THE DOG DAYS OF AUTUMN

I was a little startled when I left the house this morning and saw a cop car parked in the middle of the street at the end of our cul de sac. I was even more startled when I got down there and saw another one parked a couple of houses away, and a third coming around the corner. Have no idea what was going on, there were no police in sight.

I forgot all about them when I turned on the radio and they were talking about a piece of classical music inspired by Linnaeus’ design for a flower clock. He was that guy who classified stuff (genus, species etc.). Evidently he came up with a design for a clock based on what time of day various plants open and close their flowers. Seemed like a cool idea to me, so I looked it up when I got home. When I saw the list of plants, which includes dandelions, bindweed, hawkweed, thistles and goat’s beard, I quickly decided that we will continue to rely on watches and regular clocks to check the time. But at least it was diverting enough to keep me from wondering about all the cop cars.

Met some charming dogs today. Hooper belongs to a family of sports fans.I had to ask if they had said Cooper or Hooper. “Hooper,” said the elderly lady who owns him. “As in basketball hoops.” He was pretty bouncy, so maybe that was part of the inspiration for the name.

Jacques had just escaped from his yard and was being re-corralled.He is a French bulldog. I asked if he barks with a French accent, but I think it’s probably pure California.

Sammy is a chocolate Lab. Isn’t she a beauty?She is nine months old and is the only dog I’ve met on a driveway who immediately started licking my fanny pack. I don’t carry food in it. She was just a smoochy girl. Her owners were pretty elderly too, at least in their seventies, and said she’s a great dog but needs a lot of exercise, which is hard for them to give her enough. But their daughter has a two year old Lab who comes over and the dogs play for hours until they fall down exhausted. We agreed that the old saying is true: a tired dog is a good dog!

After Sammy I met Katie. Sorry my picture of her didn’t turn out better, because she was a love. Her owners told me they had been quite entertained by all the guesses people had been making about what breeds might have gone into her gene pool. I read somewhere that it only takes a few generations of completely random dog breeding to get back to the basic brown dog. Katie got sweet genes from all of them.

Around the corner from Katie, I stopped at a sale where the lady immediately told me, “I’ll trade you all this stuff for your car.” I declined (I’m sure it means I’m a terribly shallow person to love my car as much as I do) but encouraged her to go for a convertible the next car she buys. She told me she really wants one but it doesn’t seem practical, so I pointed out how extremely useful a convertible is for garaging on Saturday morning. Got that Heywood Wakefield vanity and mirror in the back seat just fine! As someone commented, my car is a pickup in disguise.

There were some shoppers at her sale with a small terrier (I’ve seen them around before) and when her husband came out with their dog they snatched the terrier up into their arms. “He doesn’t like other dogs,” they said. “He thinks he’s a person.” (I managed not to point out that I think I’m a person and I like other dogs.) Here’s the raging beast they were saving him from.

I guess you can never be too careful. Fortunately the terrier folks left before Nissa came by.

She’s a Samoyed mix that he got from the Samoyed rescue folks. I have a soft spot for these, since we had a Samoyed/Pointer mix for several years when we were first married.

So it was quite a doggy morning. Besides the dogs, I took pictures of one more thing while I was out. Saw this box and wondered what size they are. Opened it up, and decided the contents would not fit.

I spent $4.00 this morning. This has been quite an inexpensive hobby lately! My first buy was some mailing envelopes.When your order your copy of MY NOVEL :o) you can now be assured it will be sent in a quality, genuine, yard sale envelope. (I know…how special is that!)

The lady who wanted my car gave me a good deal on a couple of DVDs.Can’t wait to try At the Earth’s Core… the back cover promises murderous monsters, scantily clad prehistoric playmates and telepathic pterodactyls in an underground empire where all the humanoids have been enslaved. Zowie.

Found one item to give away to a children’s librarian. Hard to tell from the picture but the butterfly is mounted on the tip of a ribbon-wrapped stick, a sort of butterfly wand. Should be fun at storytimes. Of course, it means depriving our Noll. He was quite fascinated by those fluttering ribbons. My last find came from Hooper the basketball dog’s sale, and I just love it. Another addition to my acorn collection. It’s a vintage gold-toned pin, 1.5 inches across, probably from the Sixties, signed Giovanni on the back of the leaf.The leaf is etched to make it look more like an oak leaf. Tried to get a picture but my camera’s macro setting is just not that macro.

When I returned home, The neighborhood was still standing and no cop cars were in sight.

I took it as a good sign.

DAYS OFF, THRIFTING’S ON

I've been on vacation from my job for the past three weeks, and I have no idea why I never took a three week vacation before. I have plenty of time saved up from working here nearly ten years. I guess I was being frugal with my leave time, as I try to be with other resources, but a longer time off has been so nice that I have seen the light on this one. I know I will most likely never ever catch up with my work, but I was never going to catch up anyway—there’s always more to do. We are not big travelers and had various appointments to keep, so we stayed home, slept in our own bed, and had a few special dinners out. I always say we live in a resort anyway, complete with a pool and a hammock. What more could one want on a vacation?

Friday we took a little day trip. We talked about driving up to LA to the county art museum, but ended up instead in Long Beach. Long Beach? some of you are saying in a skeptical tone of voice. But it was great. Had a lovely lunch in a crepe restaurant we hadn't been to before, then hit Retro Row on 4th Street where there are a number of stores featuring Midcentury Modern stuff. Saw several pieces of furniture to drool over, but they had antique store prices. The most satisfying part of the day for me was seeing things I had bought at yard sales and the prices they would bring in a store. My $5.00 Siesta chair was there.
The one in the store had the footstool with it and the pair were marked $395. I win! We saw lots of Heywood-Wakefield priced about twenty times higher than our vanity.
I even saw a brown version of this mystery teapot I bought a while back.
Asked the dealer if he knew anything about it since there were no markings on the bottom, and he said there are some but they’re very faint. We made out the word Japan (no surprise there) and he kept studying the faint marks in the glaze. He finally decided he could see ‘Robert Steven’ and then a last name starting with a W. That’s enough for a librarian to go on! Didn’t find much info, but apparently the designer was Robert Steven Witkoff. I paid fifty cents or a buck for mine, the one in the store was marked $49. I win again!

One of the places we perused was a vintage clothing store. Thought you might enjoy seeing the doors on their dressing rooms.
There are also a few thrift stores on Retro Row. The Assistance League store was quite nice and I fell into conversation with the volunteer who was rearranging the vintage purses. They were fun but I didn’t see anything I liked as much as the ones I already have, like my little Saks bag I picked up a couple of years ago.
She had most of the bags arranged to her liking but there was a little coin purse that wouldn’t stand right. “This needs some stuffing,” she said. “You got anything in your bra?” I cracked up, then assured her there was nothing in there I could spare.

We started home and hit the freeway, merging into the crawling Friday evening traffic. We looked at each other and agreed we were awfully glad we hadn't gone all the way to LA.

Today I hit the road again with my friend Marcia and her sister Lynn, who was visiting from Sacramento. We got started a little bit late, because someone’s alarm didn’t go off. Fortunately I didn’t see anyone driving off from a sale with something I really wanted. Good thing, or someone would have been in trouble! But it didn’t matter, we all found stuff we could use, and these doggies were at home and willing to visit. First was this cutie, whose name was Cody or Cokie or something like that. (Sorry, old age. I never worry when I can't remember a person’s name, but it seems strange not to remember a dog’s.)
Scout was sequestered in his garage, and told us how very much he wanted to come out to help us shop.
Oreo, according to his owner, is the fastest and cutest dog at the dog park. Certainly has some of the finest ears.
Thought for a while I was going to make it home without buying anything, but ultimately spent $4.55. You may remember I bought my hubs a pair of Levi’s a couple of weeks ago, and rather than take their picture I had you imagine them. So now you have to change your mental picture. They were marked the right size, but had shrunk and were too small. So take the Levi’s out of the picture and substitute a pair of straight cut Ralph Lauren jeans. This pair is a little roomy, but I figure that’s a plus since they’re intended for working in the yard. And don’t you love being able to use a pricey brand for yard work? Ralph's jeans start at $75 and go up from there—unless you buy them on a driveway, when the price goes down. Way, way down.

A few stops later we were looking at some items and the lady told us that anything on the table was a dime. I saw this box of foam shapes and asked how much for the whole box.
She mulled it over, then said, “A dime.” I said I liked her, she spoke my language. So I ended up with a two dozen green hands and these cute little craft thingies where you glue in a kid’s picture and it has a magnet on the back. Future door prizes.

I also bought some red spray paint (I must have something that needs to be painted red)
some bookmarks
and a catch-and-toss game with polar bears from her. Ended up parting with a whole fifty five cents there.
Down the road I bought this book to give my next door neighbor.
She is a brand new kindergarten teacher; after years of being an aide she has her own classroom now. She will definitely need Frog and Toad.

I'll include some of these stickers I scored from a retired teacher, and the rest will be for my children’s librarians.


The retired teacher had a lot of bunny items, and I succumbed to the charms of these bunny pot feet.
Had to explain to my hubs what they are for (to keep plant pots from marring your deck or patio). I really got them for him, because our retirement house has that fabulous deck, and I know he will want to keep it pristine. And for that, of course he will need bunny pot feet.

Thanks to all who left kind words about my book! If you’ve ordered a copy and find you like it, it would be great if you could leave a short review on Amazon or Smashwords to help us create some buzz. And no worries that I'll stop being the Queen of Fifty Cents—that will never happen!

DOGS, DVDs, AND LITTLE WHITE LIGHTS

Last Saturday was blazing hot, and there were sales all over the place. Today it was back in the seventies and hardly a sale in sight. Go figure. But at least I got to meet Gracie and Bob.
Aren’t they a hoot? I found that special spot on Bob’s back to scratch, and he all but fainted on my feet, the sweet slobbery boy. Also met Abby who was sold to her family as a purebred lab.
Ummm, I kind of don’t think so. Someone short-legged contributed a gene or two.

This little guy is Zippy.
“As in Zippedy-do-dah,” his owner explained. Zippy had this whole act going, shivering and being pitiful. He was milking it for all he was worth.

Three little girls at this sale had set up a lemonade and cookie stand. When I paid for what I bought there, their grandma slipped me a quarter and told me it was to buy something from them, because they were so thrilled when they sold something. I thought that was awfully sweet (and tactful!) of her.

In spite of the low number of sales, I managed to spend $16.17—and that was without finding any furniture! At the sale with the thoughtful grandma and Zippy the dog I bought eleven DVDs, several of them still shrink wrapped.

I've already watched one of them; my friend Marcia stopped by not long after I got home from garaging and I was gloating over all my DVDs. She had never seen Fierce Creatures, so we plopped ourselves down and watched it then and there. (I may not have found more furniture today, but I'm making good use of the Danish chair I picked up a few weeks ago.)

Eleven DVDs for sixteen bucks wouldn’t be too bad a morning, but that’s not all. At my first stop I bought these cute buttons…because I needed more buttons, right?
I'm afraid for a lot of us, the saying should be “she who dies with the most buttons wins.” Believe me, I'm a contender.

This orange vase is blown glass. I immediately saw it holding sunflowers, so I picked up a $3 bunch on my way home, then added some stuff from the yard.
I scored this mixed-fabric rayon skirt for 42 cents, that being all the change I had at the time.
Thought it would be cute with these Kenneth Cole sandals, covered with black tube beads.
I haven’t owned any sandals for a while and thought these might be fun. And I just looked up how much this brand goes for new and realized why I haven’t been buying them. These puppies were probably $60 or more new. Seems like a lot for a couple of straps and some beads.

I also bought my hubs a pair of jeans but haven’t taken their picture. Just imagine in your mind’s eye a cute middle aged guy in slightly faded black Levi 505s, then picture the smile on the woman next to him because she is thinking she only paid a buck for them. Yup, that is exactly what those jeans look like.

And here’s my ironic purchase of the day. I wanted some little Christmas bulbs for the dragonfly lamp I bought last week that didn’t light up when I plugged it in. I figured one if its bulbs was burned out and that replacing them would make it work. So I shelled out fifty cents for this brand new almost twenty foot long string of lights
and took the first bulb out of the lamp, and tried to push in a replacement. Only to discover that all bulbs are not created equal. Did you know they are not all interchangeable? I sure didn’t. The bases are configured just differently enough that I couldn’t use today’s bulbs in the lamp. Sigh. So I stuck the bulb back in that I had taken out of the lamp—and it lit up.
Works perfectly now. Must have just been a loose connection or something. Maybe it felt sorry for me. In any case, I now have a really silly dragonfly lamp that works, and a twenty foot long string of little white lights that I don’t immediately have a use for.

I'm sure I'll think of something.

BARGAIN GRINS

I had one of those Saturday mornings with a big score right at the beginning, so that I went around grinning like the Cheshire cat for the rest of the day.
The grin may have affected my ability to converse, because it wasn’t a very chatty morning. I admired this cute pug
and little Buttons, who had recently had an operation but other than the cone showed no signs of being convelescent
and exchanged pleasantries with folks, mainly along the lines of “My isn’t it hot - aren’t you glad you are/don’t you wish you were on the shady side of the street.” I had a moment of startlement (evidently I have just made up that word, since the built-in dictionary refuses to recognize it, but I like it so I'm keeping it) when I saw this item.
The startling thing (other than its being invented in the first place, let alone patented and manufactured and actually sold) was that I saw another one exactly like it, including being unused, at another sale earlier in the morning. What are the odds? Seems possible to me that these are the only two ever sold. Or maybe I'll start seeing them every week. If that happens then I'm sure it will cause bad dreams, in which I am pursued by grapefruit cutters down dark hallways and over misty landscapes full of bridges.

But though I was not presented with amazing life stories or even pet ducks, I did manage to spend $24.50. More than half was for the single item that caused my Cheshire grin. Yes, of course I'm saving that for last.

Found several DVDs
A book on CD, don’t see these too often in my price range
Some felt Christmas ornaments (all six for a dime, how could I not…)
A sort of combination mat/frame from Martha Stewart. These are designed to be autographed at an event, but it looks pretty good plain, and again it was a dime.
Now here’s a case where the packaging is inaccurate. I know it says these are turkey lacers
but I have been a vegetarian since 1972 and will never, ever do that to a turkey. So I am sure this is actually a lifetime supply of cake testers. No more sticking in my smallest paring knife to see if my cake is done. I just figured out I've been baking cakes for about fifty years now (yes I started young. Pretty young.) but some purchases you just don’t want to rush into.

Found two of these little Gund bears, which I'm hoping will sell at Christmas.
I picked up several items for children’s librarians’ door prizes…




…which is good, because I had a door prize extravaganza at my meeting with them last week. Everyone there got a prize. There was much merriment over the jester hat that Edward so disliked modeling.
I think this future door prize is particularly fine: a pair of Winnie the Pooh wine glasses for that after-work tipple.

So that brings us to my big buy of the day. I'm still grinning. Because I found a Heywood Wakefield Sculptura vanity and mirror for a very good price.


(Thanks to my husband and our friend Bob for holding the extremely heavy mirror in place so I could take a pic!)

I didn’t know it was Hey-Wake until I got it home. I just liked the lines and was pretty sure it was midcentury. The daughter of the family having the sale helped me wrestle it into the back seat of the convertible and I headed home to drop it off. Wasn’t sure if my husband would love it as much as I do—and he does!—but I knew it would be a fun piece for the retirement house. We were gloating and chortling over it, and Steven pulled out one of the drawers, where we spotted this.
Now of course I want a set of blond Hey-Wake twin beds to go with it. Maybe I'll spot some next week on a driveway.

They’ll be hiding under the grapefruit cutters, but we can leave those behind.