Treasures found at garage sale

I know I have mentioned the collection of records that I have acquired by keeping my eyes open when I attend garage sales. But, folks, I have just got to tell you about my terrific buy at a recent garage sale that turned out to be absolutely one of the best ones that I have been fortunate enough to acquire.

I also have mentioned that the wee city of Pittsville always has a spring and a fall all-city garage sale.

The spring one wasn't anything to write home about, but the fall one, well ... that turned out to be a goldmine for records. The sale started on Friday and went through Sunday. We had some rain, but it finally cleared off and turned out to be one heck of a garage sale weekend. Everyone and his dog were having a garage sale. In fact, by the time I got into Pittsville, the town had so many people in it, that I thought I must be in the wrong town.

The Historical Society had their annual brat fry sale plus chicken sandwiches and a variety of homemade cookies and coffee. My first stop was at the Historical Society for a cup of coffee and some yummy cookies. Quite a few places had corner stands of various foods for sale.

I then took off in ernest to check out some of the places with things that I couldn't live without. You would be surprised at how many of those things that I just can't pass up. One of the things that I thought would come in handy was a round plastic jar/container that looked to be the size of at least a gallon. It was only 50 cents, but in the back of my mind I knew that I would find a good use for it (eventually). It sat out on the landing in the entrance hall for a week or so, and every time that Bob walked by it he had to make some smart remark about it and wondered how long it was going to grace the landing. Finally I couldn't stand his complaining any more and finally took it down in the basement and put it in a cupboard.

And wouldn't you know... just this weekend I found just a good use for it. A friend of ours asked us if we would like to come out to his place and pick some raspberries. We love raspberries and came home with an ice cream pail almost full.

So I put them on cookie sheets and then into the freezer until they were frozen and then Voila! I put them into my new container and they are now residing in the freezer. Now ... wasn't that a great buy for 50 cents?

Another thing that caught my eye, was a lovely leaded glass mirror and gulp, it too was only 50 cents. I had no idea where I would be able to find a spot on my walls to hang it, but after rearranging several pictures I had just the right spot for it in the dining room. It is very lovely.

And then of course I found several good mystery books.

Now back to the records. They were in an estate sale, I always keep my eyes open for records. The garage and every room in the house was chock full of every thing imaginable.

But when I walked into the living room, there in a huge and I mean huge plastic container was a ton of records. I started looking through the records and asked the price, and they said a dollar, to which I never commented.

Then they said, "What will you give us?" And I said, "Two bits." If there are any younger folks reading this and don't know what two bits is, it is a quarter. They said, "Fine, you got them for two bits each."

I ended up with about 130 records. All big band and lots of wonderful country and blues. I could hardly wait to get home and start playing them.

But ... I kept thinking about all of the records that were still left in the container plus several albums.

So the next day I went back and hardly any more had been sold and none of the albums. I again started looking at them and all of a sudden they said, "What would you give us for the whole shebang?" I said, "Ten bucks." And they said sold!

When I got home I counted all of them and it turned out to be over a 130 records. I am still playing some of them for the first time.

I just can't believe that there aren't more people looking for old records.

One of the records that I bought, was by Tommy Cash, Johnny Cash's brother. It was "Six White Horses" and if I closed my eyes, it sounded just like Johnny. I found several Kitty Wells records, also Gene Autry and Sons of the Pioneers. I am so sad now, as the garage sales will soon be stopping for the winter.