Junker Heaven

Saturday started out much, much better than the middle of the day became.

We jumped in the truck and took off to Carlton, Ga.

Mind you, I have lived in this neck of the woods for some 26 years. Carlton is (maybe) 15 minutes from my house. But it is on a section of road that I rarely travel. On the way there, we hit a few dirt roads and found the old grist mill (now turned into someone's home). It was a trip I will now make regularly.

Mind you I could have taken hundreds of pictures.

NOTE - this place is for junkers. It is NOT an antique mall type of place. The stuff is dirty. Rusty. Piled. Stacked. Dumped. Tucked. Scattered. It is also REALLY REALLY FULL of treasure and tidbits.

Just look - that chest just to the right of those people -- that is a tin ceiling tile tacked to rustic wood. UH - HUH load it up please.

 See what I mean -- rusty old cut nails.

Want old house parts?  Got it covered. The proprietor takes apart old structures and salvages these parts. LOTS LOTS AND LOTS.

There is even a complete old bank window enclosure with a safe. 6000.00 --- it would be perfect for sectioning off the kitchen in a loft. Now that would be an amazing space.

Boxes of stuff (these are ceramic insulators) to dig through.

 Hardware - yes.

Light fixtures - yes.

Paper stuff - yes

Tools - yes.

I had never seen a Flax hatchel. He has not just one - I saw two.

Old clothing - yes.

There is a dedicated section (store) for books.

Furniture - that too.

Now, those who know me well, are aware that I adore primitive wooden boxes, shelves and such. Upon entering the first section, I spotted the one thing that continues to haunt my thinking. I didn't buy it even though it was well priced. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I WOULD PUT THIS, BUT I AM SERIOUSLY IN LOVE WITH IT.

An old WOODEN post office section.

Just look (converted to dream state at www.befunky.com )

WANNNNNNNTTTTTT

What did I come home with???? A quart jar of buttons - Well worth the ten I paid for it. and this......

An entire enamel dishpan of knives, forks, spoons. There is junk in here - but there is also some serious bracelet making treasure too.

I am going back and planning to make it a major time wasting kind of trip.

Anybody else?

Have a great day.

notes on an eventful weekend

Warning - This begins with a bit of a rant. I have serious issues with irresponsible people. Much of it is learned behavior and really to me stems from complete disregard for authority and a lack of respect for anyone.

On Saturday, I was the passenger in a vehicle involved in an accident. A serious accident. One that could have resulted in much more devastating results. A young couple, not from our area, saw a stop sign too late (one that is easly visible for at least a quarter mile) and skidded into the road in front of us.

Once everything stopped, I was convinced the injuries would be devastating.

This is the vehicle I was in.

We were only driving between 45 and 50 mph. Well within the speed limit. The reaction was to try to get behind the car coming into the road. This resulted in a corner hit by us but the impact was still centered on her car.

Leaving it looking like this......

I called 911 - we jumped out - upon seeing that the young lady was trapped we start dealing with her passenger who wants to move her. There was no gas spill - no smoke - no danger - so to avoid possible spinal injuries, we convinced him to just comfort her until the responders arrived.

She was injured, but has now been released from the hospital (a fact that I am thankful for). Neither of us was injured in any way.

As the responders and officers arrived - I start taking in details. There is no tag on the car. (I searched the area looking for it being knocked off - nope) This was a Nissan Maxima. The officers started searching for details -- finding a tag in the rear window area they ran it (it came back belonging to a Ford Escort). Then they ran the insurance cards (they came back as invalid). Each of the individuals had a police record. And on and on it goes. Multiple prepaid cell phones were found in the car. Along with an AA record for the young driver.

Fact is - now the driver of the vehicle I was in has to pay his deductible for repairing his vehicle. He has to be out of a vehicle for however long this takes. He has to pay his towing bill. His insurance will incur the initial hit in the coverage and have to sue the owner of the car for getting that money back. There will be increases in the premiums because of this fact. A complete lack of respect for the laws of the state will result in more issues for everyone. A complete lack of self respect will result in long term issues for the young lady involved.

I am angry ---- I am annoyed ---- I am tired of losers causing issues for everyone.

Now --- soapbox rant all over.

There was some fun stuff over the weekend. I found my kind of junking heaven --- More on that in a later post.

And I finished something ------

My College Girl is modeling some fingerless gloves. I made the pattern up. They are long and skinny like the arms they are designed to cover. But the pattern can easily be made for more "normal" sized arms or even for "fat" ones like mine.

 These are a warm and yummy chocolate brown color. (they actually match a cowl I completed earlier).

I made them extra long because gloves and such are never long enough for her.

Unfolded, they almost cover her fingertips. I am loving the little scalloped detail around the end.

They also fold over nicely. She immediately folded them because that's the way she liked them from a looks and wearing point of view.

Notice --- The really gorgeous dragonfly was painted by Perry McCrackin, an Athens, Georgia artist. I love Perry's work.

Now if anyone is interested, I will post a tutorial / pattern for these. Just leave a request in the comments.

Have a wonderful day.

Trash or Treasure

Funny even Tipper has been talking trash of late.

Not only did I score big on that shelf Saturday, I found more treasure. (maybe it really should be referred to as trash) WHATEVER.

The cedar Christmas Tree trimming were still on my front porch and, while I had people there, we decided to haul them out the the tree line. As I was tossing them onto the pile, I spotted what looked like a galvanized bucket out in the woods. Next thing I knew, two of us were digging in an old trash pile. YES - you heard that right - digging in a trash pile.

Old cans, rusted into a crunchy mess - buckets - bed springs - and glass. Lots of bottles and jars. I dug a huge armload out and brought it to the house. I'll clean them up as much as possible and be featuring them along, but here is my favorite.

It is a Gordon's London Dry Gin bottle. The bottle is cool on its own. No chips or cracks to be found, but my favorite part is the moss and ferns growing in it. Seems conditions were good for a naturally occurring terrarium. It sits nicely on flat surfaces. I'll keep it sporadically watered and hope for the best.

Of course "I have GOOGLE and I am not afraid to use it." So I googled said bottle for information.

FACTS I DISCOVERED ABOUT GORDON"S LONDON DRY GIN

1. In the UK, the bottles are green. Clear bottles like mine are "import" designation.
2. My bottle says LINDEN on one side and NEW JERSEY on the other.

(see the block text on mine)

3. The logo mark on the bottom looks like a wolf and has 56. Actually it is a wild boar's head and the 56 is for 1956.

4. The bottle itself has some value. I found the one pictured below on ebay -- dry gin bottle. 9.99 will buy this very cloudy one. You can see how cloudy in the second picture.   Mine is completely clear - no hazing at all. A light green (UK) one of the same era is valued at 45.00 I could not find any good quality clear ones valued at all.

5. The trademark is listed as DEAD at trademarkia.com.  It was registered in 1982 and cancelled in 2003.

I give these facts just because I think it is fun to learn stuff.

I really won't consider selling this bottle - unless the danged moss dies (insert giggles here).

I more than likely will keep this and add it to the stack of other really cool crap I have at my house.

Or like my mama might say -- I'm giving my children a whole of of trash to go through when I die.

What do you think ---- is this one in the TRASH or TREASURE category?

From my childhood -----------

I was born in a small town. (yes now you may sing the Mellencamp song - I did.) I grew up in that same small town -  Royston, Georgia - Home of Baseball's Immortal TY Cobb. And from the time I was born we shopped at a local shop called Philips Variety Store.

I have searched and search for images of it as I remember, but this is the only one I can find.

Agnes Shipp ran the store -- And yes it was one of those Inconic things. She carried Dixie Bell Lingerie - also known in my house as little girl and old lady panties. This store was piled high literally with clothing and such. She never clearanced anything either. She simply piled new stock in on top of the old stuff. Tables and racks and shelves of "stuff". I so wish I could find pictures of the interior of the store as it really was. There are no words to describe it - one of those "had to be there" kinds of places.

My mom and I have often talked about buying it and continuing the business - from the time I was a teenager until recently.

Then Miss Agnes was killed in a car wreck. Her family closed the business and sold a lot of the stuff out of the building.

Fast forward to Saturday - January 28, 2012.

I was in Royston with a friend - headed to my Mama's. Cell phone rings and indicates that we have been spotted, so on the way back through town, we stop and visit with more old friends. They have purchased the building and are in the process of renovating. As I walked in I remarked - I would love one of those shelves..... and just look what happened.

An 11' 11" long by 6'2" tall shelving unit that was site built in that building landed on a trailer -- (that's billy in the picture)


and.......

Rode to my house.

Yes - that is a massive item - and it is one section too long for anywhere in the house.

There was measuring and pondering and such.

It has been determined that chopping off one section will make it work.

There are fun little details that I hope I can keep --- I plan to clean it up, do a tiny bit of sanding and then simply seal/protect it.

Apparently some things were just a quarter.

Saw marks from the rough cut lumber

Medium Maybe???

No one has figured out the "y" it appears to be random.

I know these pictures look fuzzy and all white washed out. That is actually years of dust and crud. Got a ton of cleaning to do.

One end of the shelf has been painted - look at the picture of it on the trailer at my porch - and you will see that there are two colors on it. Gonna try and get this back off and just have the wood tones.

I cannot wait to start filling it up with my stuff.

Now for the fun part of being in the right place at the right time ---- an early 1900's site built shelf out of a building from my childhood, an items representing a place from my past. All of this coming to my house to live. Money is not important on this one, but I paid less than a 100 buck for this bad boy.

Love love ---- happy girl. I'll keep you guys posted as I get this in the house.

gifts and gratitudes

Picnik.com is closing. Craziness. But I discovered www.befunky.com and I think that one will be my go to  replacement FREE online editor for now. They have some neat effects.

This is an edited photo of a page bit from my GIFTS AND GRATITUDES 2012 journal. I have chosen those as my words this year. And right now I am assembling quite a few records of those words.

Funny, I make altered composition books to sell. I have all the stuff to do just that and I have chosen to carry an unaltered, plain, black and white, composition book. I picked it up from the stash and fully intended to alter the cover, I even selected the papers and such.

Then I started recording - and never got around to it. (similar to the mechanic's car and the cobblers children's shoes I guess.)Now after thinking about it, I probably won't alter it.

I like that it appears unassuming. Not calling attention to all the beauty that it contains. And it really does have a huge amount of beauty in it. Tiny little beautiful moments. Moments like Cheddar biscuits - yes at that moment I was thankful for those. Not really just the biscuits, but the fact that at last I made a freaking biscuit that really was edible. (ask my family - they can explain why that is a really big deal) I was also sharing those biscuits with some beautiful people that I love so very much. so those two little words are a tiny record of a wonderful thankfulness.

I am recording three gratitudes every single day. There are clippings and cards to be taped in. I may hand it off to someone to add a "Guest" gratitude occasionally. It will be fun at the end of the year to have a journal with nothing but beauty reflected.

Now you may ask about recording gifts - one will be recorded each day. A record of something I INTENTIONALLY gave. Not to track it for recognition - not for pats on the back - not for being able to say "look what I did". Not for any of those kinds of things. Just a reminder to share those blessings with others. Just to remind myself that no matter how tough life gets, I can intentionally give to others with my time, my prayers, my gifts, and my service.

See this little book with have NOTHING UGLY in it at the end of the year.

How is that for a WOW moment of recognition.

Life can be full of ugliness. Full of negative things and moments. Intentionally looking for ways to be grateful and to reach out to others, intentionally focusing on being thankful changes our perspective.

Intentionally focusing on gifts and gratitude changes us.

I look forward to being changed.

It's not too late to start your own journal --- how about you join me.

How about I send an altered composition book to the first three commentors on this post? ANd I'll make the very first entry in each one --- by being thankful for you all.

Have a marvelous weekend.



Please.....

This man is my friend.

I am so thankful I have had an opportunity to have him in my life.

On Tuesday, he suffered a stroke.

His speech is affected.

Swallowing too.

Walking, balance, all of that.

His sense of humor remains well intact.

He is still teasing me.

Calls me the "hard-headed one."

That will be "the pot calling the kettle black"

The medical part of his care is stable.

The hard parts start now.

He learns to talk again (we hope)

There will be speech therapy.

He learns to walk again (we hope)

Physical therapy.

He learns to eat real food again (we hope)

Supervisors will monitor all eating and drinking.

He regains an independent life again (we hope)

Occupational therapy.

For now we pray - we encourage - we help - we learn - we love.

Most of all -- we are reminded that life is very fragile.

Live fully.

Count the blessings.

Love hard.

EVERY SINGLE MOMENT.

EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Please, if you will, pray for my friend Dorsey and his entire cast of characters (family and friends).

and by all means - tell yours how much they mean to you.