Stuffing

A day of freezing rain yesterday did nothing to encourage folks to have sales this weekend. It wasn’t very kind to the neighborhood trees either. This is the one I see from our kitchen window.

I decided to stay home and warm and cozy. Pets are good for that.

But I still have last weekend’s finds to share. As is usual in November there weren’t many sales around here. Judy and I were most excited about the church rummage sale, but it didn’t start till noon. So I went to a couple of estate sales by myself first thing, then picked her up later for a good rummage.

The first thing I saw at my first stop was my favorite find of the day.

As soon as I saw it I thought, oh, I bet someone’s already bought that. But no – and it was marked only $15. Which as you probably know is a chunk of change for me; my flinch point is just about a buck. But sometimes you just have to live large, you know? So I bought it. The young man having the sale helped me wrestle it into the back of the Civic. It weighs a ton.

I asked if it had a story, but they didn’t know. They said the people who had lived in that house had simply abandoned everything and the real estate agent had hired them to clear the place. This puppy is old, possibly close to a hundred years, so I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find out more about it. It’s made entirely of metal, and perfectly balanced – still rolls along on that big old wheel like a champ. One thing I know is that someone valued it…because it is patched! You can barely see it from the top

but when you look underneath, there it is.

I’ve patched plenty of things with needle and thread and cloth, but never with iron!

I know it’s a total cliché, but I’ll probably plant flowers in it next spring. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy it as sculpture.

My other finds were much lighter weight! This candy dispenser just made me laugh.

My sister in law told me to be on the lookout for a cake dome for her, and I finally found one.

The complete set in fact.

And it’s not only a cake plate and cover, turn it over and it’s a punch bowl!

Couldn’t resist one of those crystal cubes with the laser sculpture inside – of Mr. Jeremy Fisher. Just like the Beatrix Potter illustration. He’ll be living in the children’s literature guest room.

And this vintage metal tray was a two dollar splurge. I like the handles, the heft,

the pinecones.

The estate sale it came from was one of those run by the family instead of a company. The lady who had lived there had a thing for sewing machines. I should have taken pictures, they ran the gamut from old (as in treadle machine old) to a newish serger. When I paid for my tray I said to the seller, “This is quite a collection of sewing machines. I think I saw at least a dozen.” He bit his lip and closed his eyes for a moment before saying, “Forty.”

“Forty?” “Forty sewing machines,” he sighed. “They were everywhere.”

I think it’s the first time I’ve heard of a sewing machine hoarder!

At noon I picked up Judy and we headed for the church sale. At the door we were handed big paper bags. Five bucks a bag, unless an item was marked separately. We had a grand time poking and searching. Judy had armfuls, but went back through her finds for a second look and ended up with one firmly stuffed bag. There were two pairs of very nice shoes, sweaters, shirts, I can’t even remember everything. We put back what she’d decided not to take, and looked through my finds. Which after a second look, I weeded down to…

one purple turtleneck! And yes, we rolled it up tight and tucked it into Judy’s bag.

But in case you are thinking what cheapskates we are for our bag stuffing skills, we were talking to the church ladies, complimenting them on going to by-the-bag pricing. One of them laughed. “It has saved us HOURS of work, and we make more money than ever,” she told us. She looked approvingly at our bag. “Well stuffed.”