BIRTHDAY HATS, WOODEN SHOES, AND CREWEL WALLABIES

I've always found that asking folks having yard sales if they’re having fun yet is a great conversation starter. Most say yes, but you can tell from their voices if they actually mean it or not, and we can continue on with joking about their sincerity level, and how much more fun it is to go to sales than to have them. But I knew it wasn’t going to work this morning when I asked an old guy, “Having fun yet?” and his reply was, “I sure hope we don’t.”

Not sure if he misheard me or was a dyed-in-the-wool misanthrope, but didn’t feel inclined to pursue it. Fortunately he was the only sour note all morning. Started out with a sale near home where a mom was trying to get her grown kids to clear their stuff out of her garage. Her son was trying hard to sell me item after item, beginning with a stuff Alf toy, which he described to me as an icon of the Eighties. I was easily able to resist Alf, along with just about everything else. Spotted a ream of bright colored paper though, and when the price turned out to be fifty cents, we were all happy—a sale at last.
But it got better; the mom thought there was more of it around somewhere and unearthed two more packs, which they threw in on the fifty cent deal. Can't beat that! I was almost finished at their place when I stumbled a bit on some of the stuff cluttering the driveway. “Hey,” said the son, “you break it, you buy it.”

“Honey,” I said, “if I break me, you’ve bought it.”

Met some lovely doggies today. First was Dahlia
who had her stuffed toy tucked into her bandanna to keep it close and safe.

This is her owner demonstrating some of their merchandise.

Buddy deserves an acting Oscar for his performance.
As soon as I moved toward the gate to pet him, he pressed against it in the manner of a dog who was abandoned as a mere child, unloved and unwanted. When I began to scratch his chest through the bars, he practically swooned.
I said something to the woman having the sale about what a great act he had going. She kind of sniffed and gave him a not very friendly look. “Yeah, he’s a lot like my husband,” she said darkly.

Next on our itinerary was Violet.
This is Cooper.
Cooper had a death grip on that tennis ball and believe me, no one was going to take it away from him.

Finally, this is Caroline.
Her close-up doesn’t do her justice. This is how I first saw her, under the table.
She’s a four-pounder. About one third the size of my cats!

The shopping? Good. Nineteen bucks good. There was all that paper, and from the same sale a pair of wooden shoes.
I plan to plant flowers in them for my front porch. I know, I have no shame.

A DVD to replace a vhs tape.

Adorable little framed picture, about 5 x 6 inches. Looks vintage but has a tag on the back with a barcode. Still cute though.

An addition to my collection of vintage ceiling glass.


A bunch o’ magazines.

The Vegetarian Times came from the sale of a woman who mentioned she’s a research chef. I've never heard of such, so I asked her about it. She said she works with various manufacturers. She gets an idea for a product, gets a manufacturer to work with her to develop it, and then sells them to Trader Joe’s. Apparently she designed all of TJ’s frozen enchiladas and a bunch of other stuff. Who knew such a job existed? If you eat Trader Joe’s enchiladas, I'm sure you’ll be glad to know she was a very nice lady.

Also at her sale, I found one of the things I'm always looking for and rarely find. An Yixing teapot.
This one came with a warmer and four cups.
The price was right on the set, so even though I really only wanted the pot I took it all. She still had all the boxes they had come in; evidently she never used the pots or cups. When I got them home, my husband, who also enjoys a good teapot, noted that they don’t really go together. We looked at the warmer, then at each other, and grinned. He went in the other room and brought back his favorite Yixing pot, that I gave him about ten years ago.
Pretty darned good match.

I was not similarly tempted by this teapot set.

The mouse on the cat's head is a cream pitcher. Call me old fashioned, but I would not care to drink something that had been poured out of this face.

Money wise, my last buy was the most incredible. Two rolls of beautiful fabric. I'm thinking maybe bedspreads from this:

And I admit I have no idea what to use this for
but a whole roll of crewel embroidered fabric with Australian animals cavorting across it was not going home with anyone but me!
Both rolls have many, many layers of fabric on them.


I'll leave you with this lady. Had to take a picture of her enjoying her hat.
Asked if it's actually her birthday and she said no. “But it is my birthday month. I’m practicing for the big day. And it was fifty cents. Isn’t Saturday morning just the best?”