VINTAGE ACORNS, SURFER DUDES, AND THE WIBBLEWOBBLES

Mikey the insurance salesman had a yard sale today. Every time someone asked how much he wanted for something, he would quote a price, and then exclaim, “You’re killing me! This is a great deal! You’re killing me!” He said it when I thought about buying a set of Spode Christmas plates (“Hey, they’re only two bucks—you’re killing me here!”). While I would be sorry to be the cause of his demise, I decided to apply my “Will you use it now?” criterion and passed up the plates. I did actually buy a couple of other things there, but made sure when it came time to pay that I dealt with Mrs. Mikey, who was very quiet as she stood off to the side watching her husband. She told me they are moving to Hawaii, since he works in insurance he can do that anywhere. Mikey was also giving away travel mugs that turn out to have his business card inside and a number for an insurance company on the outside. Guess Mikey is going to sell insurance for someone else.

Next on the strange-o-meter was the couple and teen daughter minding their sale. I thought there was a baby carriage between the two ladies but it turned out to be the equipage of their cat Mango.
He is an indoor cat, they said, so the only way he can come outside is zippered into his carrier. He showed no inclination to jump out when they unzipped it so I could pet him (though he did want to to climb inside my camera). They also said he lets their daughter dress him up and that he has his own closet of kitty clothing.

If you met anything weirder than that I hope you escaped to tell the tale.

I spent $7.25 today. The haul included a trio of CDs—classical for me, jazz for my husband, and one that I got because I'm sure the chance will never come my way again. It's by The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam. I have no idea at all what kind of music it will turn out to be. I love the feeling that I'm living large, especially when I can get it for less than fifty cents.
Another sale netted a pack of cute notecards…
…and a Pyrex refrigerator dish and lid. No chips or dings on it, and it's a size I don’t have.
I hesitate to describe it as vintage since “oven and microwave safe” is embossed on the bottom. I can't bring myself to think something made after the microwave became a home appliance could be vintage. If I did, that would make me feel, well, old.

Oh, to heck with that. Embrace your geezerhood, that’s my motto.

Perhaps it's my geezer status that explains my patience when I bought this piece.
Yes, it is indeed a red glass handbag. With gold splotches in the glass.
It’s going to a colleague who likes weird glass things. After settling on the price with the seller, she mentioned that it had cost “over $100.” I very tactfully bit my tongue and did not point out the price tag still on the bottom.
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I were talking about what we should keep in our wonderful Danish credenza and hutch after we move to our midcentury house. He thought perhaps barware would look good. I pointed out that we basically don’t drink (only the occasional glass of wine). But today I found a set of 4 of these glasses, and they were so inexpensive I decided to start our barware collection, just in case we decide to go ahead with it.
(The Steiff bunny was already part of our household.)

Picked up this book because the illustrations look fun.
It's from 1912, and includes stories like “The Wibblewobble Home on Fire,” “Alice Wibblewobble’s New Bonnet,” and “How Jimmie Stood on His Head.” Did a little research when I got home and found that the author also wrote the Uncle Wiggly stories, and was the main writer of the Tom Swift series. One source mentioned that he was famous for never using the word “said” if he could help it, so I started scanning my book. Sure enough, for every time he used “said” there were probably ten variants, including spoke, went on, exclaimed, cried, called, replied, answered, declared, whispered, and begged. Mr. Garis must have lived with a thesaurus at his elbow, or else memorized it.

Here is what I bought from a surfer. Yes, a real live Huntington Beach surfer, with a surfing vanity plate on his car and the word “dude” practically hanging off his lips.
Kind of makes you wonder how tough those surfers really are, doesn’t it? Fisher Price made these in the late Fifties/early Sixties (I had a good time looking up vintage Fisher Price toys, and now will be keeping an eye out for more). My original thought was that I would try to sell this cutie, but she fits so well with the rest of my Transportation Bunnies collection.
It's the collection two shelves below my Smiles collection.And speaking of collections, this may be my favorite find of the day—an addition to my acorn collection.

Is that cool or what? Vintage crocheted acorns. I love Saturday morning!