Bag Ladies

Sing it with me, everyone:

It’s a small town after all

It’s a small town after all…

Judy and I heard about another church rummage sale Friday morning, so we got ourselves over there soon after they opened. This is the church where the ladies all have these great aprons so it’s easy to see who’s a helper. I think my favorite is the one with colorful painted handprints all over. The apron, silly, not the church lady!

Imagine our excitement when we were handed large paper bags as we entered and told that with a couple of exceptions (like the clothing in the main clothing room) it was five bucks a bag. And as I mentioned last week, I have bag stuffing skills.

Off we went down the rows of laden tables. I headed for the linens first and snagged a neatly tied-together stack of wonderful fabric. I’ve been wanting to recover the desk chair in my office.

 

When I got home I discovered I have 4 full-length lined curtain panels, so now I think I’ll sew them together to make a summer throw for the sofa. Next into the bag was a cheerful vinyl tablecloth

 

which is destined to recover the seats of the vintage patio set I got last summer. Found some bits of yarn that will come in handy sometime

 

and a couple of vintage cookbooks from 1958

 

with fun illustrations.

 

From a table of folded clothing I snagged a nice tee shirt for next summer and a pair of linen pants.

On we went stuffing our bags and giggling over some of the things we couldn’t imagine anyone putting in their bags. Every rummage sale has some of those! Honestly, don’t you sometimes look at “decorative” items and marvel that a) someone designed this thing – on purpose; and b) convinced someone else to manufacture it.

Eventually we finished our rounds (not of course before Judy found a hat to try on)   and I plunked my bag down on the table where the church ladies were collecting payment. As I did one of the nice ladies asked if my name is Sharon. Ummmm, yes? (Did I know her? I’m terrible with names and faces!) Then she said that she had recently started reading my blog and really enjoys it.

Trust me, people who blog about shopping on driveways are not generally recognized as we wander about. I was completely amazed, and thrilled. I asked how she had found my blog, and she replied that she was recently at the library and had read about me in their newsletter.

Yes, it’s true: I am the volunteer of the month at the Salem Public Library (thanks, Robin!). And the article included a picture (wearing my “Don’t make me use my librarian voice!” tee shirt) and that’s how I was recognizable. In an extra turn of irony, the reason I volunteer at the library is that I met Robin B. as I was heading to a sale not long after I moved to Salem…and she recognized me from my blog and we got to talking and she asked me to help her with some projects.

I was so amazed to find one of my readers that I neglected to get her name, but here’s a shout-out to her anyway. Thanks so much for making me feel a little bit famous. Loved your sale and can’t wait to come back next year!