Boy, do I have loyal friends. I missed blogging last week, and my friend Diana emailed to make sure I was all right! (Thanks, Didi!) Truth is I was just being a sloth…and it wasn’t a terribly exciting weekend for garaging. Oh, the stuff I brought home was just fine, including a pump sprayer and some great leather gardening gloves for yard work, a brand new scrubbie thing
some notebook paper reinforcers from a free box for that once in a blue moon time you need one (hmmm, wonder what other use I could find for these…)
a couple of Alan J. Pakula movies (nothing like a good conspiracy story)
more whiffle balls for Zoe (they don’t last very long under her determined onslaughts)
and a heavy corduroy shirt for next winter…if I can get it away from Miss Pup
but nary a story for anything.
This week was a little more chatty. Met another Zoe
and a beagle mix named Bagel, who was absolutely determined NOT to look at that camera thing.
Chatted for a while with a nice lady (hi, Robin!) who’s being going through a bunch o’ stuff. Her mom’s in the hospital, she’s had health problems, but where we really connected was that we’ve both been through Jobs from Hell. (No, not my last one…though it had a few moments!) A lot of you know that there are some really toxic workplaces out there, which can make your life just miserable. I’ve been through two of those, so if you’re going through it I encourage you not to doubt your own sanity, and to get out as soon as you possibly can. My first Job from Hell, I actually worked for an embezzler who went to jail not too long after I left there. As far as I was concerned she should have gotten a life sentence for the misery she caused. But hey, living well IS the best revenge, so I win!
Robin had some nice plants for sale, and it was really hard to resist bringing home most of them. We’re starting the relandscaping of our yard next month with the building of new retaining walls, so planting can’t start till after that. Right now this is the view from my office windows.
The only reason it’s not even worse is that my fabulous husband has been assiduously weeding in prep for new stuff. We don’t want to use any herbicides so we can reestablish our wildlife habitat status. We’re still thinking about what plants we’ll want, but Robin had a bunch of crocosmias, so I brought home three pots. I’m going to plant them in a big container for now until we can put them in the ground.
My other finds this weekend were some sweet old padded hangers
some Gurley candles I hope to resell
and 12 skeins of yummy vintage yarn in a beautiful peach. Haven’t decided whether to try to use it or resell it.
At the same sale I found this skein of wool and mohair, unbelievably soft, for – are you ready? – a dime! I’m thinking about making a tea cozy with it. Haven’t knitted for a long time, but like riding a bicycle, the skills stay with you. I hope!
Stopped at a bunch of other sales but found nothing to buy. But I did get into conversation at one with a mother and adult daughter who had three of their four little dogs with them, so we started chatting about dogs. I told them about the fabulous dog park here in Salem where I’ve started taking our two every day. Now, I’ve been to dog parks before, but never anything like this place; they were limited in size, with chain link fence, scrubby grass or bare dirt. Certainly nowhere near as big as the one at Minto Brown Island Park.
I’m not sure why I didn’t start going here sooner, since it’s only a 4 minute drive from my house. Guess I was a bit afraid we might meet mean dogs, and Zoe is a bit shy. But she’s really coming out of her shell and is having so much fun running and running and running. Edward doesn’t run so much, but he takes his self-appointed duties as goodwill ambassador seriously, and trots all over greeting everyone.
I must have been pretty convincing about what a great dog park this is, because that evening I saw some small dogs that looked familiar, then heard, “Hey, you were at our garage sale today!” And they came back again last night. I guess Edward can be my inspiration, so as I trot from sale to sale I can be a goodwill ambassador for the dog park.
The best part of the dog park is when we get home. No more teenage dog getting into things, no more chewing. A tired dog IS a good dog!
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Wondering where you had gone to....wonderful doggie park!! looks like so much fun! had to Google the crocosmias, but they are really beautiful! the garden outside your office has wonderful "bones;" have you thought about using rescued tile to cover the little retaining wall there? or plastering and putting all sorts of cool designs in or china pieces? would be a fun project,and another yard sale collection challenge! over 700 signed up for srp so far; Dave, the cartoonist guy, says hello. We had over 75 kids,no parents or preschoolers, come to his program last week...Amazing! Take care!
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ReplyDeleteAh-ha - Gurley candles! My grandparents brought some of those home from Canada in the '50s, and they've been out and decorating homes on England and Scotland ever since! My grandpa bought some little red-head 'angelic' choir boys because they looked just like his 'sweet' son, my uncle! I didn't know about the company that made them (we have some angels and trees and a turkey, too) and have just been to look them up. Thanks for the interesting info, as well as the great stories!
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ReplyDeleteGreat finds as always. That park looks amazying. We found a dog park also but haven't been able to go. Reagan had her surgery this past Tuesday. She is miserable with the cone. Ryleigh is being mean to her sister so we have had to keep them separated. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteWow, that IS a large dog park! Very pretty with the wild flowers!
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