Garage Sales, the Sequel

Last week the Friday Five was about garage sales, and today we actually went to some! We started off the day with breakfast at Faith UMC on Orr's Island. Today the specialty was crepes -- they have a breakfast each month on the first Saturday and the main entree is different each time. I had the chicken, mushroom and asparagus crepe, which was delicious. Fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, fruit cup and juice, and mini-cinnamon rolls rounded out the breakfast. And coffee of course; the volunteers recognize us now and start the water boiling for Onkel Hankie Pants' tea as soon as we come in.

We had already learned that the Sebascodegan Garden Club was having a plant sale on the Cundy's Harbor Road so next we headed over there. Here's a picture of what we bought for $11.00: a hosta, a wee peony (it's wee now, but we hope it will grow), and three herbs that I'll plant in a big container -- rosemary, basil and oregano.
There was also a bake sale going on at the same time, so for $2.50 I got a loaf of cracked wheat bread (have you priced the artisanal breads in the supermarket lately? This was a good deal!) and for a dollar each, two cheese scones. OHP turns up his nose at scones, having had too many of the dry, nasty ones that were all the rage at bakeries and coffeeshops a while back. But I could see that these were freshly made and I just had one, it was delicious! (You can see them in the photo below).
We had also seen a sign for a neighborhood of garage sales, so we checked that out. Most of what's in the photo above is from several sales we stopped at. Onkel Hankie Pants got a tripod and a kids' telescope for $5 each, and a book called The Friar and the Cipher for a buck. I got a dough scraper with measuring markings for $2.50 (retails for $4 but I'd have to go to Bath to buy one); a cream pitcher and sugar bowl for a dollar each, Williamsburg Pottery (I think the sugar bowl may be missing a cover but as we don't usually keep sugar out, not a problem); a book of John Connolly short stories for a quarter; a Christmas ornament for another quarter and 4 Santa tealights for 50 cents; and my most expensive single purchase, too good to pass up even though it will have to wait a while:
This lovely handmade bunny was only $4! It goes to my first granddaughter. I don't know how long it will have to wait. In this photo you can also see the telescope (the odd-looking red thing).
Our last stop was the Give and Go Sale at Bowdoin College. They used to call it the Dump and Run but as the proceeds go to the various non-profits who staff it, the name has been spiffed up. Anyone who has been present when a college senior leaves the dorm or apartment for the last time knows what this is all about. The sale started at 8 and we didn't arrive until nearly 11, so who knows what treasures we may have missed. But the good side was that at 11 everything went to half-price. We didn't find a lot there, but I did get three mostly-unused notebooks, an expanding file pocket folder, and an Ann Arbor Junior League cookbook, all for $2. I'm especially pleased with the Junior League cookbook, as they tend to be exorbitantly priced at used book stores, but often have quite useful recipes for entertaining without working too hard. This one isn't as regional as some, but does seem to have a lot of mushroom recipes, as well as things like Cherry Soup.
So, that's my shopping for the day done. Now I have to prepare for the Genealogical Society meeting/picnic tomorrow -- I'm to bring dessert so I'm going to make a rhubarb cake recipe I found in the Minnesota Heritage Cookbook. And, I have to finish indexing a member's huge three-volume pedigree charts -- most people turn in 2 or 3 pages. She is eager to know if she is related to anyone in the society -- so far, she is a distant cousin of mine in a couple of lines way back. That's Saturday in Brunswick and environs.

Friday Five: Modern and Post-Modern

Singing Owl at RevGalBlogPals remarks:

Yesterday I had two separate conversations in which people were musing about how much change is occurring. The WW II generation, of which my mom is a part, went from horse and buggy to automobiles, saw the lessening, or even the end of many diseases, went from widespread use of kerosene lamps and outhouses (in the country, and most folks were rural)) to a totally electrified and plumbed society. The fastest means of communication was a telegraph. The second conversation--gulp--was about MY generation and how much change occurred in the last half of the 20th century. The person said his 13 year old had not seen a vinyl record album until a few days before, couldn't remember a time without cell phones, and on and on.

As for the questions!

1. What modern convenience/invention could you absolutely, positively not live without?
Well, it's not that modern but I don't think the ancient Romans had them -- eyeglasses! Electric lights are nice too. And running water of some kind with a way to heat it. And, of course, the printed word.
Everything else is gravy. I have lived without indoor plumbing, central heating, electronic entertainment, and the Internet. While I wouldn't choose to give them up, I could live without them. I have (briefly) lived without running water and I'd just as soon not, although a simple pump like my grandmother had when I was little had its charms, and a wood stove could heat the water. Again, I'm not volunteering for the pump and woodstove, but I could deal if it came to that. But without my glasses, I'd be a danger to myself and others, and no books? Ouch!



2. What modern convenience/invention do you wish had never seen the light of day?
Car alarms.
Why?
I've never heard of one actually foiling a break-in or theft, but they certainly are annoying when they malfunction in the middle of the night (or really anytime.) I don't even like the little "toot" when someone remotely locks his/her car doors, as I always think someone is honking at me.

3. Do you own a music-playing device older than a CD player? More than one? If so, do you use it (them)?
Well, if you don't count the radio...we have one CD boombox that also plays cassette tapes, which has proved useful fairly recently for Onkel Hankie Pants' musical rehearsals. Also, we have some cassettes recording family talks or performances. I wish I still had a recordplayer, but I just had a vinyl record transferred to CD for $5 so I guess I can live without it.

4. Do you find the rapid change in our world exciting, scary, a mix...or something else?
Definitely a mix. Global climate change: really scary. Improved communications: exciting. Social changes: increased acceptance of GLBT people, exciting. Increased fearfulness of parents resulting in over-programmed, nature-deficient children: scary. And I could go on and on.

5. What did our forebears have that we have lost and you'd like to regain? Bonus points if you have a suggestion of how to begin that process.
My mother grew up on a dairy farm, and my father in a fishing community - rural areas with no electricity. Life was not always easy, and they certainly enjoyed the comforts and convenience that technology brought them when they grew up. But they also learned a lot of skills and, I think, developed a closeness to nature and a sense of their place in it that many of us have lost or never had. Now, economics and a desire for a more sustainable life may be driving us to relearn some of those skills, to understand why fresh strawberries in December or blueberries in May maybe aren't such a great idea, to think a little about what we could do without if we had to. Even this craze for knitting that Cordeliaknits and Sisterknits have developed is part of this new Zeitgeist, I think. Maybe it's not too late even for me to learn some new skills!

Or for those who prefer a more classical vein: