As I mentioned in my last post, my daughter and I make our
annual excursion to the fall rummage sale held each year by the Visiting
Nurses’ Association in the beginning of October. It is a huge event held rain or shine, at
fairgrounds about 25 minutes from my house.
I have to say that most times we went it rained. But we always dressed for the occasion, rain boots,
umbrellas and hooded sweatshirts, and virtually nothing could come between us
and our quest for bargains.
We have walked away with some interesting finds the over the
years ranging from fireplace tools, books, picture frames and candy jars to
acrylic paints, note cards and, of course, fabric!
My daughter lives in Maryland, so our yearly pilgrimages now
have to be carefully planned between work for both of us, and other things
happening in our lives. But this
weekend, she made a special trip for a brief visit and a jaunt to our favorite
spot.
I have to admit, we couldn’t have asked for better fall
weather. The sun was shining, the air
was crisp and cool, so we didn’t have to lug around umbrellas and try to
balance them while carrying a bag full of treasures and digging through
goody-laden boxes! But we are troopers
in the face of adversity!
This year’s beautiful
weather drew a seemingly larger crowd than usual, if that is even possible, so
we decided to play it smart and rather than wait in traffic and park in the
main lot on the fairgrounds where the tents are set up on one section of the
grounds, we opted for an additional parking venue down the street and around
the corner. It was about an 8 minute
walk, but we figured it was a nice day, and we were excited at the prospect of
bargain hunting, so that walk was welcome exercise at 9:30 AM.
When we arrived at the entrance and noticed there really
wasn’t too much traffic and there were still lots of parking spaces on the
grounds, we sort of wished we had parked closer, but rationalized the 8 minute
walk was good exercise on a perfect day.
Since we were there early, the lines had already started
forming outside the tents. Due to the
fact that the volunteers only let a few people in at a time so as not to
overcrowd the tents, we had to wait five or ten minutes tops outside the more
crowded tents. But we used that time to
chit chat about the family, and what has been going on in our lives. The first tent we visited was the dry goods
tent. This always seems to be the most
crowded, but obviously, my favorite.
Since it is crowded, you have to be an acrobat to hold everything and
work your way from one box to another while batting away aprons hung over the
fabric boxes. Quick decisions had to be
made, but since my projects for my Sewing Club and my online shop were set in
my mind, I knew what I was looking for.
I got some great buys for $20.00.
We visited a few more tents and got some spontaneous buys,
but the catch of the day was definitely a very heavy silver reindeer
centerpiece with cups for votive candles in its antlers, that my daughter
snagged for a mere $10.00. A bit
tarnished, we decided a little silver polish would perk it up, and even if that
didn’t work, it looked kind of cool and “antiquey” with the little touch of
tarnish on it. But, what we soon
realized was that it weighed a lot, as did the $20.00 worth of fabric in my
canvas tote bag! We sort of carefully
picked through the other tents’ contents searching for items that didn’t weigh
too much.
Since my daughter had to go to a wedding rehearsal in
Delaware in the evening, we had to cut our trip rather short, and hike with our
items back to the car in the lot around the corner and down the street. The 8 minute trip back to the car with
everything slung over our shoulders now seemed like a 40 minute walk with
several stops along the way to rearrange the bags and rest every few feet!
It was a wonderful day well spent with my daughter. The drive back home found us talking about
days gone by and the fact that we both have always loved the fall with its
beautiful colors and welcoming fall decorations. It’s just a homey sort of feeling that stirs
up lots of fond memories when our family was young.
Tired and happy, we arrived back home with our
treasures. I said farewell to my
daughter and wished her well as she drove out of my world for another few
months. As she left my driveway, I
looked ahead to days when we will share this tradition with my future
grandchildren. It’s always a
fun-filled day, rain or shine, to browse, buy, and best of all spend some time
with one of my most precious treasures and her slightly tarnished reindeer
centerpiece.
Fall is just full of inspiration! One of the most vividly colorful seasons, an
artist or crafter would be hard pressed not to find something to inspire
them. Multi hued leaves, orange
pumpkins, bales of hay and slightly weathered burlap faced scarecrows offer a
variety of colors, shapes and textures just begging to be transformed into a
work of art.
