THAT MARTHA STEWART SURE HAS GOOD TASTE IN TEAPOTS!

I was bemused the other day when I ran across this picture on Martha Stewart’s website:

Dang, I thought, she sneaked into my house to borrow my pot!
This is an YiXing pot, picked up several years ago at a yard sale in San Mateo, where we used to live. The original owner said she made a trip to China right after it was opened to trade with the US, and this was the souvenir she brought back. We love this thing, which started us on our little collection of YiXing (pronounced ee-shing) pots, now up to four. It's one of the things I always look for at sales, and find so rarely. I'm guessing Martha probably paid more than two bucks for her pot. Of course, if she did sneak in to borrow mine, she also sneaked it back again. I'm betting Edward helped.
He's a very helpful boy. This is how he helps with the laundry.

Went garaging Saturday with two friends, Marcia and Diane, and we had a ball. Everyone found good stuff—Marcia bought a set of Mills Brothers albums and a lovely silver chocolate pot set; Diane scored big time with a nice end table for her living room, purse, skirt from France (more on that), framed picture…I can't even remember all she got. I came home with four new things; I'm happy to report that I was better at remembering my resolution not to buy every good deal this year. And thinking of the things I almost bought and didn’t…they were good things, but I'm just as glad I left them. Whew—no regrets!

The first sale was two-in-one—a nice young couple had their wares set up on the double driveway, and an older lady (perhaps the mother of one of them) was sitting in a chair on the lawn guarding a collection of clothing spread out on a sheet. She was a hoot—bright red dyed hair, rhinestone sunglasses—but perhaps not as ready to part with her wardrobe as she needed to be. Diane overheard her arguing with a customer about the price of a shirt. “Why, I paid $150 for that!” she exclaimed. Our reaction was 1) why would anyone pay $150 for a shirt, and 2) it's a yard sale!

We encountered the other end of the spectrum a few stops later. Not only were these people ready to part with their cast off clothing, they were ready to party with them as well. When we walked up, the husband of the original owner of this skirt was showing off the wares. In fact I think he would have modeled every piece of clothing on the driveway with the slightest bit of encouragement.
He was quite happy to pose for a picture, which I said was SO going in my blog. The paint-spattered boots are the perfect accessory, don’t you think?

After our photo session he draped the skirt over the side mirror on the truck parked in the drive. I sidled over to look at it—gorgeous light weight wool classic pleated skirt from France. Sidled back over to Diane and told her to take a look, seemed to be about her size. Price was a dollar—or if she would also take the guy who modeled it, they’d pay her twenty bucks. The two ladies having the sale swore he is a really, really nice guy. Diane, having a really nice guy at her house already, declined the offer (we didn’t have room for him in the car anyway). He professed disappointment both at not getting a new home and the loss of his pleated skirt, so I picked up another skirt from the pile on the driveway and handed it to him. He promptly pulled it on and began to dance around. As we left, they called out to come back soon. Not a chance! we called back, but we all waved to each other as we drove away.

I spent $4.00, but got twenty five cents back. The last thing I found was this box:


It's quite dirty, but I'm picturing it cleaned up and lined with some interesting cloth. When open, the lid looks like a little stage; maybe I can make it into some kind of art piece.
There was some random junk inside, including a handwritten note that says Pure Play (I'm sure that’s just red ink on it…) some Mardi Gras necklaces, and a quarter.
I have found money a couple of times while garaging, but I don’t think I ever bought something with money in it before. And yes, it's only a quarter, but remember, my husband’s Land's End cashmere sweater cost a quarter!

Also found another pair of embroidered pillow cases. These look like Grandma finished them and they were put away and never used, but rest assured they will be used now!


I was able to replace my hummingbird feeder, which recently bit the dust. We have quite a few hummers year round, and I've missed feeding them. Unlike buying a feeder in a store, this one came with handwritten instructions for making your own hummer food, rather than advertising pre-mixed sugar water.
I love hummers, and they do love to be fed. Last summer one day the feeder was empty, and a hummer kept flying back and forth from right in front of my face over to the feeder. You could practically see her hands on her little hips and her foot tapping impatiently. Come on, get the danged feeder filled!

I absolutely adore this piece, a two-inch high silver cat. Made by Dansk, wonderfully abstract—and heavy. Can't be solid silver, it weighs almost half a pound! It was pretty tarnished, so after taking the before picture…
…I went looking for the silver polish. Which is lost. How in the world did we lose a tin of silver polish from under the sink? Undeterred, I used my backup silver polish: toothpaste. Yes, my dears, it does a dandy job removing tarnish

and your shiny object smells pleasantly minty afterward as well!