Surviving February

One of the things I love about Oregon is our four-season climate. Even winter. Though the days are short, we have relatively little severe weather, and there is still a lot of green in the landscape. Yes, we have a lot of rain in the Willamette Valley, but even rainy days often have a break in the clouds at the end of the day when we get to see some rays of the setting sun. This has been a fairly open winter with lots of sunny days. So I'm okay with winter…until February.

Some years it's early in the month, sometimes late, I get to a point where I've had enough. Suddenly I really need Spring. I need trees to bud, and daffodils and tulips and irises to bloom. And I need garage sales! The pickings get awfully slim this time of year – the occasional estate sale, a desperate moving sale or two. This past weekend I just stayed home; nothing in the two or three ads on Craigslist tempted me in the slightest. If I could I would run away to some warm climate for the rest of the month.

I decided to look over my garaging spreadsheet to see if February is always so dismal on the thrifting front. Good heavens – I brought home 52 items last February! There were several memorable estate sales, and I found sewing stuff and linens (including the set of French napkins, one of which I mended last week), and my fortune telling sticks that I thought were fancy fireplace matches. 

And be still my heart. Two years ago in February was that amazing estate sale that I went to about 4 times and bought cashmere, cashmere, cashmere (among much else) that I wear every day all winter. I own cashmere ponchos. I have a pair of black cashmere slacks. I wear cashmere sweaters when I garden; I sleep in cashmere. Clothing was priced at $1 each the first weekend, and half price the next. All told I spent $158 garaging in February 2017 – and my estimate of the retail value was over $10,000!

I'm starting to see why this year seems particularly dismal, even though I know that was most likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

For fun, I went to the oldest page on my spreadsheet: 2005. Yes, I've kept a record of all the things I've thrifted since 2005! I find it fascinating to see all the things that have come into my life in those years, and how many of them left again. Of course my life has changed considerably in that time, but I found two items that I still have and enjoy.

One is this metal bird silhouette, which currently resides on the chalkboard I use for my grocery list. 

It was originally attached to a hideously ugly pink picture frame. I paid fifty cents for it and removed it from the frame, which I happily tossed. I still love it. The second item was this reproduction Frank Lloyd Wright frame that was the perfect size for a tiny piece of art a friend had given me. 

This set me back a whopping thirty cents! I think it's interesting that I chide myself at times for buying décor, but the only two items that I've cherished since this time of year, fourteen years ago, are just that. 

Go figure. 

Long live art.

We’re nearly through another February, and I'm certainly looking forward to longer, warmer days ahead. But a month that can bring art that you keep forever, and so much cashmere you can use it for pajamas, can't be all bad!