Flashback - The First Two Weekends of February, 2020

There's nothing all that new in Social Distancing Land. The pandemic seems to have reached its peak here and the curve is trending downwards but we remain a long way away from life as it was once. As we await the opportunity to go to estate sales again, we are catching up on the period of time when our blog was on hiatus for six months. This post covers the first two weekends of February, 2020. 

The first Saturday of February found us with two sales on our list. Neither seemed amazing but both had potential. The first sale was only fifteen minutes from home was run by an estate sale company we know but whose sales have mainly been on Fridays so we rarely see them anymore. There were certainly some old things in the pictures and we were hopeful of finding something. We got there as they opened and found that there were not many people here.

It was time to see what was inside. 

When we walked inside, there was a Native American welcoming committee. 

There were a couple of Napco lady head vases there. They weren't all that cheap so Monica just chose one to take home. 

There were lots of things inside this old china cabinet but the best thing of all about the china cabinet was...

...the starbust hardware.

The dining room table and chairs were very 60's mod.

The basement had homemade cabinets with drawers that had crazy angles! 

This side of the basement was amazing! Knotty wood pine and great staircase shelves! 

This basement must have had some great parties back in the day! 

The basement bar was great! 

The TV set in the wall was so cool! 

Whereas this picture on the wall was so scary! 

One bathroom was pink and pretty much as it was when it the house was built in the 1950's. 

One side of the upstairs was converted into an apartment.

That apartment had an old yellow sink with a metallic backsplash which led us to believe that the apartment had been here for a long time. 

Check out the starburst pattern on that backsplash! 

Another view of those starburst patterns.

The other bathroom was vintage blue with some pink involved. Look at that great tile floor! 

A view of the kitchen with real wood cabinets, an old stove and a multi-colored backsplash. 

A closer view of the wooden cabinets, the stove and the backsplash. 

That backsplash deserves a closer look! 

This house was a lot of fun and, although we didn't get much here, we enjoyed this house a lot. We did leave with a that ceramic lady head vase, some chalkware fish, a pair of great Christmas glasses and some records. 

Our second sale was not so much a sale as it was a return visit to a house we visited the prior week. This time, they were giving everything away. We found a pair of paperback books, some new solar power dancing figures for our cars and the vintage pole lamp that we saw the week before.

We had lots of time to look at what we found when we got home and this is what we saw:

Some records

Some paperback books

Some solar powered dancing figures

A Napco lady head vase

A vintage pole lamp. We disassembled it for the drive home

Chalkware fish

Vintage Christmas glasses

The second weekend of February gave us two more sales of interest. The first was being run by one of our favorite tag sales companies and we make almost all of their sales. 

It wasn't hard to find the sale because it was in Monica's hometown. We got here nice and early so we could get in quickly.

So did 19 other people. They let us inside within a few minutes of the open anyway. 

We checked the basement first which had boxes of holiday items. Unfortunately, they were all new things. 

The main level was not modern by any stretch of the imagination but there was not much here for us. 

The bookcase was filled with books and knickknacks. We didn't select any books but we did find a pair of old elves there.

Our hosts were happy to see us! 

The upstairs had rooms with drawers and boxes to search. We found a lot of cool old postcards and some came home with us as did some cool old towels. The lampshade on the desk was great but we weren't fond of the lamp itself so it did not come home with us. 

He didn't come home with us and he didn't look too happy about that! 

Our second sale didn't look like much but it was in our town so it was worth a look. 

The house did have an old basement bar.

It wasn't that there wasn't anything there. It's just that there was nothing for us...except some records which we found upstairs and brought home. 

When our saling was over, we had a chance to look at the few things we did find and here they are:

Some records

Some Christmas records

Elves 

A necklace for Monica

Some old postcards

Some vintage naughty kitchen towels.

We had Sunday to relax and stay at home to catch up on chores, a practice that we didn't realize would become an every day way of life just a month later. We'll get past this as will all of you. We just have to exercise some restraint and patience a little while longer until life returns to normal. If we are going to be stuck inside, at least we are doing so with the person we love so very much!

We will catch up with you some more very soon! 

Flashback - The Last Half Of January, 2020

Well...there are no new estate saling adventures on which to report but I'm sure you figured that out. The coronavirus is still wreaking habit on the world and we remain at Ground Zero. It will still be at least a few months before estate sales are live again and we're prepared to wait it out. In the meantime, we're catching up on the six month period during which our blog was on hiatus. This post will recap the second half of January, 2020. 

The third weekend in January was a weekend without any estate sales of interest to us. There were no sales but there was snow. That should not seem unusual for winter in New York but it was in 2020. This storm brought us 3.5 inches of snow. We had no other snow the entire month. Spoiler alert: We did not get any snow in February or March, 2020 at all! 

The following Friday, we had a concert and, for once, it was local. China Crisis was playing in a converted movie theater located just fifteen minutes from our house. We last saw them in 2013 when they played an acoustic set and they were great that night! 

They were great again in 2020 and we had great seats from which to enjoy the show! 

After the show, The two founding members, Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon, did a surprise meet and greet. These postcards are reproductions of Gary Daly's artwork.

Gary signed one for each of us! 

Eddie and Gary also posed for a picture with us. They are really nice guys and their performances are excellent! 

On Saturday, we had only one sale and it was in our town. It wasn't run by an estate sales company. It was the family trying to empty the decedent's house. It was worth a drive to see what there might be. We were there a few moments before they opened and we knew there wouldn't be a lot of competition here.

There was a box of Christmas stuff downstairs and, while most of it was new, there were a couple of things for us inside the box.

The basement had several boxes which we searched looking for hidden gems. 

This old outdoor chair for two would have been great if we had the room for it. 

This pole lamp was great but we didn't take it home that day. Spoiler alert: You will see it again in a future flashback post.

Monica posed behind what was once a basement bar. We didn't find a lot here but we did not leave empty handed. Pictures to follow.

That Saturday was Chinese New Year and we went to Doc Lee Lau to celebrate. It has been around since the 1970's. A few years ago, they updated their decor (which would not have been our decision) but their food is as good as always and they still offer tiki drinks in tiki mugs though we did not have one this night.

This room divider remains from the original Doc Lee Lau. It is always fun to celebrate Chinese New Year here together even if the rest of the restaurant has been modernized.

We had Sunday to do our housework, shopping and other chores and we also had a chance to look at what we found on Sunday. This is what we saw:

A couple of paperback books

An old plastic Jack O'Lantern decoration

Some old tiki mugs (all marked Japan), vintage Las Vegas salt and pepper shakers, an old box of Christmas ornament hangers and a vintage musician bottle opener

A vintage Christmas tree skirt

Here's a closeup of the design on the tree skirt

On Sunday night, we celebrated Monica's dad's birthday (a day early). Monica's dad always chooses donuts instead of birthday cake but that doesn't mean that we don't need a birthday candle! 

Monica, Monica's sister, Monica's brother and Monica's dad at the birthday celebration! 

Sweety, of course, was ready to party! 

On Tuesday, we went to a book signing at a book store near us. MIke Eruzione wrote a book and he was signing copies. 

IN case you don't know who Mike Eruzione is, he was the captain of the USA gold medal winning hockey team at the 1980 Olympics. He was also the one who scored the winning goal against the highly favored Russian team in the semifinal game. 

Here we are with Mike Eruzione! 

Mike Eruzione's new book

The title page of our book signed by Mike Eruzione

We may not have had many sales during those last two weeks in January but those weeks weren't lacking for fun and adventure and what always makes that most special is that those adventures were made together!