  It looks like a bunch of bath tubs floating around the harbor in organized chaos.  We call them the harbor mice.  It’s one of cutest things ever. It’s kind of like herding butterflies.  As with most of the rest of you, we had LOTS and LOTS of rain.  The kids all stayed at the camp grounds and had to use brooms to sweep the water out of the tents!  They didn’t need pajamas for bed, just swim suits.  Glad I was high and dry in the house.  The heat index was in the 90’s yesterday and it seems the boats kept accidently flipping over into the water.  I’m sure that was just a coincidence.  I have been hard at printing The Treasure Map and missed all the fun this year.  But I have a funny story to tell.  Our jr instructor was at the end of the dock trying to teach the 8 year olds how to tack (turn into the wind) and one of them kept flipping over into the water and our instructor could not figure out what he was doing wrong.  Well as I watched it became clear what was wrong.  The kid was more afraid of tacking than flipping over.  Every time the instructor turned to look at another student, this one would purposely flip the boat so he did not have to tack.  It was quite a site to watch. 

            And so it goes in life.  Many a times I have caught myself doing something that did not work just because it was easier than learning how to change course.  So if starting a web site is like learning how to tack, it’s ok.  We can help keep you from flipping the boat over. We’ll I’m at the end of this line so it’s time to change course.  Until next time, “jibe ho”