Sunday, August 17, 2014

Stalking the Wily Punkin Heads

We pulled up to one of our early morning stops on Friday. Everyone at the yard sale appeared to be staring at us (always disconcerting). But then we realized they were looking past us at the deer across the street.  Look - deerWho were completely unconcerned by our presence. I almost expected them to come over and shop the sale, but they opted to continue their breakfast. Mmmmm, yummy hostas and roses.

Breakfast time

Judy tried on not just a hat, but a complete undercover disguise.

Judy goes undercover

And bought two cute plaid hats. This one and a blue one.

Judy's new hat

At the next sale I found something I’ve casually been hunting for a long time. I saw it lurking in the underbrush and using all my woodsman’s – er, woodswoman’s – guile and skill I stalked the wily potato ricer.RicerThese things are not really that hard to find, but I was holding out for the complete set (often the wooden pestle is missing) that didn’t cost too much. Passed on one for eight bucks a while back. This one was only a dollar. I win.

Vintage Ricer

The other item we were attempting to stalk was chalk. Regular old blackboard chalk. (And if you remember blackboards being black instead of green – or electronic – you must be my age.) Judy was going to buy some the other day. Don’t, I told her, I have a whole box at home, I’ll give you some. I was positive I knew exactly where it was. I was wrong. Still haven’t found it. And the little nubs of chalk I’ve been using on the grocery-list board in the kitchen

Keeper of the grocery listare almost too short to write with. So we started searching for chalk at every sale, but no luck. Until after I had dropped Judy off at her friend’s house so they could scoot up to Portland. Very next sale they happened to ask if I were looking for anything in particular. Chalk, I said. And danged if one of the ladies didn’t jump up and go search in her garage, coming back with three containers of chalk. “I forgot all about getting this in the sale,” she said. She seemed pleased to have fished it out. Only problem for me was, it was all honkin’ big sidewalk chalk, which is a little had to use for grocery lists. However, a few regular size pieces were lurking down in the bottom, so I scooped them up. And now we’ll probably find chalk at every sale.

Cheap chalk 

I also found another piece of glass for the kitchen window. Not the blue or green I’d asked the yard sale gods for, but a new shape. A glass creamer

  Glass creamer  or possibly a very stylized penguin. 

Creamer ...or penguin

Glass in window

Before I dropped her off, Judy picked up something for their dog Buddy. She bought him red devil horns last week, and this time she found this punkin for his furry head. (He’s all set for Hallowe’en.)

Punkin'

Of course as soon as we got in the car she had to try it on.

Punkin Judy

And everyone at my house had to try it on too. Edward

Punkin Edward

and Noll, who was convinced I just wanted him to play with the dangly string under his chin.

Punkin Noll

Zoe had gone back to bed. She raised her head for a moment,

Punki' Zoe

then went back to sleep.

Punkin Zoe sleeps

I even tried it on myself.

Punkin Queen of Fifty Cents

You’re right, I think the devil horns might be more me.

8 comments:

  1. You had some luck! I used to have one of those metal 'cone' shaped things with the wooden it but I used mine for making apple sauce. It works great because the peel, cores, etc all stay behind and you get lovely smooth applesauce.

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    1. I can't wait to use it for all kinds of stuff. Our Asian pear trees have lots of fruit this year, I think you've inspired me!

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  2. The glass collection is really starting to look amazing!

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    1. Thanks! Total outlay so far: $9.50. Now I want some green and blue!

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    2. Oh, they are coming.....I'm sure!

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  3. What you've got isn't actually a ricer (although you could use it for that) it's a china cap, relative of the chinois. I use mine for things like applesauce.

    I paid $7 for mine--new and complete--at Value Village. Most of the ones I saw for that price (or more) were not complete. You totally scored!

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    1. I had no idea, never heard of the china cap/chinois before. I love to collect new info, thanks! You must be a food professional. I've also seen these referred to as a food mill. Whatever it's called, I'm looking forward to applesauce and other good things with its help!

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    2. Nope, no expert, just someone with an interest in cooking. Although I don't have as much time for it as I once did.

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I really love your comments. Thanks for coming along on my thrifty adventures!

 
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