First it wasn’t raining, then it was…

…and it turned out the rain didn’t matter a bit!

I found it interesting when we were still in Southern California the way people often reacted when they learned we were moving back to Oregon. “But it’s so RAINY up there!” (Said in tones close to horror.) I had to reassure any number of people that we had lived here before and had some idea what we were getting into.

MY concern of course what what rain would mean in terms of pursuing my favorite activity. (Yes, the weekly treasure hunt.) Well, it turns out they do something very cool up here.

They have their garage sales in their GARAGES.

Imagine that!

So when I did my morning weather check (which consists of sending our dog Edward out to the back yard for his morning constitutional and then seeing how damp he is when he returns) and determined that it was misting, I set out anyway with my list of sales and Gertrude Pemberton Smith, my gps. It misted a bit, then stopped, then started, on through the morning, but the main effect was that I had to leave the top up on my car. (I only pouted a little over that.)

I almost didn’t find the first sale on my list. I was looking for a house – and it turned out to be in a sort of shop building near the Winco store. One of the ladies having the sale is moving to Hawai’i, and you know what that means – everything has got to go! Didn’t find anything like I did at the sales that Mikey the insurance guy had when he was getting ready to move to the islands, but I did pick up a couple of items. I couldn’t resist the color of this nicely-sized Thermos bottle:

The photo doesn’t do it justice, it’s a fabbo coppery orange. Of course it does have writing on one side

but that just kept the price down in my price range!

The other thing I found here is for re-selling – an absolutely gorgeous Pendleton pleated skirt.

I knew by looking at it that it’s vintage, and I think the visual clue was the edge stitching on the pleats. The pleats are stitched down over the hips, and then just the teensiest edge is stitched to keep the pleats crisp.

If you sew, you probably are looking at that stitching with as much awe as I am! It wasn’t until I was taking pictures that I noticed this tag:

It’s reversible! Here’s the other side.

Evidently Pendleton made their Turnabout skirts in the 50s and 60s. Wish it fit me – I could hang around my 50s house in true vintage style! But alas it does not, so will be going on sale probably on eBay soon. Though if you’re interested, send me an email and we can work something out. (And BTW, I’ve got 9 auctions going this week, including a couple of great Halloween sweaters…)

There was one sale this morning where I totally cracked up. The house had a lovely garden and I chatted with the owner for a bit about gardens, since I have a lot to learn about what grows well up here. Another older lady showed up and we were all talking. The lady having the sale had a couple of items she’d ended up not using in a remodel, a sink and vanity top, and a Jacuzzi tub. A guy looking for tools noticed the tub (which had a sort of protective cover on it) and asked what it was, and the older lady popped out with, “It’s a salsa bowl!” I don’t know, just hit me funny. I told her if it was a margarita bowl I’d be coming to her party.

My other fun stop was the rummage sale at the Episcopal Church not far from the house. All the ladies running the sale kept reminding everyone that “everything is half price today, so buy a lot!” I had a sort of vision of all of them lined up, Rockette-style, chanting, “Half price! Half price! Buy, buy, buy!” but they were too busy for me to see if they were up for it. But since things were half priced, I found I was a lot more interested in the rocking chair I’d seen than I was originally. I revisited it with one of the sale ladies, who told me she thought they had really overpriced it to begin with since it needs some work, and between us we got the price down to one I liked. And I really love this chair.

The shape of the arms, the carving of the runners…

The cane seat needs to be replaced, but I can order the pre-woven cane stuff.

I even kind of like the place on the end of the runner where a puppy did some teething.

I was trying to figure out what it was that made me think it’s a really nice piece. I don’t see any maker’s ID on it. I think it’s the shape of the piece at the top of the spindles.

Many spindle-back chairs have a top rail that’s straight across, so all the spindles are the same length. The curve on this one means it must have been more work to construct it. As is my wont, I started looking online to see if I could find a match to get more information. Didn’t have any luck at all for a long time, until I finally searched something like “Danish Windsor rocker” in Google Images. And I found one in an antique store in Miami! They have it listed as a “Classic Danish Modern Walnut Rocking Chair” and I admit theirs is in better shape than mine (at least until I get the seat fixed!). But…their price tag is more than $500 more than mine was!

Rain or shine, I win!