bricolagelife

see what i see: good junk (i did buy) part two

i returned to michigan this week and brought home more loot, more pie, more photos, and a peaceful moment on the beach to share with you.

some lovely surprises came my way and i am counting them as birthday treats because they occurred in the midst of my continuing celebrations...

gemma liked my last tableau of loot so much she featured my photo here.

teresa liked my arrangement of pressed flowers and featured my photo here.

thank you both!

see what i see: good junk (i did buy)

gifts for loved ones and gifts for me (it's my birthday month!).  those found photos will be featured in an upcoming post.  the flower frogs will be put to use and the wood grained planter will host a small succulent soon.

these tiny skaters may be my favorite thing in this pile of loot.  i paid full price for them even tho i found them in the half price attic.  one dollar well spent.

that's good junk :)

see what i see: good junk (i did not buy)

sometimes it makes more sense to possess a photograph of a curious or beautiful object than to try and figure out how to pay for it, fit it in your car, haul it home and find a space for it to live when you get there.  

and sometimes there is so much to see i reach a point of visual saturation and i can't absorb anything more.  taking photos helps me focus on things one at a time and clears my head a bit. 

and sometimes i see something i instantly covet beyond all reason.  the longing is powerful but completely irrational and i have to walk away without so much as a picture that would only serve to dredge up the sensation in the future. like the three vintage polaroid bellows land cameras, several brownies, an argus flash pack, a rediflex twin lens reflex camera and an early eastman kodak folding camera with leather case, all found in one dark old creaky road side shop.  covered in dust and grime, stored in an ancient uninsulated building and wearing no price tags, my wise mind knew i could never afford the cleaning and refurbishing they would require. obsolete yet oh, so tempting.  

i opted to only bring home good junk i can use.

more about that tomorrow...

{if your appetite for old cameras is aroused click here}

i heart collecting

more from my collections...  marbles, like beach glass and stones are irresistible tiny treasures.  i can't stop myself from picking up just one more...  and i can enjoy them over and over again each time i look at them, with wonder, year after year.  they never cease to inspire a world of daydreams in me.

so does this

and this

and this.

and i can't stop thinking about this!

happy thursday :)

$1.64 (including tax)

inspired by something beautiful.

endlessly amused by clicking on this. (via roadside scholar)

my new flickr contact :)

rekindling my dream of dancing flamenco... (via my bro)

so many moments

there is a bittersweet mix of emotions that wash over me when i find these bins, boxes and drawers of old photos in thrift shops. i could stand and look for hours (and i have) thru these captured and abandoned images.

i'm curious about who these people were, what they meant to each other, and what kind of crooked path left them finally dumped here, tossed together with strangers. i wonder, is there no one left alive who knew them, who shared their small triumphs and treasured their happy occasions? a weight of melancholy settles on me.

i consider my own collection of photos, sorted in albums and boxes at home. the snapshots of my parents' lives, now both gone, overlapping with the pictures documenting my years and my son's. some of the very old brittle black and whites in my husband's family shots include faces and locations no one now recalls.

and in thirty or forty years will someone dig thru a pile of my pictures and feel a sadness contemplating my unknown stories?

all of this thinking makes me want to start a little project... or a big one. who wants to play?

total (with tax) $1.64

now that's what i call a good shopping day.

(i actually have a morbid fear of camping, but the illustrations are so good in this big golden book, i'm going to glue them all over something. real soon...)

three dollar trivet

brought this ceramic lattice trivet home at the end of summer from a strange roadside shop in michigan.

falling in love with it all over again.

not really shopping

driving down a highway named blue star, or red arrow, you just know you are bound to discover more curious roadside establishments than you have time to explore. packing the camera comes in mighty handy here. even if there is nothing in the yard you want to buy and take home, or nothing in the shop or gallery you can afford, there are always photo opportunities galore. i might not have recalled this succulents chair if i hadn't snapped it on the spot. now i know i'll remember this place and this day always.

thrifty loot

i promised to share this with a fellow thrifter; my loot from my last trip up the red arrow highway. all this for $4.88, i swear. the little road side shop has been a favorite of ours for decades and it was reassuring to find that it hadn't changed a bit. i'm still unpacking from vacation, rediscovering my treasures and finding a place for each one. for me, this is as much fun as the hunting.

the little jar with white cat and yarn balls on top (tucked beside the doll) is from an avon cream sachet. when i was a little girl, i received one of these as a christmas gift from my aunt polly. i still remember the scent of the white cream inside and how grown up i felt having my own perfume. when i found this empty jar on a table for 10 cents i almost squealed out loud. nostalgia is magical.

this bird got a home, too.