Splurge!

It’s getting late in the year (do you realize there are only 7 weekends left in 2013? Yikes!) and sales are dwindling. We are entering the season of the estate sale. There were only half a dozen sales on my list to check out over the two days. Who knew that this would end up being the weekend I’d spend over fifty bucks?
Yes, for me that is a major splurge! And half of it was for one item. A sudden fit of passion was all it took!
Judy and I headed out Friday for sales that were miles apart. There was still a short line waiting to get into the first estate sale, but we decided to wait. Everyone was chatting and having a nice time. I got into conversation with the lady behind us, and Judy suddenly left the line to talk to a gentleman 4 or 5 places back. When we got inside she explained he was her ex-brother in law! This happens all the time with her, the woman runs into someone she knows just about everywhere we go. Didn’t find anything I wanted to here, so we hopped back in the car and headed to the north end of town. (Chattering all the way – we never run out of conversation.)
This sale was better – I actually started picking up a few things. A pair of black angora gloves, a white Italian wool muffler that looks like it’s never been used (I like it with that black coat I got

 a can of mini Victorian twisted tinsel, just like I found at another sale last year.

 Could not resist this vintage wire letter holder – it looks too much like our friend Xanadu!

 A box held pieces of fabric of various sizes, and for one single dollar I scored this lovely, heavy silk. The front & back are completely different.

  

It’s only 36” wide but there’s over 3 yards of it. Any suggestions on how I should use it?

Then we walked into the living room, where we saw a mid century cabinet in one corner. Judy wondered what it was, and I said I bet it was a record player. The price wasn't marked, so we asked. Twenty-five bucks. Does it work? No one knew. Another shopper asked if it had a radio in it, and we all stood around inspecting it. Then one of the worker guys grabbed an album off the pile that was for sale, put it on the turntable, and gently lifted the needle onto the record.

Nat King Cole began to sing “Unforgettable.” Everyone in the room paused in what they were doing. And a moment later, over the lush music, I heard a voice saying, “Mine. It’s mine. I’ll take it.”

Yeah. My voice. What can I say…the sound was to die for; I could hardly believe the clarity. An RCA Victor Total Sound Stereophonic record player. It’s a wonderful piece of furniture, just the right period for my house. 

 

I love the legs, the font on the control panel.

    

Look at the embossed emblem on the arm. 

 Nipper, the RCA dog, always reminds me of our Zoe. Or vice versa.

These puppies were the bomb, back in the day.

 And yes, I bought the Nat King Cole album too, plus another blast from the past.

   

Luckily I was driving the Civic (knew it was too cold and rainy to put the top down on my convertible) and the RCA fit nicely into the back. We headed on to our last estate sale, where the first thing I saw was a piano. I have my weaknesses; I can never pass a wind chime without hearing what it sounds like, and I’m the same with a piano. So I stood and played it for a couple of minutes (that folk-sounding tune that Ken Burns used in his Civil War documentary). A nice looking piano but the sound left something to be desired. Left it to look at the stack of record albums (now that I have to collect them again!) and when I asked how much the records were, the lady said, “They’re a dollar each, and you get a free one because you played the piano!” First time I've ever been rewarded for my piano playing, which is at a pretty primitive level!

Saturday started with an estate sale with nothing for me, then a couple of moving sales. When I arrived at the first, they were loading the biggest Christmas wreath I've ever seen into the trunk of a car as a cute little dog watched. I went inside to shop, and a few minutes later the guy came in laughing. “While we loading that thing,” he told his wife, “Al climbed into the front seat of her car and was ready for a ride.” Al was the dog. He spends his days in a second grade classroom. Lucky kids!

 

There were some wine glasses for sale, and okay, that’s another sound I can’t resist. I never buy a wine glass without pinging it, and if it doesn't sound right I don’t buy it. These sounded fine.

 

When I got them home I noticed a brand name etched on the base and looked them up. 

Riedel. OMG. Did you know that just one of their best wine glasses can cost over $200? I imagine these two are from a less fancy line, but even the least expensive ones are over twenty bucks each. I’d say a buck for the pair is a win for me – and just think how good my pinot noir will taste!

My last stop was more downscale, but a nice family, getting ready to move. I noticed a little glass topped patio table and four chairs; they need repainting but hey, for $15 I can do that. And the chairs are fabulous. 

 

I discovered they were made by Homecrest, most likely in the early Sixties. I’ll be keeping an eye out for something like a heavy vinyl tablecloth to use for recovering the seats. This set will live on our downstairs deck. Any votes on what color to paint them?

So that’s the story of my third biggest splurge of 2013. Number two was the weekend that included a weight bench set for fifty bucks, which my husband uses regularly. (Better than monthly gym fees!) And the really biggie was back in May when I scored 31 items of quality clothing for a little over $70 – or about the price of just one of the Hawaiian shirts it included.

Seven more weekends…wonder if there are any more treasures out there waiting for me this year?

*************

When I wrote that last paragraph on Saturday evening, I figured that was the end of the story. But every time I woke up in the night I found I was thinking about something I’d seen at the first sale on Saturday, and I knew I had to go back.

For a bonsai.

This estate sale included a big collection of bonsai. I have to admit I can take or leave the usual evergreens, but these were mostly deciduous trees. Maples, a mimosa, a contorted filbert. 

I was tempted but resisted their price…but knew that Sunday would be half-price day. I admit I was kind of antsy driving over there, afraid they’d all be gone. I kept reminding myself of my belief that if we’re supposed to have something, we will. When I arrived at the house I hurried downstairs and out onto the patio – where there were two bonsai left. An evergreen, and an elm.

 

Of all the bonsai in the group picture, I do think this is about the prettiest! I love the double trunk. And when I got home I started reading about its care, and apparently the Chinese elm is considered perfect for beginners. (Whew!) And you know what? I bet my little tree will just love Nat King Cole.

MCM Eye Candy

As you may know, the home we retired to in Oregon is a Mid Century Modern post-and-beam house, built in 1957.

Since we bought it I’ve had lots of fun looking for furniture and accessories from the Fifties, and have really come to love the modern architecture of the period. In fact, we’re working on starting a social group for local MCM homeowners and aficionados. Turns out my neighborhood is just full of amazing houses.

But what I want to share with you is not my neighborhood – it’s a bunch of MCM architecture mostly from the Seattle area. Rambling around online I came across the University of Washington Library’s photographic collections, particularly the Dearborn – Massar collection. They were a husband and wife team who took pictures of Pacific Northwest architecture from the Forties into the mid-Sixties. Mostly houses but also schools, medical buildings, offices, churches.

I love the house pictures! I’m sure we all see interior decoration all the time, but these are from the period the houses were built. I’ve been struck over and over at the simplicity of kitchens then. And the wonderful furniture I drool over is often in living rooms that by today’s standards are quite bare, with just a few pieces in them. Every once in a while I see something in a picture that I actually own – a teapot, my dining chairs. Maybe I’ll run into my new/old Ben Seibel creamer in someone’s kitchen.

There are over 1300 pictures in the collection, all in black and white. Yes, color might be nice, but in grayscale I think you are more aware of shapes. Some of the pictures seem to be repeats, but even so there’s a ton to look at.

I’ve been pinning some of them to my Pinterest board. So far nothing I’ve pinned has been pinned by anyone else, and given the ubiquity of Pinterest these days, that tells me that not enough people know about these photos. So if you’re a Madmen fan who’s been enjoying their sets, or grew up in the Fifties and have fond memories, or just like MCM architecture, go take a look. A lot of time and effort went into scanning all these pictures, they deserve to be enjoyed!

Cranky

Someone has started posting ads on our local Craigslist reviewing the various sales they go to. Okay, not so much reviewing as taking the ones they don’t like to task. I’ve seen several where they tell you that such-and-such sale is full of crap, or that it’s supposed to be an estate sale but obviously is not. Or that somebody running a sale is really rude. Having been to some of the sales they’ve critiqued, I have to admit they were spot on, though sometimes harsher than I thought necessary.

For instance, there was a sale in town this weekend that said it was a fund raiser. Their photos on the Craigslist ad showed lots of stuff, so I headed over there. Wasn’t as fabulous as the pics made me hope, but I found a couple of things and the folks were nice. But the Yard Sale Reviewer criticized them on C’list for not identifying who or what they were raising funds for. I had the impression it was a church group, and didn’t care anyway. After all, for five bucks I took away this nice pot

for my new cyclamen that I picked up at Trader Joe’s this week. (The lady in front of me in the checkout line said the one she got last winter bloomed for eight months, so I thought I’d give it a try.)

Plus a mint Erzgebirge nutcracker.

Did you ever see such a militaristic Santa? I fell in love with his hat with the wooden pompom.

Plus, a warm overcoat in my size. The fabric felt so nice when I picked it up I had to hunt for the content label. Sure enough – wool and cashmere, in perfect condition.

I can hardly wait for real winter weather. Okay, yes I can, but I’ll be ready for it. the brand is one sold at Nordstrom's, so the original owner probably paid a pretty penny.

And if it turns out I don’t use the coat much, Noll Baxter assures me he’d love to have it for a cat bed.

So the YSR may have been overly cranky here. But I thought they had a point with another of their critiques about an estate sale down the hill from my house: 

This is a family sale that was picked over before and the leftovers are ridiculously priced. Worse than that, they lied in their posting. They listed jewelry and I sat there for three hours waiting for the sale to open...only to discover that there is no jewelry. I hate liars, misrepresenters, and overpricers. Don't waste your time with this hard to get to sale.

It was definitely hard to get to. When I arrived I had to park a block or so away, and met some people coming down the quite steep lane to the sale. They told me the sellers were only letting in eight people at a time and there was a really long line, so I left and went back later. It was indeed an estate sale being run by the family, and the daughter of the house didn’t really want to part with anything. I don’t know about the jewelry, but overpriced, for sure. Even though it was in a pretty cool mid-century modern house (original appliances in the kitchen, ceiling tiles printed with starburst designs, light fixtures that would look SO much better in my MCM house!)

the people running the sale had such attitude that I was decidedly cranky when I left. No, I did not write that ad. But you know that because you know I’d never wait three hours to look at some jewelry!

Personally I think the YSR missed the boat on the weirdest sale out there. I admit their ad was clear that it was the second weekend of their sale but promised they had brought in many more items. If I had remembered exactly which place it was from the week before I’d never have returned. But I did.

Both times, the supposed houseful of items was a couple of pieces of furniture inside (where grandma was making her breakfast as people trooped through the kitchen) and some framed art prints. Out in the crowded garage people asked the middle age woman taking money about prices on the mostly-unmarked items. She quickly became flustered and her language quite peppered with four-letter words (pretty unusual around here – at least in public). Another woman and I exchanged glances over the tatty vases and used clothing. “I don’t think I’d put her in charge of the money,” she murmured.

I was mentally kicking myself for returning as soon as I headed up their driveway and realized where I was. But I was there, so I looked around. Maybe they did bring in more stuff, but if anything their prices had gone up from the week before. Another shopper said something to me about being sorry for the ruckus she had raised, which I had missed. She thought the price marked on an old doll was fifty cents – and it was supposed to be fifty bucks. I guess the cashier had been pretty snippy.

There was a nice kitty demonstrating the linens

  

but it wasn’t even their cat and had wandered over from a neighbor’s house. I was on my way out when I spotted a little midcentury cream pitcher and picked it up.

Of all their overpriced merchandise, this was the only really cool piece there – and it was marked twenty-five cents.

          

So now it’s mine. And I’m never going back to their house again!

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!”