Singing Turtles, Giant Chickens, and Dress-Up Measles

This wool blanket from Ireland

has some holes in it, so it only cost a couple of bucks. “I actually like to mend,” I confided to the lady having the sale. She smiled. “I remember the first thing I had to mend,” she told me. “When I was five I had the measles, and I was so bored laying there in bed all by myself. So my busy little fingers started untying all the knots in the hand-tied quilt my grandma had made me. I took out every single one. My mom was so mad when she found out, but all she did was put the quilt away for a couple of years until she thought I was old enough, and then I had to tie all those knots back again.”

She went on to tell me how she got the measles. “I was not allowed to go play with the little girl next door because she had the measles, so I did not go to her house. But we played dress up by throwing clothes to each other across the driveway.”

Don’t you love that image, two little girls tossing garments to each other across the driveway? I do wonder what the one who already had the measles was doing outside though!

A good measles story would have been enough to make my day, but a couple of stops later was an even better scene. My picture does NOT do it justice.

That small dark object on the floor was a realistic-looking plastic turtle that walked while singing a song about slow down, you’re moving too fast. A woman had just bought it (how I wish I'd gotten to it first! Yes, I would totally buy a singing turtle) and was showing it off, and everyone in the garage gathered around to watch. I'm not sure what was funnier, the turtle or the sight of eight or ten women of various ages laughing as we all watched it.

Garaging just does not get any better than that!

After a measles story and a singing turtle, buying stuff was a bit anticlimactic. I did bring home a large-leaved hosta 

a “summer dress” for Fannie 

and a cute Peter Rabbit 3-D shadowbox.

And our last stop just happened to be at the house across the street from a giant chicken.

A good Friday!

IT'S A SIN!

Saturday morning was already hot by about eight. Why, you’d think we were in Southern California or something! The sunny side of the street may be where you want to direct your feet most of the time, but when that’s where your garage sale is, your sunscreen had better be SPF 563 or thereabouts. One sale I stopped at was evidently the product of several friends who had pooled their stuff, and one of the sellers was very concerned that she hadn’t worn a tank top. But hey, no problem—she just rummaged through the clothes her friend had brought, found a tank top, and went off to change.

Petted the usual variety of dogs—poodle, golden retriever, small mop-like creature—and the unusual tortoise. Her name was Michelle, she is 12 years old, and the family having the yard sale have had her since she was palm-sized. They put her into hibernation every winter, and said she is the easiest pet they have (others include dogs, ferrets, and bunnies). For a reptile, she was pretty darned charming! (Not that I have anything against reptiles. Bugs, yes; reptiles no.) In fact I was so charmed I never thought of taking her picture until I had driven away (my general modus operandi with a camera, which is why we have almost no vacation pictures).

I'd have needed a video camera to capture the scene at another sale. It appeared to be the efforts of an extended family, lots of stuff, lots of people. I was headed back to my car when a raised voice stopped me. A middle-aged woman jerked a white lace dress off the ground and said loudly, “What are you thinking! Your communion dress? It's a sin!” I loved the pragmatic comeback from another family member: “But when was the last time you wore it?”

My last stop was fun. It was a few blocks away from what struck me as one of the best intersections I've ever encountered: the corner of Suburbia and Theseus.

The sale was at a house with a narrow front yard filled with blooms: roses, Jupiter’s beard, evening primrose, sage, coreopsis. I complimented the people having the sale on their lovely yard, who seemed delighted. They immediately offered me cake and we talked plants while I looked around their sale. One of the two women asked me in a slight German accent if I knew what a particular plant was (the Jupiter’s beard--Centranthus ruber). And when I admired a particular geranium she grabbed some clippers and started giving me cuttings. I ended up with 2 or 3 geraniums and a couple of salvias—hope they take root! If I could remember where her house is, I should take her some of the coleus I got a few years ago at another sale. I was admiring it and the homeowner broke off a couple of pieces, and it has proved to be a great garden-workhorse. It looks different depending on where it's growing, and even blooms in long bright-blue spikes.
Hmmm. I bet I could find her house again. It's near the corner of Suburbia and Theseus.

I spent a total of $9.35, and this is what I got:

A Beatrix Potter bowl, from the family with the teenage boy and the poodle. The mom told me she’d decorated her son’s room totally in Beatrix Potter when he was a baby. He looked a little abashed to have anyone know this.








A small vintage Japanese plate, and a not-so-vintage dinner plate with a cheerful design of oranges.

A couple of nearly-new washcloths with roses, and a dishtowel of colors I like. (I have green tile counters in my kitchen, and this will look good with them.) And this vintage embroidered towel—how could I pass up something that says ‘Saturday’? I'm may try to take a picture of it for a blog header.















These fun paper cutouts—the German lady said when she was a child all the kids collected these.

Some silly/fun dangly earrings, which will be perfect with a dress I thrifted last summer.








A door prize for a future meeting with my children’s librarians, a fun metal picture frame.








And some things to sell (which, BTW, if ever you see something here you’re interested in, send me a message; I'd be perfectly happy not to have to list it on eBay!):

A Sigred Olsen tank top…












Adorable dress from Talbot’s, printed with tiny little veggies!

And this terrific Coach bag. Not sure why anyone would get rid of a Coach bag, because they basically last forever, but garagers don’t ask those questions, we just quietly (well, pretty quietly!) pay and head down the trail to the next sale.




Speaking of heading down the trail…I'll be in Oregon next Saturday. I'll try to go garaging up there but don’t know if that will happen, so I may miss a week blogging. But I'll be back soon!