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• Upper Bucks Free Press • April 2016
Spring Cleaning Tips Spring cleaning has its drawbacks and its advantages. The drawbacks are obvious… nobody really likes to clean. Once the task is complete, the advantages to spring cleaning include additional storage space, discovering items that you thought you lost, and some quick cash if you work to sell some of your unwanted stuff online. In the world of art and antiques, spring cleaning is a great opportunity to review the condition of objects, repurpose items, sort out what to keep and what to sell, and reconsider a collection’s display options within your home. Here are some tips for your own spring cleaning when it comes to antiques: Don’t be too hasty to clean a painting. Many people automatically want to clean an old painting when many paintings just don’t need to be cleaned. If a painting only has minor evidence of surface dirt but no evidence of yellowing varnish, consider leaving the painting alone. Never clean a painting using soap and water as this will dry out the pigment and the canvas and lead to pigment flaking and damage over time. Glass jars and bottles require special care when cleaning. For cloudy glass jars and bottles, use equal parts of white vinegar and distilled water and wash gently. Try to avoid using any harsh chemicals or cleaning agents on your antique items. Do not submerge any glass item into standing water that is too cold or too hot as this “shock to the system” may result in cracking your antique or vintage glass
item. Don’t be overzealous when cleaning silver pieces including silver plate. Basically, as you clean or polish sterling silver or silver plate, you rub off a layer of the metal’s sheen. Try to polish silver and silver plate items like tea trays, water pitchers, and frames, no more than once or twice a year. Use appropriate white cotton cloths and recommended polish. Be gentle when polishing silver plate so you don’t rub the silver off to the point where the under metal—usually copper—is showing through the silver. The tools that you use during spring cleaning of your art or antiques are just as important as the cleaning supplies and techniques. Q-tips or cotton swabs can be very helpful to get into those tight or rough places. Cloths that do not leave textile or cotton residue behind are also the desirable cleaning choice when it comes to antiques and art. And, don’t forget to do your spring cleaning of fragile collectibles while seated at a table and when you are not tired or in a hurry. Happy Spring cleaning! Dr. Lori Verderame is an antiques appraiser, nationally syndicated columnist and author, and award-winning TV personality on Discovery’s Auction Kings internationally. With a Ph.D. from Penn State University and experience appraising 20,000 antiques every year, Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events to worldwide audiences.
Visit (888) 431-1010.
www.DrLoriV.com
or
call
Think Local. Buy Local. Be Local. Where Can I Get my UBFP?
QUAKERTOWN American Heritage FCU A-Plus Mini Market Borough Hall Beer City Caitlyn & Cody’s Diner Classic Staffing Chick Fil-A Dairy Queen Dominick’s Pizza First UCC Church Friendly Book Store Giant Markets (309/313) The Grundy House Hampton Inn Holiday Inn Express Independence Court James Michener Library JoAnne’s Frame Shop John’s Plain & Fancy Let’s Steep (Q-Mart) Liberty Thrift Store McCoole’s Red Lion Inn Moyer’s Shoes Penn Community Bank Pep Boys Service Center Quaker Cleaners Quality Inn & Suites Q’town Family Restaurant QNB Bank Quaker Cleaners Quakertown Alive! Redner’s Market
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Hicks Art Center Gallery Hosts Bucks County High School Exhibition Youthful creativity shines at the 21st Annual Bucks County High School Art Exhibition Wednesday, March 30 through Saturday, April 9 at Bucks County Community College’s Hicks Art Center Gallery. A gallery reception, including a Congressional art contest awards ceremony withRepresentative Michael Fitzpatrick, will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 3. The show features more than 200 works of art in a variety of media such as painting, drawing, photography, graphic design, stained glass, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, and jewelry. The works were submitted by art teachers from high schools throughout Bucks County. Two college faculty members have chosen the prize winners for the annual Congressional Art Competition. First-place and three honorable-mention awards are sponsored by the James A. Michener Art Museum. In addition, Bucks County
Community College’s Arts Department has sponsored awards for the best 2D and 3D works. Congressman Fitzpatrick will be joined by Lisa Hanover, director and CEO of the Michener Museum, and John Mathews, Bucks County Community College’s Dean of Arts, to present the awards in a ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday,April 3. The artwork of the first-place winner will be displayed for one year in Washington, D.C., in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol Building, along with winning works from high school students around the nation. Admission is free. The Hicks Art Center Gallery is located on the campus at 275 Swamp Road, Newtown, where there is ample free parking. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. For more information, call 215-968-8425 or visit bucks.edu/gallery.
Vasta Receives LOVE Award
Grand View Health presented the March 2016 Life of Volunteer Excellence (LOVE) Award to Jo Vasta. Vasta joined Grand View Health’s volunteer program in 2003 and has contributed more than 1,840 hours of service. She spends her volunteer hours with Family Medicine at Skyview, a Grand View Medical Practice in Souderton, providing office support. Vasta was nominated for the LOVE award because of her willingness to tackle any task that is presented to her. She is known for braving all types of weather conditions to be in the office on her assigned day. When Vasta isn’t volunteering at Skyview, she serves with the Norristown Garden Club and North Wales Area Library. For fun and leisure, Vasta enjoys cooking and spending time with her family. She has two children, Nancy Vasta and Alfred G. Vasta, MD, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She resides in North Wales.
Positive Connections
I am never surprised by the people who show up in my life. I am a true believer that we attract people in our life that give us what we need “good” or “bad”. Every encounter becomes an opportunity for us to learn about ourselves and understand what it is that we need in our relationships with others. We learn how to set limits and boundaries and to ask for what we want. We also can decide who we don’t want in our life because of how they are as people and how they make us feel not so good about ourselves. That is why I believe that every negative encounter can be a positive one if we are able to see the lessons we can learn from them. What I find interesting is the influence Facebook has on people, especially when they are viewing comments. It seems as though depending upon how you read them it can be positive or negative based upon what your relationship is with them and if your relationship is what you want it to be. It also can give you an awareness of what you need to work on with yourself personally. For instance if you are reading something and you take it personally as an attack you can look inside yourself and ask “why is this affecting me so much?” “Is there any truth to how I am feeling” or “what I am feeling about this comment?’ In most cases it really has no weight or value to who we are because we know the truth about who we are. But that is how powerful Facebook can be to our self-worth; however it allows an opportunity to assess ourselves and our relationships and understand their validity and importance in our lives. Relationships can be simple or complicated for us on any given day. However if we view
all of them as lets say worthwhile it provides for us a new way of having a connection with someone. Too often we miss what is happening in our life and the things that matter because we are running around so much with all these responsibilities that we forget the people in our life that have meaning to us. So many of my clients will tell me that it has been forever since they have seen their friends or loved ones. When I ask why it is always I just don’t have time or any number of excuses. I say excuses because sometimes I think we look for them in order to not connect with others. As much as we want to spend time with others we don’t make the time. I think this may have more to do with our level of comfort with ourselves and our life and that it is easier to just keep doing what were doing rather than getting out of our own comfort zone and being with the people in our lives that make us laugh and feel good about ourselves. How many times do I say that life is too short and how many times do you actually hear others saying it? A lot… it is imperative that we bring joy in our life as much as we can and be with people who make us shine….and even if we run into someone who puts a damper on our mood we can quickly change that around and say (not literally, out loud to yourself) “thank you for showing up… now leave because I want to experience nothing but goodness.” So be present with others, smile, laugh and by all means enjoy all your encounters with others!!! My belief is that “all persons are truly greater than they think they are.” Susan V. Brewer is a Certified Life Coach and Psychotherapist in the Upper Bucks County Area. She can be reached at 215-872-4219. Visit her website at www.balancelife4u.com.