At Long Last

We had perfect weather for yard sales today. We started off at a small sale on our street. The people were very friendly, but otherwise it was a sad affair. The woman of the house told me that she suffers from fibromyalgia and did not have the energy to keep the house maintained. She was trying to get rid of small appliances, books, and twee nicknacks. I bought two Christmas craft/cookbooks and a vintage cookbook with florescent green cocktails on the cover. The seller asked Duncan if he believed in angels and then gave him a ceramic keepsake of an angel sitting on a crescent moon. It was pretty tacky and it reeked of smoke, but her heart was in the right place. We thanked her for it and moved on. 

Two-fifths of the Village People. 

We strolled up to Mortimer where we found ourselves at a driveway sale that we've been to before. We remembered the thirty-something couple and their bulldog and they remembered us. They even remembered some of the things we bought two years ago like Duncan's rice paper night light that spins around slowly and casts colourful light on the ceiling. This sale had a nice mix of old and new clutter. Duncan scooped up a bunch of toys including a vintage Fisher-Price police officer with car, and a construction worker with a bulldozer. I grabbed some seed trays, coco fiber pots, a couple of mugs, and a candle holder. When we were leaving, Duncan noticed a brand new Care Bear and while we were paying for it, one of the sellers gave him a Hot Wheels stunt ramp for free. Love those East Yorkers! 

Retro horse and duck riders. 

A face in need of lifting. 

Bruce Cockburn on a chair in the snow on a CD on a table at a yard sale in spring. 

Gotta love those horse riding monkeys. 

Electric scissors. Another great invention that just never took off. 

Yet another over-priced university textbook now languishing on a front lawn. 

My stash: a creepy cast iron candle holder, and two delightful mugs. 

Upper Canada Village mug. Memories of the good old days when children got the strap. 

What the heck does this mean: "One of the Manhandlers?" And what do manhandlers have to do with Campbell's Soup?

Construction guy in action. Excuse my toes. 

Police officer tries to arrest a lily-of-the-valley.

We made a pit stop at home and then I took Duncan out on the bike. I'm glad I can still squeeze him in the bike seat though I suspect he's surpassed the 40 lb maximum weight. We found two more so-so sales. One was run by some soon-to-be empty-nesters who thought Duncan was cute and they sold us this Tonka dump truck for one dollar. He now has Tonka dump truck in every size. As we were leaving the woman told me that her children were in their twenties and she remembers when they were Duncan's age. She insisted we take a Beenie Baby bunny. It seemed to represent some sort of passing the torch thing to her. Yard sales can be very emotional. 
Later, we found a small but charming sale on our way back. There was a smart little grade three boy who was selling off his dinosaur collection - five dinosaurs for a quarter. Duncan also bought a small steam engine and a zamboni. 

Splendor in the grass. 

The smile says it all.