Pieces of a Life

A couple weeks ago I went to the estate sale of a lady who used to be in a church group I belonged to.  I guess you would call it an estate sale, since the family was dispersing her household but Ms Dorothy is still alive and kicking at 102!  However she hasn't lived in her home for many years and it was just time...

Ms Dorothy is one of those ladies who would just make you smile.  Tiny in stature, she was as tough as nails, no nonsense yet with a gentle heart.  You could find her easily in a crowd as she always was stylishly dressed with a hat.  When she could no longer drive, her son would pick her up for church.  She rode along in the back seat, sitting up straight and looking ahead.  We'd tease that her son was "driving Miss Dorothy".  (Seriously tho.. there was a LOT of resemblance between Ms Dorothy and Miss Daisy!)

She worked as a hospital volunteer well into her 80s.  Her place was the nursery; first doing nursing procedures then as she aged, her job was to love the babies.  

From that came her own special ministry.  She told of how sometimes families didn't have any sort of layette for their new child.  So she made sure every child that needed had a 'onsie' or a sleeper, socks, a cap, a blanket appropriate to the weather, and a tiny New Testament.  Our mission group made sure she stayed supplied.  She would never announce that she needed anything to the group but would stop by me (I was President of the group) and 'mention' she was 'getting short on XXX'.  I would then during the meeting ask her 'how it was going'... THEN she would tell the group what she needed.  She didn't mind very gently used items but would admonish the group, "Don't give me anything you wouldn't have put on your own children!"

We had visited Dorothy many times in her home, so it was very surreal to be walking around poking through her things.  Soon tho we were smiling as memories came.

This is what I brought home.

Little odds and ends.  The round pin next to the dragonfly is a Sunday School pin.

She values education and was very well read.

That is an old book...

She has so many Bibles, commentaries, and Christian books.

Himself went through every Bible there.  He ended up finding some fairly important family items  which he handed over to her daughter-in-law.

And he came home with this Bible of hers.  The illustrations are really interesting.

It feels kind of nice to have a few of her things.  I hope I wear her hats with the same sass she did!

Out of Season Flotsam

As we drive here and there, I tease Himself that I am scanning the roadside for 'flotsam'.  After all, I have made some fun roadside discoveries like my metal "oversize load" sign ( http://teri-gonewalkabout2.blogspot.com/2010/09/highway-flotsam.html ) or my cute little ladder ( http://teri-gonewalkabout2.blogspot.com/2013/01/road-junk-guest-blog-by-himself.html ).

Our trip home from MO was no exception!  We hadn't been on the road very long at all when I was telling Himself to turn around, I saw treasure!  (Right in front of the Harley place Dad.)  

I bounced out of our nice AC cooled truck into 99* plus heat to grab a SNOW SHOVEL!

Yes, a snow shovel.

A brand new snow shovel.  Except for a little road rash it is in perfect shape.

Now Himself can move some snow this winter... if we get us some snow...

That reminds me of a joke on of Himself's cousins told us.  

A man from North Dakota had finally had enough of the windy frigid winters.  He never wanted to be in the cold again.  But where to go to meet that need?

He packed up his car and the last thing he loaded was his snow shovel on top of his car. 

Then he started driving straight south.

He drove and drove and drove, visiting with people along the way.

At a gas station in south Texas a young boy pointed to the roof of the car and asked "What's that?"

With a smile the man said to himself... "This is home!"

A Whole Town of Yard Sales

I like going to yard sales but I'm not so crazy about all the driving around it takes to get to each one.  So when there is a town-wide yard sale, we try to go.  A couple weeks ago the little town of Trenton, KY held their annual yard sale.

People set up all along the main drag, which happens to be Highway 41.

You arrive in whatever your 'wheels' are... auto, tractor, or horse buggy!

Then you start walking!

I'd say 90% of the houses are having a sale... some houses have several sales as friends bring in their stuff too.  This darling house belongs to one of our friends... and another set of friends has set up under the tree.  What fun!  Visiting AND shopping!

The old school's yard is full of tables too.

Even the local business establishments will put out a table or two.

Different musicians played from this flatbed trailer. 

Was it good shopping?

Oh yeah...

These little silver pieces were only .50c each.  They will be holding beads in my studio.  I haven't decided if I'm going to clean them up or not.  

What else did I come home with?  

Let's see... 4 large ice tea glasses for $2 for the set.  (Dad, these should be big enough for your ice tea!)   About 70 different embroidery flosses for $5.  An old 45 rpm record stand for .25c which will hole photos and post cards.  A Pyrex cobble plate for $1.  Miscellaneous 'creative' odds and ends for a coin or two each.  Five medium large steel mixing bowls for $1 each.  A heavy duty stainless steel 10 qt pot and lid for $10.  

Not a bad day...

20 Miles of a 400 Mile Yard Sale

A couple weekends ago Himself and I set out on a treasure hunt.

It was the annual Kentucky Highway 68 Four Hundred Mile yard sale!  Hwy 68 runs not too far from here so it was a perfect day trip.

There were signs all along the highway to lure in buyers.  The towns along the route were also full of yard sales.  Figuring out which ones to check out was the big trick of the day.

A sign pointing down a narrow gravel country road gave me a feeling.  Good things are down little country roads...

In this case, great things!

Mr. Tom and his great grandson Dylan were getting rid of 'junk'.  Stuff everyone else calls 'antiques'... with a bit of funky junk thrown in to make it really fun!  Yep, that's Himself carrying a box for me.

Mr. Tom and Himself hit it off, which worked for me.  The more they talked... the more I shopped!

I mean... look at this wonderful treasure!

He was getting rid of a "few" of his old fishing poles.  A few...yeah, right.  There were 32 poles there!  I wonder how many he kept?

Mr. Tom's sale was the first one we hit... but it sure wasn't the last!  It was truly a target rich environment.  

The back of Little Red when we got home.

Tools.

The wheel barrow was $10, the pry bar was $3, the floor jack was $5.  The cool metal gas can was $2... you'll be seeing that later in a creative project.  The milk crates were $1 each.  One of them is now my 'weeding seat'; which saves my knees hugely!

Kitchen items.

All from Mr. Tom's sale.  The antique candle stick was $1, as was the refrigerator glass container and the vinegar cruet.  The platter was $2 and the peeler was .25c.  

Stuff for Little Bird and Little Hoss.

Great books for .25c or .50c.  The hard hat and 'construction' blanket are going to Little Hoss.  And they will each get a cowboy hat.  

A couple things for organizing in my studio.

OK, the plants aren't from the yard sale.  A friend has an herb business and we stopped by there first to pick up my French tarragon and rosemary.  She threw in the mint and a tarragon alternative (does better in the TN heat and she says tastes just like tarragon), plus a red basil she is having issues with.  I'll try it in my garden and let her know how it does.

The stone face is a planter I'm going to put sedum in for 'hair' and the little owl will sit in one of my succulent pots.

One of the yard sales was at an Amish farm.  

Love this display case I got at Mr. Tom's.  Talk about solid!

And a box full of funky junk for creating!  

Oh yes, it was a grand day!

Star Gazer

 Early last month before my ‘sick’ really knocked me down, Himself and I stopped by a yard sale in our area.  We don’t get many close yard sales because we are so far out… most people get with a friend in town and have a combined sale.

 

Anyway, this family was having the sale to prepare for moving out to California.  They were serious about getting rid of stuff.  One of the things they had was a nice refractor telescope that they wanted just $25 for!  (I looked it up once we got home and it goes for about $150!)  Needless to say, I jumped on it!

 

 

It sat waiting until one day I was feeling pretty good yet tired.  I decided that putting it together would be an easy task I could do from the couch.

 

 

Hmmmm…  Which way did that fit on?

 

 

There were a million parts!  Well, maybe not quite a million but enough to be confusing.

 

 

Let’s see… part B395 fits into part X4261…

 

 

What’s this darn thing supposed to look like again??

 

 

My poor fever-addled brain wasn’t taking it in very fast.  I should have taken a nap before tackling this…

 

 

THAT is supposed to help?!?!

 

 

Does that work…?

 

 

That project is finished at last!! 

 

A week or so later we had a chance to use it for the first time when Saturn put on a show.  We went up the hill to our favorite sky viewing spot by the cow pasture.  There we saw Jupiter and 4 moons, and Saturn with its rings facing out perfectly!  Fun!

 

I don’t have a camera attachment so I tried just holding my little point-and-shoot up to the eye piece.  Terrible pictures… but you get the idea.  We could see the planets WAY better than the photos show!

 

 

Jupiter is the big bright spot on the upper right and one of the moons is the little bright spot in the lower left.

 

 

Saturn.  You can kinda see the shape at the top part of the ‘blur’. 

 

 

(A thank you to Himself who happily snapped photos of his frustrated wife as she put this thing together!)

 

 

Junk Palooza!

Our last trip thru Missouri to visit our family, we made a little detour.  A detour that had my little ol’ junk-loving heart going pitter-pat.

 

 

We visited the Mother of All Junk Yards!  I found this jewel of a place cruising with Google Earth. 

 

 

 

We were in a bit of a hurry to get where we were going, so I’ll have to explore later.

 

 

 

But I did walk around a bit just to see what there was.

 

 

 

 

Oh the possibilities!!

 

 

 

 

Have you ever seen such neatly arranged ‘junk’? 

 

 

 

 

I’m seeing a firepit…  How about you?  It’s the perfect size and only $25! 

 

We had too much stuff in the back of our truck to get it this trip but next time we go up I’ll make sure there I room to bring one home with me!

"Road Junk" (Guest Blog by Himself)

Hey...

Notice the title...   My words while driving along 60 miles an hour and trying to get home without stopping…

Teri's next words were, "Not junk, but FLOTSAM!"

('Flotsam' is an acronym for 'finding-lots-of-trash-sitting-along-[road] median.)  (I just made that up, but it IS.  I just know it...)

We were driving home from Christmas visiting two days ago when Teri, who is generally quite alert, became MORE alert all of a sudden.  Sat straight up in her seat.    Uh oh...    Why?  Because she 'spotted something' alongside the road.   How, I don't know, because it flashed by so fast.   (I could be driving 100 miles per hour and she still can spot something with a look of, "Hmmm...")

She then turns to me...

I might as well give up at that point because when the One-You-Love looks at you 'that way' she is wanting an affirmative 'yes' to whatever request she is about to make.  (Every married guy knows what look I'm talking about.)  To be fair, Teri is reasonable.  If we go to the effort of turning around and finding our way back to it, if it truly isn't salvageable, we leave it and drive on.

So back we go...

Turns out it was a wooden step-stool used by service trucks.  From the looks of it, it wasn't from a 'professional' service truck because those type of guys 'just order another' when something they use starts to show a little wear-and-tear.   No, this looked like the kind used by 'Ole-Joe-down-the-road' who had been using this comfortable looking stepstool for years.  Something he wouldn't want to part with.

(He should have tied it down better...) 

After we stopped and Teri was looking it over, I knew that I was sunk when I heard one word come out of her mouth – “Sweet...”   To Old Joe down the road somewhere it was now a goner.  To us?  Well, I'm glad Old Joe didn't hear some of her final words about it as we continued down the road.   After going on about it a bit I finally tuned her out when I heard the words...

            "...and I will paint it a cute color, and....."

I let my mind drift elsewhere.

 

~ Himself ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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