CANDLES AND SCOOTERS AND LANTERNS AND SUCH

This was just one of the best garaging days! Neighborhood sale in a very nice area. Found some fun stuff, didn’t spend too much, got some good stories, petted some fine dogs. The best!

At the bagel store, the sesame bagels (my favorite, and of course you can never have too many sesame seeds scattered about your car, right?) were still warm from the oven, so I didn’t even have it toasted. Just schmear on that cream cheese baby. I gave the lady a twenty and asked if she could spare some ones in change. “Are you going to yard sales?” she asked, looking eager. “You bet,” I said, “and there are a lot of them out there today.” She gave me all ones, and I said the first one I spent would be in her honor. Which would be for…let me think…oh yes—a vintage scale. This one is for you, Cathy G.! Hope you’re still wanting one!

Isn’t this a fabbo car?
I think he said it's a 1927 Model A. The guy who owns it was on his knees in his front yard, cleaning the blades of a ceiling fan. Another old guy walked up to see what was for sale and commented with a twinkle in his eye, “That’s a nice sight, a guy on his knees.” “Yes, and he’s cleaning something, how cool is that?” I said. We all chuckled.

I saw the same old guy across the street a few minutes later at another sale and noticed he had a couple of bags with stuff in them. I asked if he’d found some good stuff. He beamed. “Oh, yes, my favorite thing.” He opened a bag to show me—old candles, partly used. “I melt them down to make new candles,” he said. Which I have to admit I'd never thought of doing, I just use them as is. “So you have, like, candle molds and everything?” I asked him. His smile got bigger; I could tell how much he enjoys his creativity. “You know what I use for molds? Pringles cans. Pour in the wax and just peel off the can when it’s cooled.” I may have to try that sometime—if anyone ever gives me some Pringles. I've never bought a can of them in my life.

I talked to two children on those little scooter thingies, Razors. The little boy was not quite three, and just learning to ride. As soon as I walked up he called, “Watch me! Watch me!” Of course I obliged, and off he went. In a moment his mom called him to head back and he did, balancing beautifully. We commented on how he was watching where he’s going and not looking at his feet. The kid will probably be swooping around on a skateboard before much longer.

Up the street I met a young girl, about six or seven, who immediately informed me that I couldn’t buy her scooter. I noticed it had a $3 price tag on the handlebars. “Oh, it's not mine,” she said. “It's for sale but I'm not going to give it up. I'm using it to cruise, that’s my plan.” By now I was cracking up. She was so articulate and so completely self possessed. I suspect she still has that scooter.

Met several nice dogs today. This lovely lady is a Viszla named Gita. She may have the softest ears on the planet.

Handsome Thor has just had his summer haircut.

I bought some fun socks from his owner, who told me she is a member of a Funky Sock Society—a group of women who do a sock exchange every month. What fun. Maybe we need to start something like that where I work. Funky socks can really brighten your day.

Doggie haircuts seemed to be the order of the day—Sierra the Springer had just had her summer do as well.

I have to admit I was especially taken with this sweetie pie, Gwennie.


Short for Gwendolyn. Short is the operative word here. My guess is she’s a corgi mix, maybe with Sheltie, though she has a blue tongue so could be some chow back there somewhere. She was a pound puppy, so who knows. “We got her right after 9-11,” her owner told me. “We were supposed to take a trip and it got cancelled, so we said okay, time to get a dog.”

When I left I petted Gwennie once more, and this time she fell over so I could admire her tummy and give it a good rub.

As I walked into one garage, the sale of this item was being concluded. I had to get a picture.
They were talking about putting it on their patio. Interesting patio!

A couple of items I didn’t buy…I thought this box was funny.
I particularly like the phrase “Space-saving Breakthrough!”

This hand carved cane with a dog’s head handle was too spendy for me.
The daughter of the house liked it too, and I hope she took it home.

At one sale there were several embroidery kits for sale, and the lady told me she was giving them up because of her eyes. I asked if she had embroidered the little framed picture I'd seen on another table. She said no, it was done by her mother in law, and she got a little misty eyed as she told me about her. We fetched the picture and looked at it, a wonderful little nighttime snow scene exquisitely embroidered on black satin.
Apologies that my photo isn’t better. I should have taken the time for a macro photo. The snow on the trees is composed entirely of tiny French knots, probably done with a single thread. The stars are single stitches. I was tempted to buy it. But the lady having the sale said she was a little sorry she’d put it out. Someone else conversing with us suggested having it made into a pillow top. I looked more closely at the framing. The mat was a piece of green paper, probably construction paper. I said that if she reframed it with a real mat and another frame it would be a wonderful thing to hang. She laughed and said her MIL had been a teacher, so it probably was a piece of construction paper. The embroidery dates from the Thirties, when her husband’s parents lived in the California Sierras, where he was a forest ranger. Once a month they would drive down the mountain and go to Fresno for supplies. She told me, “She had to drive herself to Fresno when my husband was born. Her sister was supposed to take her, but she panicked and couldn’t drive. The road’s still there. It's the worst almost-two-lane road I've ever been on in my life.” By the time we finished talking, the little snowy night picture was taken back into the house. I'm awfully glad she’s keeping it.

I spent $11.75 this morning. Found a nearly full roll of quilt batting for a project I've got in mind, but you don’t need a picture of that! White, fluffy, rolled up, in plastic bag. I'm sure your imagination can also picture a three inch high stack of index cards in several colors, which my husband likes for taking phone messages. You already know about the scale. These are my Funky Sock Society socks.
This little art project was only a quarter, akin to a paint by number, and I loved doing those as a child.
I was charged with finding a shirt or two for my husband to wear when he works in the yard. So I picked up this one—and it may be too good for yard work! He’s a redhead so green looks really good on him.
My supply of dish towels is pretty good these days, but I'm a sucker for stuff with wheat. 100% cotton, from France, even has a signature.

At the same sale I found these wind chimes. I actually bought them for the dangly part, not the chimes. I have some very nice chimes, but the windcatcher is long gone, so I'm hoping this will work.

I found some puppets to give to my children’s librarians—a set of community helpers, and a Wild Thing…

…and a book of flying dinos to keep some kids occupied after school someday…

…and big stack of wonderful handmade bookmarks.

This black pot will hold cooking utensils. I like the contrast with our colorful spatulas.

And a score for the yard—four brand new candle lanterns. Aren’t the little round ones adorable? Like old fashioned alarm clocks.
The best score of the week actually came several days ago. A house down the street has gone up for sale, and one day several pots were put out front with a free sign. So we strolled down to take a look, and brought these babies home. I added the geraniums!
A couple of days later we were leaving to go to a movie, and sitting out front with another free sign was this beauty. I love its weathered wood.

Let’s take it, we said, and picked it up to carry it home. Which is when we discovered that not only are the arms made of cast iron, so are all those slats in the back. The darned thing weighs a ton. But we huffed and puffed it down the street to our house, where it looks quite nice on the patio in the corner. We’ve been sitting on it every evening, and enjoying our view.

SLEEPY KITTIES AND THRIFTY FINDS

Since I have no memory to speak of any more I try to jot down a few words when I get back in my car after a sale, to remind me of things I want to include in my blog. But more than once I've found that my notes are too cryptic to jog any of the memory cells I've still got left.

The latest says simply: Wrong way.

No idea what it refers to. Did I see someone going the wrong way? Did I go the wrong way? Was someone doing something the wrong way, or did I overhear a conversation about some wrong way? But don’t worry, this will not drive me crazy wondering what the heck it was about, because about ten minutes after I write this I will have forgotten what I was writing about. My motto: embrace your geezerhood!

The first sale on Saturday was on Peace Street. Doesn’t that seem like a good place to start? Bought a big plastic container with many, many sheets of expensive scrapbooking paper. Not sure what I'll do with them (other than not scrapbooking) but it's really nice paper. I'll think of something. The seller told me she no longer does scrapbooking. I admitted it's one of those things I've never felt that I got. She said it seemed to her like the modern equivalent of a quilting bee; she must have been a social scrapbooker. She also laughed and said that it was one more thing for people to spend their money on, and that some of this papers originally cost a dollar a sheet.

I stopped at several sales that were fundraisers, the largest for a church preparing to send a group to Africa for a month. As I was paying for a couple of items, one of the men standing nearby grinned at me and said, “Your hat makes your eyes pop.” I was wearing my denim sun visor and yes, my eyes are blue. I laughed and batted my eyes at him. Then the phraseology made a cartoon character jump into my mind, so I used my hands to indicate my eyes popping out on stalks. Okay, you had to be there, but the amazing thing was that all of the 4 or 5 people listening got it and everyone cracked up. One of the other guys said, “You know, like your eyes stand out.” Which made me laugh even more. “That sounds more like the cartoon version,” I told him. The first guy said, “It was a compliment. Really!”

Across the street was a lady who really liked my car, especially the color (it's dark green). I told her I'd recently noticed that 95% of cars today are black, white, gray or beige. We looked around—the street was full of cars and yup, only mine and one other were not one of those colors. She said she was probably going to become obsessed with watching cars now. When I left she shouted, “Goodbye, Miss Hotrod!”

Around the corner I noticed a couple of those robotic sweepers, Roombas, on a driveway. I asked if they worked but the guy said they both had issues, and that sometimes people liked to part them out to build robots. Then he started telling me what a great tool it is. I wanted to run right out and get one—the company should film this guy. He said he’s an engineer, and he took his newest one to work to show all the other guys how it works. Can't you just see an office full of engineers excitedly gathered around a little robotic vacuum cleaner?

It was a low-pet day, but I had no trouble getting a picture of Arlie:

Her owner said she began setting up her sale at 5 a.m. and as soon as she put the sheepskin on the driveway Arlie had settled in and slept there ever since. I didn’t think the sheepskin would sell, because not only would no one want to interrupt Arlie’s nap, Arlie was not going to budge. I spoke to her and scratched her head, and all I got was eyes slightly open and a soft “Murp” before she went back to sleep.

I spent $18.75 and came home with:

A silk lampshade to try on the brass floor lamp we got a few weeks ago. Not sure this will work, but the price was within my gambling tolerance.
A few gifts—some cute flannel jammies...who knew Victoria’s Secret made flannel pj’s with dogs on them—

or that they have signature buttons?)…
…a copy of High School Musical for someone I know has never seen it…
…and a sweet vintage butterfly pin to put in my mother’s birthday card in a couple of weeks. Hey sis, don’t tell!
I picked up a couple of items for the children’s librarians I work with—stack of felt squares for making flannelboard stories
and a wonderful porcupine hand puppet.
These vintage linens all have spots on them, so I'm hoping the oxy cleaner stuff will work its magic. They were a quarter apiece, and no way could I leave them behind!

This one, the world’s largest dish towel, fooled me—I thought it was embroidery but the design is just drawn on. Heck. Probably won’t keep this.

Found a nice shirt for my husband, a brand he often wears. It looks much better on him that my dress form!
I'm going to put cooking oil in this little container to keep on the kitchen counter. I've been looking for something so I can get the big bottle of oil back in the pantry.
These sweet little note cards will come in handy—especially now that Hallmark is charging for most of its e-cards (dang it!).
This is the box of nifty papers from the former scrapbooker.
And for the first time in several weeks I scored a bunch o’ movies.

Aside from Arlie kitty snoozing, this had to be the cutest thing I saw all morning:
This little girl was enraptured by a music box playing a Christmas tune. She stayed perfectly still the whole time, her eyes glued to the box’s slow turns. When it finished she sat still for a moment longer, then carried the box back to where she’d found it.

A very nice child.

DUCKS AND DOGS AND DEALS ON DRIVEWAYS

This was in the driveway next door to the first sale we stopped at:
Aren’t neighbors fun?

I was reminded of a simple yet profound truth Saturday morning: Happiness really is a warm puppy.
This is Lola. She is ten weeks old. I got to hold her and yes, it did make me happy! Is there anything like that puppy warmth?

Being a holiday weekend, the number of sales was down, but it was a good day for pets, including a pair of freckled cocker spaniels…
…cute little Maggie…
...and a handsome kitty boy whose name has complete left my brain. By now it feels normal not to be able to remember a person's name, but it makes me feel really old not to recall the name of a pet!
We also enjoyed visiting with a lady who has a pair of ducks living in her neighborhood. She felt they needed water, so she went to Big Lots to buy a large container that they could splash around in. Not only did she find one (which gets refilled every day because ducks are enthusiastic splashers), they also had bags of duck food! So Mr. & Mrs. Mallard are very much enjoying their stay in her neighborhood.
I enjoyed having my colleague Trish join me for this week’s garaging. Hopefully next time she comes along there will be many more sales, but we both managed to find some goodies. Trish’s loot included a book by one of her favorite authors, and a large glass bowl embossed with roses.

I spent $6. One find was a new roll of bender board for yard projects. Didn’t bother to take a picture of that! Also found some door prizes, including a new storage case for an iPod and accessories…
…and a brand new Folkmanis mouse puppet.
When Trish saw this she gave a squeal of excitement (she’s a former children’s librarian, and no matter how far into management we migrate, we still get excited over a good puppet!) then clapped her hands over her mouth, lest the sellers decide they should charge me more than a quarter for it.

This will probably be a door prize too, unless I become really good at using it—one of those juggling thingies called a diabolo.
The seller told me her daughter spent a whole bunch o’ money on it when they saw Cirque du Soleil and she was inspired by the performers there. Inspiration was not enough however and apparently you have to actually practice to acquire this skill! Realistically I know I will probably not practice enough either—but just the fantasy of dazzling friends and acquaintances is worth the fifty cents I paid. Actually, I just hope I turn out to be better at this than the marble labyrinth I bought a few weeks ago. Still haven’t managed to get past hole number 3. But then neither has my husband, and for some reason that makes me feel much better about it!

From the duck lady I bought a nifty little clip-on flashlight. I think I'll keep it in my purse, seems like the kind of thing that could be useful.
I'm always looking for garden inspiration…
Been hoping to find a chenille bedspread for my guest room. Haven’t yet, but thought I'd try this matelesse spread for now.
It's a tad formal for us, but heck, it was two bucks and included two pillow shams, and it's from Portugal and I don’t think I own anything else from Portugal. Used to have a spoon rest from there, but we broke it a few months ago. Don’t you think a person ought to have at least one thing in her home from Portugal?

The spread is heavy and I needed both hands to pick it up and check it out, so I stuck the two bottles of dog shampoo I was holding in my pocket. (Yes, my garaging pants have big pockets!) Almost forgot they were there but felt them bouncing around as I was leaving and went back to pay. The lady said just to take them; wasn’t that nice?
My last find was crammed into a plastic bag with a bunch of other linens. The colors called out to me…
…and when I pulled it out I found a round tablecloth. Pretty big, looked like it wanted to be on my patio table.
The price, when I inquired, was reasonable. Very reasonable. In the bag were matching napkins, and I got it all for a buck. I said they were reasonable!

When I got them home I discovered the set is by April Cornell, so the fabric quality is quite nice. Not only that, but two of what I thought were napkins are actually pillow covers, and would you believe her pillow covers are something like $39 each on her website? Tablecloths this size are $89, and 4 napkins are $18. So if you didn’t already know why I shop on driveways instead of stores…now you do!