The Remainder Of May, 2019

The first weekend was a pretty good saling weekend (as detailed during our last post). The rest of May was very slow. The weather remained kind of wet through mid-May but got much better as Memorial Day weekend approached. That was significant as garage sales are an option when good estate sales don't present themselves but with rain in the forecast most weekends, garage sale season started out very slowly.

We didn't find a single sale that greatly interested us the second weekend in May but that just made for a great opportunity to do some cleaning up. We have a storage space that houses our holiday decorations, extra furniture and some miscellaneous things that we are not using right now. We want to free up one side of the garage completely so that was our task for the weekend. We got almost all of that done in just a few carloads and we were very happy with our progress. We had just a little more to do to do and we would complete it at our next opportunity.

On the third Thursday of the month, we had a book signing to attend. David Cone, former Mets and Yankees pitcher, was signing copies of his new book along with Jack Curry, his coauthor. 

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the front of the line but we made it. Here we are with Jack Curry and David Cone.

The new book

Our copy signed by David Cone and Jack Curry.

When the weekend arrived, we still hadn't found any sales of great interest but there was one nearby which described itself as "70 years of accumulation". It admitted to being a garage sale and there were no pictures to support the sale but itb was worth a shot.

We arrived at the sale to find that there wasn't a whole lot of stuff. We glanced at the few tables that were there and went through a pile of records. We found three albums of interest and went home with them.

The rest of the day would be spent stopping at thrift shops in the area and cruising for garage sales. We kept our expectations low as thrift shops in our area don't often result in great finds as they did years ago and garage sales are, of course, hit or miss.  

This was the first thrift shop we visited. It is the place where we donated so many of Monica's mom's old clothes. The ladies who volunteer here are always very nice. 

Creepy nymph alert! This did not come home with us.

Whether we found anything worthwhile or not, we were enjoying the day. It was a true spring day, the likes of which we hadn't seen very often this year. 

Another picture of some beautiful flowers by one of the thrift shops. We have not had a shortage of rain but we have had a shortage of sunlight and flowers have, to a great extent, been late to appear in great numbers. We would admire the great outdoors on this day.

We would go to several thrift shops

This particular thrift shop we rarely visit as they open seem to be open on Saturdays and we are usually at estate sales when they are open.

This thrift shop had an old pencil sharpener which was a good sign. It was, in fact, the best of the thrift shops we visited. We saw several garage sales as well but only a few that drew us from the car. Most turned out to be slow drive-bys. 

Here is what we found driving around:

Some records

A two DVD set of Laurel & Hardy movies

A Highlights magazine from 1968 which was in the free pile

It has an article on Jackie Robinson...

...and, of course, Goofus and Gallant! 

An Animal Rummy card game from the 1960's

A Manchester United uniform from 2007 that we found at a garage sale in Rob's size.

 It is a Cristiano Ronaldo model. 

The following weekend was Memorial Day Weekend and we didn't expect there to any good sales...and there weren't. That gave us the opportunity to finish moving our less important items into our storage space. We did a little of that and did some things we wanted to do around the house. Later that day, we went to an open house nearby. Monica likes to go to these when older, unspoiled houses afford us the opportunity to do so. The house had three very small bedrooms but had some potential. Unfortunately, the kitchen was very small and the cellar had evidence of more than one flood. Still, there a few things to smile over in that basement.

Although severely dented, there was an old mounted pencil sharpener in that basement.

There were several old telephones stored in a recessed space.

The thing we liked best, though, was this great New York World's Fair ashtray which we would gladly grab if this was an estate sale. Rob even made a comment about it hoping that someone in the house would ask for an offer. They didn't. 

Saturday night, we went to our favorite fast food restaurant, the iconic All American Drive In. It has been around since 1963 and we have both been coming here since we were young. It's always crowded and always so good! 

On Sunday, Monica's sister and brother-in-law had a Memorial Day barbecue over their house. Lenny is barbecue chef extraordinaire! 

Monica's brother and father relaxing with Monica on the couch after a big dinner! 

We made a pair of Creamy Jello Pies for dessert

We were so very full when we went home. We were probably moving as slowly as this snail that was lounging on our fence when we came home. With Monday being a bonus day off, we finished the last of our trips to the storage space at that task is now behind us. We only had four work days to get through before a new weekend greeted us but it still seemed like a very long workweek. We did have a surprise awaiting us when we came home on Friday.

This package was in front of our door when we got home. We couldn't imagien what is was at first but then we remembered!

Back in April, http://www.midcenturymenu.com had their 8th Annual Reader's Lamb Cake contest. We submitted a picture of our lamb cake (which we have made for years but change its look a little each year) and it came in second place! RetroRuth, who also authors the blog No Pattern Required, promised us a prize. This was it! 

There was a very appropriate Yankee Candle named Bunny Cake

We also received these two great vintage cookbooks! We can't thank RetroRuth enough and now we vow to make her proud with an even better lamb cake next Easter! 

It was a slow period for saling but it was, as always, just great spending our lives together, and it ended with a very special prize! June began less than a day after our award arrived and...stop reading if you don't like spoilers. Ready? The first weekend was a good weekend for saling! More on that in a few days.