Adventure in Amherst

I went back to Williamsville today with my mom to hit a few sales. My mother is doing great these days, which is iffy news for me because that means that she supervises me more closely as we shop.

There was this wild 1960s ranch house on a street near North Forest, I forget the name. They had a giant table full of pink glassware and a table full of blue glassware and about 10,000 wine glasses.

"These people liked to entertain," someone said.

And I heard a girl say, "Maybe they had a wedding."

Ha, ha! Meaning, that was how they got all this glassware. Plus at least 10 butter dishes. I noticed the butter dishes because that is one thing my mother is looking for expressly. And she rejected every single one of those butter dishes.

These people whose estate this was, their name was on the mailbox and I thought it was Applebaum, so I expected they would be Jewish. I always love that because it means the record selection will be good. I know it is stereotyping but I always expect Jewish people to have good taste in music.

But they were Catholic. There was a St. Aloysius Gonzaga calendar on their fridge and crucifixes for sale in the back room. I keep looking for a lace thingie to wear over my head when I go to Mass and I began hoping I would find one there. But I did not.

I also found no Leonard Pennario records. There was an Earl Wild record there, Earl Wild playing the "Rhapsody in Blue." But alas, no Leonard.

One thing caught my eye and that was a vintage tablecloth. I love vintage tablecloths. We were kind of late to the sale so everything was half off. That meant that the tablecloth which was marked $10 was $5.

My mom thought that was too expensive. But as I said, I like vintage tablecloths. So when we were leaving I took it to the checkout.

"How much was this tablecloth?" said the woman in the apron doing the checking out.

I felt my mother over my shoulder, observing the transaction alertly.

So I put on my famous Passive Aggressive Act. "I don't know," I told the clerk. "I can't remember."

She appraised the tablecloth. "Five dollars," she said. "That means it will be two fifty."

My mother sort of drew in her breath with satisfaction. No one else would have noticed but me! I did not look at her and she did not look at me but as soon as we got out the door we burst out laughing.

"You got a bargain!!" my mother gloated.

Ha, ha!

At another sale I got Howard a bunch of Errol Garner records. We are big fans of Errol Garner. My mother is not. No Saturday is complete without my mother telling me aggressively that she simply does not care for Errol Garner. Her loss!

My mother got a magnifying glass for a buck. I got a measuring cup, the 2-cup heavy glass kind you always need. I got it for a dollar which my mother says was another bargain because usually you can not find them for under $2.

Life is good!