A rare find

 At a garage sale with my mom today I scored this rare Leonard Pennario record. There were two boxes of stellar classical records and this was among them. It is his wonderful performance of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition."

The back of the record was signed by Laura Kelsey. She was Pennario's teacher when he was a boy in Buffalo.

I think that is neat. Someone must have asked her to sign it and so she did.

Here is the man himself pictured on the back.

And his bio.

What a find! I had this record already because Leonard had it, but it is great to have an extra. And I love the idea of his teacher signing it, in his absence.

Would you believe, I found it at the first garage sale I went to? I also bought a record of Fritz Kreisler playing with Rachmaninoff. And five sets of hand towels for the bathroom, and two sets of washcloths, and a 1970s book on sewing.

The folks at that first garage sale said two other people had bought records from their great collection and the two other buyers said they were members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. I loved the pride in their voices when they said that. I love how in Buffalo, BPO musicians are big celebrities.

At subsequent sales I went on to buy a chalkboard, a kids' book on Babar, a pair of sneakers, a bundle of clothes, a Lite-Brite, a glittery red Starbucks coffee mug, a green striped bathing suit, a box set of Miklos Rozsa's music for "Ben-Hur" and a huge heavy stockpot which I talked down from $5 to $3. My mother admired my stockpot purchase. She said, "You're getting good at this."

Ha, ha! It is because she is breathing down my neck. If I paid the complete $5 my mother would never stop hassling me.

So flieth another Saturday.

I am the richer for it!