I Believe...I Believe

It was Labor Day weekend and, yes, another three day weekend for us but not in the same way as we had been taking them recently. Friday would be a work day this week but Monday would be a day off just as it would for everyone else. We were looking forward to it. We didn't expect it to be a great saling week because so many of the tag sale companies would take extended weekends as well. Our weeklong search for sales did provide us with three opportunities on Saturday and that was a lot more than we expected. With our list prepared and hope in our hearts, off we went!

Sale #1 was described as "grandfather's house of 60 years". That sounded promising. It was the second day of the sale so we didn't get our hopes up too high. When we arrived, there were things on tables and strewn on blankets all over the lawn. It was clear that the "60 years" was probably accurate as many of the items there were older. We would have liked it better if it was inside, too, and we wondered what things we might have missed the day before. We didn't leave empty-handed, though. A pair of records, a cookbook and some vintage cookie cutters.

Our next stop was for breakfast because we were too hungry to make the thirty minute journey to sale #2 without it! With our bellies full, we made our way to our second sale which we hoped would be a worthwhile trip. 

This sale was modestly described but had a picture that showed old glass Christmas ornaments and some other pictures that hinted at older contents. When we got a look at the house, we were not disappointed. It was clearly an older house and it had a mid-1970's Mercury Marquis in the driveway (we could almost hear Ricardo Montalban describing the interior of the car as having "rich Corinthian leather") which is not a car a younger person would still drive.   

The back of the house was pretty cool, too, but just so you don't get the wrong idea, we did not spend our entire visit here standing outside. It was the inside that would have or not have treasures for us. There was a basement and a main floor to search and they were fairly neat so it didn't take very long for us to search the entire house. When we left, it was with some records, some cookbooks, some Christmas things an old Tupperware Jifi Sift powdered sugar dispenser. 

We had one more sale to go but we had another mission while in the area of this last sale. We don't find ourselves in this area too often but we promised each other that, one day, we had to visit a very special house nearby. Today was that day.

In the 1947 Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street, Susan (Natalie Wood) wishes for this house from Santa. In this picture, she can been seen at the front door.

Here is the house today. They have added a room upstairs but much of the rest of the house seems to be fairly unchanged from 1947. 

We believe...we believe.

Our last sale was a church sale. This church has three sales a year and we usually try to make them all. We have found a few good things here over the years but, today, it was just two books.

Sunday was the day we had to watch for the remnants of Hurricane Hermine which threatened to turn Sunday and Monday into rainy, windy days. We had almost no rain and only mild wind.

We will rebuild

On Labor Day, we took an early evening walk around our lake, a place we have hardly visited all summer because it has been so hot. It was a beautiful night and the geese seemed to enjoy it, too!

So did the swans

This swan was a ham for the camera

The ducks were happy to see us! 

After the walk around the lake, we walked through town which is almost decorated with flowers all summer long like these...

...and these.

There are lots of older businesses in town. We love the old neon lights on the liquor store.

This shoe repair shop is one of the oldest businesses in town but it will be no more.

The owner has, sadly, passed away

We stopped for ice cream during our walk and had to visit Nipper, the giant Plesser's dog! 

When we finally had a chance to sit down and look at what we brought home this weekend, this is what we saw:

A pair of Arthur Murray records

A pair of Soupy Sales records

Some more 12-inch records

A 7-inch record

A pair of old books on Indians

Cookbooks

More cookbooks

Cookbooks and a book on advertising art

An old Tupperware Jifi Sift powdered sugar dispenser

Vintage cookie cutters

Two vintage boxes of Christmas icicles

The back of one of the icicle boxes had an offer for a Millionaire's Vacation For Two! Unfortunately, entries had to be received by January 7, 1967.

More Christmas things...two Christmas potholders (made in Japan), two old boxes of ornament hangers and two old Christmas corsages for Monica

More Christmas stuff...a Christmas record, an old bank-issued Christmas carol book, a mica house (Japan) and a set of ceramic Noel candle holders in their box (Japan).

It was a Labor Day weekend filled with fun sales, beautiful weather and, best of all, time spent together.