Saturday, February 26, 2011

Weather Abides

The weather forecast all week has called for rain on Friday and thunderstorms on Saturday. No biggie to most of you, but in Southern California most folks do not take weather in their stride. I was sure anyone thinking about having a sale this weekend would convince themselves to wait a week or so.

Last night it poured as ordered. So far today we’ve had nothing but sunshine and fluffy white clouds. Okay, there’s a chilly wind blowing, but wind is something everyone’s used to here.

I had errands to run (had to get that quarter of a tank of gas that $20 buys right now) so I headed out, though a bit later than usual. I did give Craigslist a quick check before I left, and there was one ad posted early in the week about a neighborhood sale. Yeah, right, my sarcastic self muttered. But sarcasm was not enough to quell hope, so I drove by that neighborhood and sure enough there were a few sales.

I’ve got to try to remember which realtor scheduled this thing. When it eventually comes time to sell our house, we could do worse than work with someone who seems to be able to control the weather.

Going to yard sales is an especially frugal hobby this time of year. Last week I spent a dime, this week it was a dollar. Check out these great vintage paperbacks. Two of them include two books: The Secret of ZiIMG_0134(how does the alien get his cape to float like that?) plus Beyond the Vanishing Point (“Out of infinite smallness grew a gigantic peril”); IMG_0132 and One Against HerculumIMG_0130plus Secret of the Lost Race. An Andre Norton I don’t think I’ve ever read—woohoo!IMG_0129This Heinlein doesn’t ring any bells either.IMG_0128And Earth Abides…didn’t they make a movie of this several years ago? IMG_0125I dimly remember an Australian movie with the same themes, but it had a different title. However, I did find this gem on YouTube—a school project that some kids did to promote the book. (Keep going past the initial voiceover, which is a bit hard to understand.)

As a writer, what I’m really jealous of is the blurb on the back cover—from Carl Sandburg, no less. Sheesh!

IMG_0127 

While I was perusing the boxes of books, one of the ladies having the sale noticed my car sitting by the driveway. “A convertible with the top down!” she exclaimed, walking over to look at it. “Somebody is really a free spirit.”

“Um, that would be me,” I said.

8 comments:

  1. Dropped my Steven and his honey at Disneyland at 11am this morning, and I thought about you and what sort of shopping you were going to get this morning....I could not find a full driveway to save my life, but did not have my listings from Pennysaver. Spent lots of time taking photos of those mega clouds and that bluer than blue sky!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides

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  2. dear free spirit, i wish we could have garage sales in nebraska this time of year. it would totally glean the quasi thrifters from the real ones.

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  3. I think that alien is standing in front of a wind machine just for effect. What a drama queen!

    The book covers alone look worth every penny. Fun. xx

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  4. No yard sales here yet. The weather has been beautiful but still no sales.

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  5. Free Spirits Unite! Good job on those old sci-fi paperbacks. I really love those. I managed to find an estate sale on CL this last weekend too. It was great how the rain blew past us so fast!

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  6. Those books are really cool! I managed to make it out to a few sales in between snow showers. :)

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  7. The graphics on those old books are wonderful. I especially love the banner across the top, "Two Complete Novels 35c" (about $2.80 in today's money - a real bargain). I can just see Wil Wheaton's character from the movie, Stand By Me, saving his money up and running down to the drugstore to get the newest space adventure. My father, the Sci-Fi fan would be jealous.

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  8. Cool finds! Those are Ace Doublebacks. Keep an eye on those because some are pretty rare.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Books

    Love your blog as well.

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

 
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