IT'S FALL

It's a commonly held belief that we do not have weather in Southern California. This is not exactly true, though for the most part our weather is benign (not much in the way of thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards...hmmm, it's sounding pretty good!). However, we do have seasons and while they are subtler than in many places you can definitely tell that fall has arrived. It's not so much a matter of temperature as of light—the angle and quality of sunlight, the shorter days, the sound of wind in the bamboo in my yard, all tell me that fall is here just as much as leaves turning red did in my Midwestern youth.

Another harbinger of fall is most likely peculiar to myself.

For the first time in months I had on long sleeves when I left the house Saturday to go garaging.

Didn’t leave my sweater on all morning, but it felt odd to start out in it. However, I have so many sweaters (thanks to thrifty shopping on people’s driveways over the years) that I'm always glad to have an opportunity to give the little darlings an outing.

As it has been the past couple of weeks, the pickings were slim once more. Even so, I kept reminding myself of my determination not to take things home that I won't use. I almost bought some of those socks that you make sock monkeys with, but stopped myself just before I handed over my fifty cents. I've always harbored a secret desire for a sock monkey, but it's more a “those are so darned cute” feeling than “I gotta get me one of these.” So I resisted, and when I got back to the car I made a note on my pad of addresses congratulating myself for being strong.

I did buy a couple of dresses to make over, and actually did the work today! I think they came out rather cute, but after several hours at the sewing machine I'm no longer sure. Just tired of sewing. One project started with this cute little dress and ended with this apron.

The other was I think a child’s pinafore style dress, and it's been apronized as well.


One sale I stopped at was in the parking lot of a church. The too-small tables piled high with clothing had a signs that said fifty cents, so I rummaged through and found three items:
A wool sweater that felted beautifully.

A pair of Vikki Vi gauchos in my size—they are perfect with that long black shirt I got back in July.


A wonderful shirt of heavy Tencel (in my size—woo hoo!) embroidered with flowers and little Japanese sandals. I'm thinking if this isn’t perfectly comfortable, I may use the fabric for another pair of Mary Janes…


Anyway, I took my three items up to pay for them, pulling out money while I stood in line. When it was my turn I handed the young woman a dollar and tried to give her two quarters, and was confused when she started to give me change. “Everything’s a quarter,” she told me. Even though the table said fifty cents? Yes. So I told her to keep the change. Sometimes you just have to live large, you know?

I spent a total of $6.25, and along with the items above came home with these 4 clear glass vases, or maybe they’re candle holders.

I was reading online recently about gluing stuff like this together to make yard art; you can see some examples on this page of photos (along with some other interesting pics!). Still trying to figure out how to secure the stack in the ground. Suggestions welcome!

I also picked up this fabbo jacket that I hope to sell.

I'm sure it's never been worn—absolutely pristine (well, except for the stray cat hairs that Noll kindly shared). It was laying on the ground and I didn’t see it until another woman picked it up to consider. I tried my Jedi mind powers—you don’t want that, put it down, you really don’t want that. She kept looking at it. (Okay, I never completed my Jedi training.) I kept checking out other useless stuff nearby, ready to pounce if she put it down. She hemmed and hawed. She asked the seller for the price again. Finally I broke. With a big smile I told her, “If you decide you don’t want that I'll take it.” She dithered some more, oblivious to the sound of my teeth grinding together. At last she sighed and said, “I keep buying things and never wearing them.” And handed me the jacket.

Maybe she’ll see it on eBay when I get it listed and decide she really needs it after all.