NEW YORK CITY and A NUMBER OF OTHER PLACES -- Bing Crosby, Bob
Hope and Dorothy Lamour, move over. You have been together on the
road many times, logged countless miles, but you have been passed
by a 1989 silver Chrysler convertible with black top and two
passengers. The lady behind the wheel is Nansi Nelson. In the
passenger seat is her husband, Barry. And it is safe bet that
they are either on the way to, or returning from, an antiques
show.
Take the latter part of April, for instance. The couple left
their apartment in Pittsburgh at 4 am on a Wednesday, arrived in
New York in time for lunch at one of their favorite places, La
Bonne Soupe on 55th Street, where each polished off a bowl of
squash soup, a plate of creamed spinach and a couple of scoops of
ice cream bathed in hot chocolate sauce. All of that was, by the
way, washed down with a good-size pitcher of sangria. By
midafternoon Barry and Nansi were in line at the Seventh Regiment
Armory awaiting the opening of Wendy's New York Armory Antiques
Show. They were among the last to leave there at closing time,
and, "We did not get to see the entire show so we went back the
next day," Nansi said.
The week continued with a couple of shop visits in the city on
Friday, and then the Southport-Westport Antiques Show in
Connecticut on Saturday. The same thing happened there: "We did
not make it all the way around." Saturday's activities, however,
did not end with the closing of that show. There was still the
opening of Jeffrey Tillou's new shop in Litchfield, Conn., to
attend, and the silver convertible was seen traveling in that
direction along Route 8. Sunday it was a return visit to the
Southport-Westport Antiques Show to complete the rounds. "We had
hoped to get down to the show in Williamsburg, Va., on Sunday,
but a second look at Southport-Westport won out," Barry said.
Now that's your average weekend for this couple, with a few
antiques shows or antiques-related events thrown in during the
middle of the week. And it is the reason their faithful car,
sometimes loaded with a great variety of purchases, logs more
than 60,000 miles per year, at the very least.
