Our Adventures Amongst The Ducks: October 2015

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Not Much Of Anything

This post is for the weekend of October 17th and 18th. We are almost caught up!

We survived another work week to find another weekend was upon us. Saling was on our mind but our list of potential sales was very disappointing. There were a few sales that made our list but none of them looked like they had great potential. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

Sale #1 was advertised as "years of accumulation" but had no pictures to help us interpret what that meant. We soon found out. It was a garage sale without a lot of things for sale. There were a couple of boxes of books and, in one of them, we found three science fiction paperback books from the 1960's that were of interest. That was all we brought home from there.

Sale #2 was simply listed as an estate sale and there were no pictures. With a list of sales so short and with this sale being a couple of minutes from the first sale, it made our list. Like the first one, it was an outdoor sale. It probably had fewer things than the first sale. We did find an old tropical suitcase, a bride and groom cake topper from 1948 and one plastic fall decoration.

Sale #3, our final sale of the day, was listed as "time to sell everything" and amongst the items listed was a walker. Could that be a hint that "everything" would include some old things? Well, it wasn't. This was a garage sale with nothing, whatsoever, of interest to us. It would be an early day.

With Saturday so absent of quality sales, we searched for a sale or two on Sunday that might change our luck. We found one. It didn't say much but it was run by a tag sale company that has had some great sales in the past. We were optimistic.

In the basement, we found this mounted pencil sharpener which would usually be a good sign. Unfortunately, this was the only thing we found interesting here. We left with nothing.

On the way home, we decided to stop for lunch at a new burger place called Burger City. Hamburger places are popping up all over and this was near the Sunday sale. It was modeled to look a little like drive-in's of the past but without the actual history. The menu was almost identical to All American hamburger Drive-in (one of our favorites and in business since 1963) and the food was really good. Unfortunately, this place has been open for two months and this picture was taken at 11:45 am. It was a ghost town. We hope that this place makes it.

Here are the things we found this weekend:

Some paperback books from the 1960's

An old tropical suitcase, an old plastic fall decoration and a bride and groom cake topper from 1948

We spent the rest of the weekend getting a lot of things done around the house and finding a little time to relax too. We have a three day weekend coming up and we are hopeful that we find a lot more saling opportunities then. It's one extra day for saling. More importantly, it's one extra day together for us.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Mill Neck And The Palace Of Wong

This post is for the second weekend of October. Hopefully, we will catch up soon!

It was another three day weekend for us. Christopher Columbus made sure of it. It would be a busy one and there wasn't a moment to waste but first, earlier in the week, it was time to celebrate Monica's brother-in law's birthday. It was Lenny's special day and we celebrated it at his house.

Lenny prefers apple pie to cake so...we had a birthday apple pie!

Sweetie knew there was something special going on!

Lenny, Marissa and Peter as the candles were lit

The birthday boy with his birthday pie!

Sweetie finally caught on and got her partying self in full swing!

Fast forward to the weekend and Saturday morning. The week's search for sales gave us a list of seven potential sales, none of which stood out. We decided to start with the sales that were closest to our house and go to as many as we could before calling it a day. We had plans for the evening so we couldn't stay out all day. More on that later.

Sale #1 was located in our town and seemed like a logical first stop. It was run by a fairly new tag sale company and its ad listed vintage Halloween and Christmas. We were there not too long after they opened their doors but never saw much of vintage anything. We did pick up a South Of The Border wall plaque (made in Japan) for our Cinco de Mayo parties, an old squeak toy and one book

Sale #2 was also in our town and was run by the same tag sale company. It was just a garage sale to get rid of accumulated merchandise but we knew this up front. There wasn't much for us but we did find some old cake toppers and one cookbook to take home.

After getting some breakfast, we made our way to sale #3 which was about twenty minutes away. There were no pictures in the ad but we thought that a "loaded" house that listed "records" might be worth a shot, especially on a day without any standout sales. It was a big house with several rooms and enough there to keep us occupied searching through lots of things for sale. By the time we left, we were the proud new owners of a few Christmas things, some records, a pair of vintage pocketbook holders and a few other things.

Sale #4 was located nearby and were drawn to the "contents of home" description in the ad. We arrived to find only a few things there but did find an old Christmas candle that we liked.

Sale #5 was also nearby and had no pictures in the ad. We thought that this might be the sleeper of the bunch and wanted to see what "vintage items" meant. We arrived to find an outdoor garage sale that did have some vintage items but not a lot for us. It was the second day of this sale and we were sure there was more here when the sale first began. We did find some old ceramic Easter bunnies and one record so the trip was worthwhile.

At this point, we decided to call it a day. We had plans on Saturday evening and thought a nap might be nice before continuing our Saturday. More on those plans later.

Here are some of the things we brought home with us:

Some records

Some Hawaiian records

Some more Hawaiian records

Some books

A South Of The Border wall plaque (made in Japan), an old squeak toy and a pair of vintage poodle pocketbook holders

Sole old clown cake toppers

Ceramic Easter bunnies (made in Japan)

Some Christmas things. The two ceramic pieces in the front are marked Japan

Saturday night arrived and we had plans. We may have mentioned this earlier. During the week, we read, with great sadness, that one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, Palace Of Wong, was going to close their doors by the end of the month. It had been around for 48 years and was always busy. The owner (the son of its founder) wanted to retire. We knew that we had to go there one more time before it was gone forever. Saturday night would be the night.

These amazing neon signs have been here since they first opened in this location in 1969. The original location was opened in 1967

The iconic Chow Mein neon sign!

Another picture of the amazing neon signs!

Exotic drinks for us...one in a tiki mug and one in a scorpion bowl

Monica used one of the newly acquired vintage pocketbook holders

Palace Of Wong's menu. David Wong, the owner, gave us a copy (not an original) of their first menu at their original 1967 location.

We had a great time here together, as always!

We will miss this place...a lot!

Goodbye, Palace of Wong!

We had plans for Sunday, too. Every year, since Monica was a kid, her family has gone to the Mill Neck Fall Festival. This Sunday was the day and we were ready, bright and early!

The very big and very beautiful Mill Neck Manor (and Peter walking through the picture)

Our first stop, almost always, is to see the Pickle People. Pickles on a stick!

Now, we are pickle people!

Hello!

The view on the manor's property is beautiful!

Peter and Marissa jumping off the steps

Monica's sister, brother-in-law and the kids always have a great time!

Cool car, Peter and Marissa!

Lenny looking dapper!

We dressed up too!

A family portrait that we take every year

A second part of the Mill Neck Fall Festival tradition is going back to Valerie and Lenny's house and having sandwiches stuffed with as many coldcuts and cheese as you wish. We were in a food coma by the time we left. We spent Sunday night relaxing and took it easy on Monday, doing the chores that were necessary but making sure that relaxing together was also a part of the day. We did stop for lunch at Valerie and Lenny's again for more sandwiches. There were plenty of leftovers from Sunday.

It was a great weekend and it made us wish that they could be three day weekends. Regardless of how may days off we have together, we'll always try to make the most of them...and always enjoy every second we spend together.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Joaquin Plays The Spoiler

This post is for the first weekend in October. We're a little behind but we're getting closer to being caught up!

The first weekend in October was supposed to be a four day weekend. The first weekend was supposed to be our stay at the amazing Silver Sands Motel. Neither happened. We blame Joaquin.

Hurricane Joaquin was wreaking havoc in the Bahamas just a few days before we were scheduled to take our four day weekend out east. Most weather models showed that the storm, once it turned northward, would produce a lot of rain in our area...rain that would continue throughout our whole four day weekend.

We had plans to spend a four day weekend in Greenport with a stay at the amazing Silver Sands Motel Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. We were here last October and had a great time. Silver Sands has been around since 1957 and very little has changed. We love everything about it and the hospitality of Terry and Jean add to the wonderful experience of the stay there. Unfortunately, the forecast of rain all weekend forced us into postponing our trip until another time. We also decided to cancel our vacation day for the Tuesday and just make it a three day weekend. For obvious reasons, we did not become big fans of Joaquin.

Saturday morning arrived and our focus turned to the day's sales. By now, Joaquin's effect on our area was downgraded to minimal. We would see some rain and we would feel a little wind but Joaquin would not pay us a visit. We were thankful for that. Our list of Saturday sales was limited to just four but none were very far away from us and our itinerary would definitely be completed by the time we headed for home. Off we went!

Sale #1 was located about fifteen minutes east of us and seemed like the perfect starting point. It started the earliest out of the four sales on our list and all three of the other sales were in the same town. This first sale was going to be a mystery to us because there wasn't all that much information about it other than a description that it had "old bar signs", "vintage sports", "records" and more.

After searching the garage, we went inside and went to the basement first where we found this basement bar. Monica searched it thoroughly.

We also found the pencil sharpener mounted to the wall. We hoped that it would be a good sign!

In a finished crawl space in the basement, there was this little play area with model railroad tracks (the trains were in the garage) and some mounted airplane models. We are sure that there was much more here at one time. This must have been a fun play area for a kid!

There was a really cool old washing machine with wringer. It was in great condition! It is a Maytag!

Although there were two floors, one garage, one shed and one mounted pencil sharpener sighting, all we found here was one record. First, some breakfast and then on to the next sale.

Sale #2 was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies. They are great people and we have had a lot of luck at their sales. We hoped that "entire contents" would be a lucky sale.

The living room (and several other rooms) were filled with records and we spent a considerable amount of time sifting through them!

Our hosts, Ron and Liz, were happy to see us!

The basement was packed and this, too, took us a lot of time. Monica was so busy searching through the rubble that she couldn't even stop long enough to pose for a picture! We spent almost two hours at this house and we did not leave empty-handed! Records, glasses, Tupperware and a few other things came home with us!

Sale #3 was just down the road and it was being run by another one of our favorite tag sale companies. There was nothing in the ad that drew it to us. We saw a house with old elements and saw who was running the sale...and we know that they don't always highlight the things that we like. We have found many unexpected treasures at their sales over the years.

There were two floors and we searched the basement first. This great old metal cabinet was down there with great handles. That was a good sign.

Just down the hallway from the cabinet was this cluttered closet. Rob started digging when he saw Christmas things hidden under boxes. This is what the closet looked like after twenty minutes of digging. We found some good Christmas things in here.

There was also a bar in the basement and we found three old tiki mugs behind it!

On the main floor, the original pink bathroom remained intact. This always makes us smile! What also made us smile were all of the things we found at this house. Aside from Christmas things and tiki mugs, we also found some ashtrays and a few other things!

Our fourth and final sale sale of the day was also in the same town and we were there in moments. It was described as a "moving sale" and that "all must go". It was the second day of this sale so we had no idea whether there would be anything worthwhile for us.

The attic above the garage was packed but we did not find a single thing for us...nor did we find much of anything in any of the rooms of the house. We did come home with one cookbook though

With the threat of rain present most of the weekend, we did not do any barbecuing. We had some chores and some errands to do and we spread them out over the remainder of the weekend, making sure to find time to relax together too.

We did make one visit to a thrift shop in town but didn't find anything worthwhile but we had plenty of good finds on Saturday.

Here is what we brought home the first weekend in October:

Some records

Some Christmas records

Some old Tupperware bowls and parfait cups; all with lids

A milk cup, some ashtrays, an old sugar dispenser, a googly eyed shot glass, some tiki mugs and a ceramic flamingo. The milk cup, tiki mugs and flamingo are all marked Japan.