The Imminent Demise of Pie

This is another in what will probably be an ongoing series of oldies, as I attempt to restore missing pictures from the past. And also, there are some pretty fun posts back there!

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“Here you go, this is just what you need!” the man said to his wife.

I looked up. That’s a statement that can go so many ways. Could be a gag, or sarcasm, but in this case was sincere. He thought she needed it: a pie divider. “For your pies,” he added.

“Mmmm, pie,” I said. “Let me know what time it’s ready!”

“She makes great pie,” he assured me. “You know, people just don’t make pie anymore.” Well, I said modestly, I myself do bake pies. Not sure he heard. “Nobody bakes or cooks. People our kids’ age have no idea how to make pie.”

This struck me as a bit of a sweeping generalization. I see enough food blogs to convince me that at least a few people still cook (besides me and his wife). “Sometimes these things skip a generation,” I offered. “Maybe your grandkids will make pie.” “No! They won’t even know what real pie is!”

So now we know: pie is going to disappear from America in the next generation. Dang. But we’ll still be having it at our house; stop by for a piece one of these days. Though you should know in advance that the pieces won’t be precisely equal, because those other people got the ten-cent pie divider at the yard sale.

This yard sale, in fact.

Judy and KK and I had a great Friday morning. Our first stop was here in the ‘hood, at the house where Judy paid for her own sweater last year. Judy replenished her wardrobe again, and I found some pieces for upcycling, including Irish linen

and some cotton pieces to combine.

(I’ll show you a couple of completed upcycles below.) As we were about to leave, KK spotted an item laying on a table and we all paused, trying to figure out what it was for. “It’s a hat,” I said authoritatively. (Yes of course I make things up. I’m a writer, it’s what we do!)

I tell you, I have the most fabulous friends. She immediately donned it, and by gosh it sure looked like a hat.

I think she looks like a high-ranking official from one of the Star Wars movies. The 9 year old girl helping with the sale piped up, “It’s for a baby’s car seat.” Some sort of head bumper thingie. They gave it to KK who has a new grandchild coming and can use it for the car seat. But I still think it made a great hat.

There was no doubt about this being a hat. Doesn’t it look lovely with the coordinating clothes brushes?

At another sale there were a bunch of boxes waiting to be unloaded. They had priced everything for their sale and then packed it all away until the sale day. I asked the young woman unpacking things onto an already-crowded table if she minded me looking through some of the boxes. “Go right ahead!” she invited, and before I knew it we had the boxes spread out and several folks were finding items. I scored some summer socks

an old favorite book

a couple of hand towels

a Vera Bradley bag

and (my fave) a cute license-plate purse.

Plus this crocheted tablecloth, intended for upcycling into some kind of garment.

Though it’s not bad as a tablecloth, or for the cat to make himself comfy on.

Even the free boxes did not disappoint, yielding a wall sconce

and a hand-knitted flamingo. Don’t find these babies every day!

I find the legs irresistible, with the knot-knees and shaped feet.

Okay, the upcycling. Still having a ball with remaking things. The latest is a couple of pieces for my SIL. She wears down vests during the winter, which gave me the idea of a summer vest. So I took the sleeves off a couple of short jackets        

used them as side panels, et voilà!

This looks like printed fabric, but it’s actually embroidered on a linen background.

Cute vests!

Explanations!

I had a nice email yesterday from a reader, Chris. She said she had tried to leave a comment here on the blog but it didn't work (more on that in a minute) so she emailed. As Genie did back in August (wasn't August about 20 minutes ago? Wait, you say it's now October??!) she was missing my garaging adventures and wanted more. My ego is definitely purring!

But here's the thing - the fact is I've never been happier and don't post very often because I just don't feel like it! I'm at an age and stage of life where for the first time I can do what I want. I don't need to please anyone other than myself, and my main responsibility is to my pets.

The pandemic certainly had a big effect on sales. There are far fewer than in past years. Plus I downsized when I divorced, and already own most everything I need. I still enjoy going to sales and chatting with folks, but don't care if I go out every week.

I have no plans to end this blog, but posts will remain - how shall I put it? - quixotic. If you  miss me (warning, shameless self promotion ahead!) please hop over to Amazon and buy my books. They are quite fun, and if enough of you do it I'll have money to go garaging. Yay!

Now...circling back to the comments thing. I have no idea what is going on with that. My own blog will not let ME leave a comment! It keeps saying I have to sign in even though I already did. Grrrr. I apologize to anyone who has struggled with it, but I don't know how to fix it. Holler if  you have advice.

My now overblown ego thinks someone might want to know what I've been up to if not thrifting. Craigslist is a good pal of mine - just today I scored a cordless vacuum for about 75% off retail (I hate to vacuum, hoping this will make it easier). And for my birthday Craigslist found me something I've been considering for months - an electric tricycle! Isn't she pretty?

Mostly I just love hanging out with my fur gang. Remember that new kitten, Stanley? Best impulse decision ever. I woke up yesterday to find we were sleeping cheek to cheek. Great way to start the day!

Research

I saw there were some sales over in my old neighborhood this weekend, which is not far from the dog park I take Zoë to every morning. 

So I drove up the hill to check out the sales on my way home. And they were terrible sales. Way overpriced ($20 for a used laundry basket? I don't think so.) and nothing I'd want anyway. Pooh.

But on a brighter note, I found out more about one of my last acquisitions that had me smiling. I've really been enjoying the two pieces of art I got a couple of weeks ago; hung them in my bedroom and admire them both every time I see them. I especially like the woodcut, and finally got around to googling the saying depicted, “When the world wearies and ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.”

In moments I found the source, an English poet named Minnie Aumonier, though not much about her. Then with an image search I found this actual woodcut, which is when it got good. It seems that my woodcut was made by a Vermont artist named Mary Azarian – and I have admired her work since my early days as a children’s librarian, when she published a lovely picture book called A Farmer’s Alphabet.

Apparently she is still in Vermont, still making art. Her website says these prints are made by hand from her original woodcut, then she hand paints them. My copy has also been framed, and if you’ve had anything professionally framed recently you know it can be pricey. So I’m feeling pretty good about the price I paid at the estate sale. I also learned that the former owner of the piece was one of the founders of a local garden conservancy, which my friend Lysa is involved with.

I'm sure it's obvious how much I love finding a great deal. But through the years more than half the fun I've gotten from thrifting has been learning more about what I've found. And while objects come and go in our lives, the knowledge is forever mine to cherish.

Happy Hopping

I'm happy to report that the garaging scene here in Salem is looking up. The proof? I managed to spend a whole $1.50 on Friday!

I was flying solo and promised myself that if I started to get too hot wearing a mask, I'd pack it in for the morning. This is definitely not an issue I've ever had in close to half a century of garaging! It turned out I had no problem getting through my list, which I had limited to the south part of town. Most of the sales again were meh, just nothing that needed to come home with me and not much conversation either. My first purchase was this book.

You can see its original bargain price, but that pales in comparison to the 50₵ that I paid! A couple of stops later I picked up a DVD for a buck.

Price-wise, the deal of the day had to be this stack of free magazines.

The real highlight of the morning was unexpected. I was heading toward the final stop on my GPS route, when I passed a house with something in the yard that made me turn around and go back for a better look.

Aren’t these hoops terrific? I've been trying to come up with some kind of inexpensive arch for a trellis over the wide double gates into my yard, so my first thought was maybe this was something I could copy. Turns out these are made from galvanized pipe, which is not something I have the wherewithal to bend. As I was about to return to my car, I noticed a woman in the back yard, so I called hello and she came out. (Holding a colander full of strawberries she had just picked!) We had a nice conversation and she showed me around her garden, including the flock of young chickens and the guinea pigs who live under the deck. She and her husband have spent the last 3 years turning the former lawn into a productive food and ornamental garden. They made the hoop trellises themselves, and she confirmed it was quite a lot of work. Those vines you see climbing up are hops vines, which also grow on their back fence.

It's always delightful to visit someone’s garden. But it was all I could do not to grab those fresh-picked strawberries and run!

Dished Up

I tell you, it only takes a short period of not being able to drive to really begin to appreciate the privilege! In fact, I've said for years that the best things about heading into “second childhood” (that rather condescending phrase) is that you get to be playful AND you can drive, unlike first childhood. So that period when my faux knee was still too new and painful to let me get behind the wheel lasted about half of forever.

But I'm back! And you know where my wheels would just naturally be heading – shopping on driveways. I ventured out with Judy a couple of Fridays ago (she actually drove that time) to a few sales, and only bought at one. It was the same folks down the street from my house where I bought 5 pairs of great shoes last year for a buck a pair (Danskos and Keens – who would pass up that deal?) I was much more restrained this year…I only bought 4 pairs of great shoes for a buck apiece! Keens, Danskos, Sketchers, 

and this cute summer pair. 

Plus I splurged fifty cents on a framed original watercolor. I know, I know, ever the big spender!

But today I actually did splurge, because I fell in love. With some dishes. Because about 3 days ago I was putting my clean dishes away from the dishwasher, and this little vagrant thought passed through my mind. Which was that while I quite like the dishes I bought a year and a half ago in anticipation of moving into my own house, I didn’t necessarily need to have a lifetime commitment to them. One of the great things about living alone is that I have only myself to please in these domestic matters.

As I made my rounds this morning, mostly on the west side of town, I was finding nothing of interest to bring home. But I was really enjoying myself because I was listening to a terrific recorded book, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. If you haven’t read it, run to your library today and check it out. Fascinating stuff. All about how we make fast judgments and decisions, and how they can be more reliable than well-deliberated ones. So it was undoubtedly being under the influence of this book that made me spot a woman at a sale and instantly think “I bet she’s a fun person.” As I got out of the car I wondered if I'd get a chance to test my snap judgment.

Well, all three ladies running the sale were great, friendly and outgoing (a middle aged daughter, her mom and grandmother). I heard one of them giving the entire history of a bicycle that had come into the family in 1971. You know how I love that kind of background. I wasn’t seeing anything to bring home with me until I reached a table full of fabric in the back of the garage, and since I recently did a major purge in my studio and have room again on my fabric shelves, I treated myself to this pretty piece, two yards for two bucks.

As I was leaving, I got into conversation with the mom, who asked me about the sweater I was wearing. It's an upcycle I created a while back, starting with an Irish linen sweater I picked up long ago. 

She noticed details that no one has ever seen before, so of course I thought she was brilliant! She’s now on the search for a similar cardigan to remake for herself (since I declined to hand over mine!) because she’s in a vintage golf group that only used old clubs and dresses in vintage-ish clothing to play. She was the one I'd made my snap judgment on, and I was absolutely spot on!

Made a couple more fruitless stops after that, both of which had fairly steep driveways – I was glad I had my cane with me. (Rehab is going great, but I'm still being pretty careful.) The last sale on my list didn’t look like they had much, but there was a cute dog wagging at me, and I make it a point always to stop for a cute dog. Apparently what this cute dog was trying to signal to me was “Get over here! There are some dishes on that table you are going to LOVE!”

He was so right. Gorgeous dishes, Wallis by Goebels of Germany (yes, the folks that made Hummel figurines for so many years). 

I was immediately smitten by their beauty, noted that the set has more pieces than the one I've been using (including a teapot, creamer, sugar bowl, and jam pot, as well as very cool bowls), 

and after the world’s shortest negotiation over price (would you take --? Yes!) they were mine. Not only that, the lady selling them gave me a big hug because she had so hoped the right person would come along who would love them – and there I was.

Don’t you love it when you can make someone’s day? And they make yours?

Available…Now!

My new book was published this week and is ready and waiting for you!

Sounds faded into silence as Louisa gazed into a mirror, a mirror in time.  She stared at the photograph of a young woman and baby, every detail of their clothing and hair and jewelry period-perfect. Who are these strangers—and why does the woman look exactly like her?

Secrets from an unknown past collide with Louisa’s dilemma over her own future as she unravels the story behind the vintage portrait. But can she stay one step ahead of the enemy dogging her footsteps?

Bay in the Dark is available on Amazon both in paperback ($15.95) and ebook ($2.99) formats. If you’re a member of Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free. (Such a deal!) And if you don’t own a Kindle, no problem: you can put the free Kindle app on any computer, tablet or phone.

The grateful author thanks you for your support!

Let's Launch!

It's coming! It's almost here! At long last, book four in my Willow Falls Mystery Series will be published in a few weeks. Why yes, I am excited! And I'm here to ask for your help.

Bay in the Dark needs a launch team! A what? It’s a group of nice folks who help get a book off to a good start by reading an advance copy and then posting a short review on Amazon, on or shortly after publication day. Sometimes they are extra nice and also post about the book on Facebook, their blogs, Twitter etc. 

Reviews are an enormous help to an author, they really do encourage people to buy a book. So this is a BIG favor I'm asking…but since I already know you like to read I'm hoping not too big.

What’s the book about, you ask? Here’s the blurb from the back cover:

Bay in the Dark is part of a series, and I'm hoping to find launch team members who have read one or more of the others—but I also need members who are coming in fresh with this book. Authors always hope readers will start with book one but that’s not always the case. My dream is that people who start with book four will be inspired to read the others!

Interested? All you have to do is copy-and-paste the little application form below into an email, answer the questions, and send it to mrsdog [at] hotmail.com. Deadline to apply is a week from Friday, 6/23/17. (Please send an email rather than leaving your info in a comment, for your own privacy.) We’ll take a look at the apps and get back to everyone as quickly as we can. Those who are selected for the launch team will be emailed a pdf of the book which you’ll be able to read on your computer or transfer to a tablet for reading. (Sorry, there are no print copies available yet.) As publication date gets near (most likely in early- to mid-July) I'll keep you informed so you’ll be able to post your review when the book goes live.

And that’s it! Easy peasy. You want to do it, you know you do!

So. Here’s the application information I need from you:

Name 

Email  

Are you eligible to write reviews for Amazon? (Their guidelines say you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card.) 

Have you written any customer reviews before on Amazon? On any other sites? 

Have you read any of the other books in the Willow Falls series (Sleeping Dogs Lie, In Dogs We Trust, or The Dog Prince)? If yes, which? 

Would you be willing to mention the book on your Facebook page, blog, Twitter or other social media sites, as well as post a review on Amazon?

 Anything else you'd like me to know?

That's it! Deadline to apply: Friday, June 23, 2017

Thanks so much for applying! We’ll let you know soon if you’ve been selected!

One of the characters in the series is a dog named Jack—a Basset/Lab mix just like my Fannie. I'm still amazed that I put her lookalike in books years before she came to live with me!