Mini Vacations

Years and years ago I got a bit lost driving home across town (whatever town I was living in at the time; we've moved a lot!). When I arrived at my destination, only a few minutes later than planned, I realized that I felt as though I had really traveled. It only takes a modicum of new sights for me to feel I've gone somewhere, and on that day our practice of ‘mini vacations’ was born.

Probably one of the things I love about garaging is the mini-vacation aspect. Nearly every weekend I drive down some street I've never been on before, and I certainly talk to people I've never met. And what do many of us do on vacation but shop for souvenirs? My souvenirs are frugal and bring back wonderful memories.

We’re heading into that time of year when the sales are dwindling. We managed to find three or four, and I picked up a pot that is a smaller version of one I got a few weeks ago

and a couple of Vera napkins. Any meal will be more cheerful when we use these babies!

 

But this only took us to about 10:15, so Judy said, “Hey, let me take you to my favorite thrift store.” Which turned out to be the one run by the local humane society; how could I say no to that? I admit to liking sales on driveways best, but this was a fun little thrift store. And since I’d never been there before I got that mini vacation feeling. We roamed around for over an hour. Some of us tried on hats.

Some of us bought that hat (and another) after bravely negotiating a 50% discount. She’s getting awfully good at bargaining!

My souvenirs from that mini vacation included something that may have been a souvenir from someone else’s travels. I can’t help wondering if this originally came from Colonial Williamsburg or some other historic site’s gift shop.

 

I've never embroidered with silk thread before, so this will be fun…and those motifs look like acorns to me! I also picked up these two round boxes made of thin, flexible wood for packaging Christmas gifts

 

but my favorite find was this single midcentury candle holder of dark wood. We hunted and hunted for a mate, but alas there was only one.

 

Possibly Danish. Possibly walnut. Possibly will be used as a classy stand for my little acorn thimble case.

 

On Saturday we had decided to go to an event with our dogs. Judy loaded her Buddy in the car with my Zoe and we started off. You won’t be surprised to know that we left way early and had a list of sales to stop by on the way! I found another item on my look-for list

 

and some pretty candles for a fall table.

 

All told I spent $6 this week. I told you mini vacations are frugal!

The event we were heading for was a lure coursing practice. Some of you are scratching your heads and looking quizzical. Lure coursing is a dog sport, usually practiced by sighthounds like borzoi and ridgebacks and whippets. There’s a club down in Albany, and for their practices any kind of dog can attend and try it out. Basically a line pulled by a motor is set up, a regular old plastic grocery bag is attached to the end as the lure, and the dogs take turns chasing it. Most dogs really love to run, and if they have much of a prey drive, chasing something really revs them up. We had no idea how Buddy and Zoe would do, but it sounded interesting.

It was about an hour drive; our destination was a beautiful farm in rolling hills. We were lucky that another participant arrived at the same time we did, because we couldn't see where things were set up from the road, and had to follow her across a field (not too muddy, thank heavens) and around a bend. There were about a dozen dogs in all; mostly various sighthound breeds, and a few herding dogs, and Buddy the Springer.

And Zoe.

 The only dog smaller than her was the Italian greyhound (and that little sucker could run!). In the midst of all those Afghans and borzoi and wolfhounds, Zoe looked like a little scrap of a dog. When it was our first turn, we grabbed the lure and walked way across the field, set it down, removed her leash. Then I flung up my hand to indicate ‘go’ and the bag started away – and so did she. She was totally jazzed when the bag stopped and she got to grab it and give it a good shake. Buddy did great too. You could tell they were having a ball.

All told, each dog ran three times. Watching those big hounds run full out was amazing. The ground literally shook at times. If you love dogs, keep an eye out for lure coursing in your area. You’ll get to stand around in a damp field, huddled into your sweater when the wind comes up, and cheer every dog as they run the way they were meant to.

We managed to get some video of our dogs. When I edited Zoe’s, I could hear that someone near Judy (who was filming) really got into my dog’s run and was yelling, “Go! Go go go go go!” And it wasn’t even me.

ZOE GOES LURE COURSING

BUDDY IN THE BIG FIELD

At the end of the afternoon we piled back into the Civic and headed across the field to the road. Both dogs went to sleep immediately, and Judy gave a big sigh.

“Now that,” she said, “was a mini vacation!”

Running Around

Dang, it’s been a busy weekend! Took the dogs to the beach and made a new Zoë film, went garaging and eavesdropped on a funny conversation, bought a house, fed my niece’s cats…

Wait a minute. Bought a house? Yup. Of course I’m not planning to live in this one.

For no particular reason I’ve been wanting an MCM-ish dollhouse. All the ones I’ve seen have been very expensive – like over a hundred bucks. At a yard sale. Sheesh. This one was marked $10. I very politely asked if that was their best price (after all, you NEVER buy a house without negotiating the price, right?) and secured a 20% discount. And while I’m not sure where I’m going to put it, I like it a lot. Reminds me strongly of the house I live in. After all, they both have a red roof

 

spacious master bath with tub and separate shower

desk with computer (the monitor swivels, too cute!)

classy modern sofa (this one was easier to bring home!)

 

an umbrella for the outside table

 

and the car in the carport

is a convertible!

I’m a little envious that the guy who lives here

has an attached sunroom

but on the other hand he only has one foot, and I’ve still got both of mine.

We have other things in common though, including a cat

and having more stuff than we really know what to do with.

So I’m back to owning two houses, though when we did that before it entailed two mortgages. I’m awfully glad my current houses are paid for!

Not content with buying a house, I carted home several other items this weekend. I’ve never met a wind chime that I didn’t test the sound of. Plucked this one out of a free box and liked the mellow clatter of the bamboo

and besides, the one-eyed cat needed a new home.

Couldn’t resist these vintage Christmas ornaments, especially the musical cats

 

which date to the same era as my house.

Wanting always to be practical, I picked up some Murphy’s soap, which I’ve wanted to try, and now I can for less than a buck.

And I was awfully happy to find some sterno to use with my Dansk fondue pot.

Now I can erase it from my shopping list!

A lambswool sweater for the hubster

and some candles can also be considered practical.

And only the other day, when we were giving our dogs their pedicures with the doggy nail grinder, I remarked to Steven that I rather wished I had bought a Dremel tool instead, since it can be used for other stuff as well as dog nails. So when I saw a Dremel set at a sale on Saturday, I figured it was a sign from the garage sale gods. It’s the only thing I brought home that Zoë was interested in.

When I opened the box to make sure it runs (it does) I found this set of little screw drivers tucked into the box.

Bet the guy has been wondering for years where those went to. We have the same set down in the toolbox, so now I can have some upstairs too.

 

Found a sale only a couple of blocks from home, a family that’s moving back to Hawai’i. Their house had an oddity.

The husband’s brother used to rent the house from them, and he decided to do some structural work. No one was quite sure what he had in mind for this door. I was quite chagrined that I couldn’t buy a lovely MCM desk they had, but a) didn’t think I could get it into the back seat of my car; b) couldn’t possibly have gotten it out by myself and into the house (Steven is at the National Storytelling Conference this weekend) and c) really have no place to put it if I could have gotten it into the house. Though it would have made an awfully nice stand for the dollhouse! However, I did take away a couple of items. For the yard I scored this handsome rusty sunflower

 

and to play with I bought this little harp.

 

It’s small but really can be played, unlike some so-called instruments made for kids. Put the Murphy’s soap to use cleaning it (I think you can see in this before-and-after picture how far I’d gotten!)

and the tuning wrench for my hammer dulcimer was just what I needed to tune it, which was badly needed. I keep picking it up and plucking out a tune or two. Fun – and so far the dogs haven’t complained about my skill level.

Speaking of dogs, I did take them to the beach the other day. How much did the Zoester love it? See for yourself.

She’s fast!

Kind of reminds me of a conversation I overheard on a driveway on Friday. The husband was retiring from his woodworking business and selling a bunch of equipment, and a friend was there asking him what he was doing selling that stuff. He said, “I just decided I’d start spending the time I’ve been working for chasing my wife around the house.” His friend nodded and said quite seriously, “Yeah, and she can’t run very fast any more!”