I’m in Love with Gertrude Pemberton Smith

It’s true. I am completely smitten with my GPS. What a great garaging tool! I admit I didn’t need her before I moved to Oregon; in the OC you just head out on Saturday morning and watch for signs. If you want to be organized you can check Craigslist, which I did mainly to see if there were any neighborhood sales.

As you might imagine, things are a tad different up here. The population density, for one thing! I’m totally charmed to be driving along from sale to sale and suddenly be in the country.

Yes, that is a silo on the left in front of those trees!

So. Gertrude and I headed out this morning. It was the maiden voyage for the rice-and-wool GPS holder, and that sucker worked like a charm. My water bottle and M&Ms rolled around on a couple of curves, but Gertrude never wavered. I had a list of addresses from Craigslist and gsalr.com, and we turned here and there and found them all. There was only one that we had trouble with. The address wouldn’t come up on Google maps or on Gertrude. Turned out it’s because the neighborhood is so new that the streets aren’t on any maps yet.

I only found the place because they had listed a cross street that is on the map, and they had a couple of signs posted. Poor Gertrude was rather confused when I drove away. She depicted me driving around in a field; wish I’d gotten a picture of it.

I did manage to get a picture of this cutie. His name is Chubby D.

“The kids named him,” was the explanation. I really wanted to hold him, but every time he got near he’d turn into a Halloween kitty and bounce away. He was awfully cute…but I still maintain that our Mrs. Wilberforce was the cutest baby kitty ever.

Since I had Gertrude Pemberton Smith along to guide me, I decided to take a country drive to an estate sale over in Aumsville (I’m still sorry that I missed their annual Corn Festival a couple of weeks ago). The sale wasn’t much, but the drive was glorious. Warm September day with that wonderful slanting golden light, driving through farms and forests. Perhaps the best moment was when I was socked in the face by the scent of fresh hay, and spotted a huge stack of bales in the field I was passing. I was instantly transported to my childhood and visiting my aunt’s farm. I didn’t get a picture of the hay, but it wasn’t far from this wonderful building.

When I got back to town I treated myself to lunch at the fabulous Thai restaurant close to us, Tup Tim Thai. It’s the kind of place where they remember you after one visit, and after two, you are ushered to “your” table!

I thought I’d bought a ton of stuff, but when I unloaded my bag I discovered I’d only spent $6.25. The first item came from a free box!

I’m envisioning little loaves of orange-cranberry bread to give away at Christmas. Not sure when I’ll use this

but it’s bound to come in handy for something, right? Picked up some ten-cent magazines

and a DVD of the first movie we saw in Salem, back when we were buying the house a couple of years ago.

This lovely handmade ladle was thrown in with a bunch of 25 cent kitchen gadgets. Long, carved oak handle riveted to a hand-thrown ceramic bowl…I love it.

 

  Finally, I picked up a couple of items that to my eye have a rather mid century vibe. This bathroom set feels like it’s made out of Melmac.

And I love this thermal pitcher and mugs with their teak handles.

Tomorrow Gertrude Pemberton Smith and I are meeting my SIL for breakfast and then garaging in Lake Oswego. I have this fantasy that I’ll find some great MCM stuff up there.

Hmmm. I have that fantasy everywhere I shop on driveways!