Saturday, September 26, 2009

Two great finds


Today my mother wanted to go to this sale at St. Paul's Lutheran, on Main Street up near Eggert. We went and there was this sign over the water fountain which I had to photograph.

That is it up above!

These Lutherans, bossing us and using that word "gunk." I love that. "Gunk" is a word I remember from childhood. I have to say I have never seen it used in the context of a sign over the water fountain.

From thence we went to an estate sale on North Forest. Where there was this sign.


These bossy, brittle estate sale people! But I was grateful to them for that sign. It diverted me because my mother has been known to spend hours in the Department of Runners and Doilies.

Doilies. Just that word. Doesn't it kill you?

What about the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company?


That is Richard D'Oyly Carte! He gave the company its name. I never knew that! It never would have occurred to me that there was someone named D'Oyly.

My mother scrutinized the doilies and runners for a long time until I finally got through with photographing the sign and I saw a tablecloth I liked. It was hand-embroidered. Then things went the way the always do. My mom told me to put it down, that she would look around the house and she had extra tablecloths she would give me.

Then I bought some canning jars that were beautiful but I had to tell the checkout guy to talk quietly because I paid $1 more for them than my mother thought I should.

Whatever. When I go to a sale all I really want to know is, where are the Leonard Pennario records? Take me to your Leonard Pennario records.

There was none! Which, I can understand that. As Howard says, they are family heirlooms. Your chance of finding them is slim!

Your chance of finding bossy signs is much greater.

They are not bad either!

5 comments:

Ryan said...

If you're consciously looking for Leonard Pennario records, you won't find any. That's just the way things work in the world of thrift stores/flea markets/yard sales/estate sales. For the last month, I've been looking for four things: a small table for the porch, a green telephone cord, a pitcher for an Oster blender, and a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I've gone to maybe a dozen places (some multiple times), and I can't find any of those things.

Last summer, all I wanted to find was a Nintendo 64 controller. I couldn't find one anywhere, so I gave up. I mean, sure, I could have ordered one online for $20, but that's not the way I operate. Today, I stopped into Goodwill, and they had one for $2! It was because I wasn't looking for it anymore.

Anonymous said...

About gunk & messes: Garson Kanin once wrote that the world is divided into slobs and non-slobs and the slobs, who are a minority, ruin things for everybody. They don't care about or respect anything, he wrote (including, secretly, themselves), and drop their messes anywhere that someone else has to clean up. I think there are laws against littering, but are not enforced...? Of course, I write this because I'm tidy in my habits and support recycling and commie traitor things like that.

markhn said...

We were married at St. Paul's and it was my home church from 1973-1980. I still have some good friends there including Mary Wolf who is currently the church's secretary (and a whole lot more).

Mary Kunz Goldman said...

Ryan, too funny, I found this old comment, I never remember seeing it before, about Julia Child's book. Lizzie and I were just talking about this book tonight and I was saying, I will have to look for it at estate sales. I guess I won't find it!

Mary Kunz Goldman said...

Also... I love Anonymous's comments on the gunk and messes. And Mark H-N, he was intimately acquainted with bossy St. Paul's!