A PICKING ADVENTURE

Had an adventure "picking" with my oldest granddaughter, Ashley, the other day. She had just finished her first year of college and wanted to come with me the next time I went. So with the nearby 100 Mile Garage Sale in progress, we headed out!

My favorite place outside of Florida on the beach is Lake City, Mn! It's on the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin. And since Lake City was right on the 100 Mile Sale we hit that town first. Well, the truth is that we ended up never leaving Lake City because we filled the car before we got out of town! But that's OK! We found some great stuff and had a great time!

Ashley was the photographer because, as true to form, I forgot my camera. And of course Ashley, being of the younger generation had her iphone handy. I didn't even have to tell her what to take photos of as she was snapping like crazy. She even took photos of some beautiful flowers we passed. But she knows the drill because she's on Instagram, Facebook, has her own blog and she Tweets...or is it Twitters. I forget.

As we were walking up to someone's garage, I noticed some small fast fuzzy movement out of the corner of my eye. In the big old house we live in, that only means one thing... a mouse. So it startled me and I jumped back and well, maybe, I can't remember for sure, but I might have let out a little "AAaakkkk"! I looked down to see 11 baby ducklings huddled in between some bed side rails. The owner of the house, still in the garage wondered what I was yelling about and I said I was just startled by the movement of her baby ducks! She came out to see and yelled, "WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?" She was just as surprised to see them as I was!

They started to run about and all 11 scattered, probably afraid of all the noise we were making over them. So the lady owner of the house got a box and some gloves and began scooping them up to get them out of the driveway. They were so adorable! The lady said she had seen a duck hanging around two doors away but didn't know she had a nest. So she took them to the neighbors and hoped they would find their way back to the nest. Ashley took a video of her running after them trying to scoop them up. It was hilarious!

We stopped at the home of a couple, Ron and Billee Hunt, that I knew of from my home town. Ron was an artist and Billee had been a librarian. They used to live in our home town and moved to Lake City to retire. They didn't know me but Ron Hunt was kind of a local celebrity and I knew who Billee was from my many trips to the library. Billee was also a photographer and sold her photos which she made into postcards. In fact she took a lot of photos of the historical home we live in, The Plummer House.

As we entered her garage, Billee said, "Let's play store! You buy something and then I'll be the cashier!" She said this to everyone who entered so you HAD to buy SOMETHING! I bought a funny book and a tiny shelf made out of rulers. 

I then told her that years ago we had purchased an original painting of Ron's of an old rusty truck out in a snowy field entitled, "One Payment Left". She thought her husband who was getting elderly would love to hear that. So he came out and we talked. My granddaughter was surprised to discover that he looked exactly  like the artist you might expect. He always wore a beret tilted just so on his head and had white curly hair with a white mustache that curled up at each end. I asked if we could take a photo of them and Ron wanted to have a little "antique" trike that he adored in the photo. Billee said it was just a planter not an antique but it still got in the photo with them. Aren't they a cute couple?

These days Ron goes out and gives humorous talks dressed as Mark Twain. But he also looks like Einstein so his business cards, which he handed out to us, were of him ( front ) and Einstein in the back.

                                                     Isn't this a remarkable resemblance?

By lunchtime we were starving so we went to our favorite restaurant, Chickadee Cottage, a quaint little seasonal restaurant that has wonderful homemade delicious food.

Of course Ashley had to take a photo of her food as she always does. I heard a joke about the Milennials that when they have grandchildren, they will be showing them old photos of their past and it will be like, "And here's my lunch at the Chickadee Cottage. Then here's my breakfast that I made myself"... and on and on for each meal.

So here's our lunch of their famous chicken salad ( including grapes, almonds, and ring noodles ) with fruit. Ash had a hard roll with hers and I had nut bread with mine.

We took a photo of some of our purchases...

...including a perfectly shabby yellow garden bench, yellow coke box, vintage basket just like my Grandma had, an old board which used to be used under antique stoves so as not to burn the wood floors. The company name of these boards is "Wabash" and the logo is printed on one side with beautiful antique wood. I have sold two in the past and people have used them for making coffee tables or other repurposing projects. I also bought the beautiful wood box you see in the foreground which has a wood handle. Also an old bell, a set of glasses in a carrier, two pretty bowls that look like Quimper but they are not, an antique wood hanger, paper cutter, and some old wood tools. Also a cane with a fish head on it for my husband who collects canes. There are a few more smalls in there and this was not all of it.

          It was a great day of surprises, beauty, great finds, interesting people, and great food!