Yard Sale Day 2013
My head is splitting and my feet are killing me but I can't resist posting snaps of today's haul. For the last several years there has been a Yard Sale Day in West Seattle; we've done at least some shopping on the day for the last three years. This year we actually reviewed the list (some 280 separate addresses!) and map and decided on a plan of attack in advance. We even got up early on a Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't plan sufficiently to have actual cash so our first stop had to be the bank machine half a mile up the road. We continued on from there rather than returning to our own immediate neighborhood, intending to come back and knock off the most local sales after we'd finished with the dozen or so we'd marked on the other side of the Junction.
Of course it didn't work that way. There were a number of "pirate" sales that weren't on the map and I am incapable of ignoring a sale that is within sight regardless of whether it is circled on a map. We never knowingly found the one sale I'd really wanted to get to but later realized that probably we'd shopped it without recognizing it. (If so, she'd sold her hummingbird feeders before we arrived.) Eli considered getting a shirt to wear over his t-shirt at the first sale we encountered post-cash-machine because he was cold; by the time we were stumbling vaguely homeward three hours later, we were reviewing the symptoms for hyperthermia. It was damned hot and sort of muggy. And we were somewhat laden down though I resisted furniture this year. When we reached home I wanted nothing more than a cool shower, some water, and an ice cream cone to consume in the shade. Happily, I got all that I wanted.
I love yard sales for the fascinating things I didn't even know I wanted that I can buy cheaply while feeling smugly that I'm recycling/reusing but there's also the personal interactions and little insights into other lives that I enjoy. My first purchase was a basket that won't really work as my new bike basket but which I liked anyway and, hey, it was seventy-five cents. It turns out that the woman who was selling it had used it some forty-odd years ago to carry her school books in high school. "We all had them back then," she said. "We'd decorate them all sorts of ways to individualize them. We had to wear nylons then, though, and the baskets were always snagging them." Do you get *that* at Nordstrom's or Walmart? I think not. I also considered some nice old pillowcases at another sale. They weren't priced so I asked, "How much?" The woman said that it was always so hard to put a price on some things; these had been embroidered by her grandmother and she'd been keeping them in an old chest for years. I should just offer what I thought they were worth and that'd be fine. In Seattle, of course, we must consider the sensitivities and sensibilities of others so I was then stuck offering what I thought her memories of her grandmother might be worth to her. I opted to agree that they were lovely but I'd probably destroy them by washing them so it would be best to leave them for a more gentle customer, thus tossing it nicely back to the seller. A minute later she decided that I could have all of them (there were six, I think, in sets of two) for $15.00. Which was likely a steal of a price but they really *would* get beat up being washed and, really, how many pillow cases do I need anyway?
Not that such rational thinking prevented me from buying a set of four champagne, six cordial, and six god-knows-what glasses at the next sale. The sellers had sensibly stuck a post-it on one glass reading "$10 for all" and offered that they had a lot of tissue paper on hand. As we wrapped them up, the woman told me they'd belonged to her mother but they'd been sitting in a cupboard since 1994 so... I opined they could now sit in my cupboard which, god knows, they probably will.
Eli's favorite words of wisdom of the day came from the woman from whom I bought a linen shirt and a little vase ($3 total): "It's tough to make a buck on a dollar."
Interior of the 40+-year-old book basket. (It was *excellent* for carrying stuff we purchased around.)
The glass collection
Wok which came with a long explanation about how it should be seasoned, cooked in, and cleaned. Also cute old tea towel and those glasses again.
Juicer, jar (which was ideal for segregating the wrappers from baked goods and coffees that were purchased along the way), and six of the eight napkins added to The Napkin Collection Chez Aurora
The full haul. (I'm thinking I might just hem the underlying fabric and make it a tablecloth. Or it could end up in a quilt. It, plus the chick cookie cutter = $1.)
alexfandra and I both took photos of meadow rue blossoms lately. How weird is that?
Gradka looking particularly regal
Of course it didn't work that way. There were a number of "pirate" sales that weren't on the map and I am incapable of ignoring a sale that is within sight regardless of whether it is circled on a map. We never knowingly found the one sale I'd really wanted to get to but later realized that probably we'd shopped it without recognizing it. (If so, she'd sold her hummingbird feeders before we arrived.) Eli considered getting a shirt to wear over his t-shirt at the first sale we encountered post-cash-machine because he was cold; by the time we were stumbling vaguely homeward three hours later, we were reviewing the symptoms for hyperthermia. It was damned hot and sort of muggy. And we were somewhat laden down though I resisted furniture this year. When we reached home I wanted nothing more than a cool shower, some water, and an ice cream cone to consume in the shade. Happily, I got all that I wanted.
I love yard sales for the fascinating things I didn't even know I wanted that I can buy cheaply while feeling smugly that I'm recycling/reusing but there's also the personal interactions and little insights into other lives that I enjoy. My first purchase was a basket that won't really work as my new bike basket but which I liked anyway and, hey, it was seventy-five cents. It turns out that the woman who was selling it had used it some forty-odd years ago to carry her school books in high school. "We all had them back then," she said. "We'd decorate them all sorts of ways to individualize them. We had to wear nylons then, though, and the baskets were always snagging them." Do you get *that* at Nordstrom's or Walmart? I think not. I also considered some nice old pillowcases at another sale. They weren't priced so I asked, "How much?" The woman said that it was always so hard to put a price on some things; these had been embroidered by her grandmother and she'd been keeping them in an old chest for years. I should just offer what I thought they were worth and that'd be fine. In Seattle, of course, we must consider the sensitivities and sensibilities of others so I was then stuck offering what I thought her memories of her grandmother might be worth to her. I opted to agree that they were lovely but I'd probably destroy them by washing them so it would be best to leave them for a more gentle customer, thus tossing it nicely back to the seller. A minute later she decided that I could have all of them (there were six, I think, in sets of two) for $15.00. Which was likely a steal of a price but they really *would* get beat up being washed and, really, how many pillow cases do I need anyway?
Not that such rational thinking prevented me from buying a set of four champagne, six cordial, and six god-knows-what glasses at the next sale. The sellers had sensibly stuck a post-it on one glass reading "$10 for all" and offered that they had a lot of tissue paper on hand. As we wrapped them up, the woman told me they'd belonged to her mother but they'd been sitting in a cupboard since 1994 so... I opined they could now sit in my cupboard which, god knows, they probably will.
Eli's favorite words of wisdom of the day came from the woman from whom I bought a linen shirt and a little vase ($3 total): "It's tough to make a buck on a dollar."
Interior of the 40+-year-old book basket. (It was *excellent* for carrying stuff we purchased around.)
The glass collection
Wok which came with a long explanation about how it should be seasoned, cooked in, and cleaned. Also cute old tea towel and those glasses again.
Juicer, jar (which was ideal for segregating the wrappers from baked goods and coffees that were purchased along the way), and six of the eight napkins added to The Napkin Collection Chez Aurora
The full haul. (I'm thinking I might just hem the underlying fabric and make it a tablecloth. Or it could end up in a quilt. It, plus the chick cookie cutter = $1.)
alexfandra and I both took photos of meadow rue blossoms lately. How weird is that?
Gradka looking particularly regal