Blowin’ in the Wind

All respect to Bob Dylan, but you aren’t going to find any answers blowing around Colorado. Dust, trash, and tumbleweeds for sure, but we don’t have any answers to all the questions out in the vast universe or even the ones that we ask every week at the thrift stores.

My mom has been visiting from Michigan, and I promised her some warm weather. It’s been decently warm, 50s and 60s, but the wind has been howling so being outside has been a no go. Today it was 80 with no wind—huzzah! By golly, she has had her warm day, thank goodness! Friday we’re going to try and go garage saling which will be the first time this year for me and Kathy. Kathy has been making the rounds on her own, or with her hubby and the Summer Intern. Shopping together will make it seem like life has gotten back to normal, whatever that is, and the weather is supposed to cooperate again. Fingers crossed!

So, we saw this work of art a month ago:

Absence has not made the heart grow fonder. It’s trying so hard, and failing all over the place. I really think it was decorated by someone who has never used an airbrush before—the painting looks pretty darn casual, to be kind about it. I was kind of surprised by the mark:

Come on, Italy, we know you can do better than lumpy, doughy-looking cherubs painted poorly. What would Michelangelo, Titian, or Bottecelli think about this bowl? Do better!

Eek, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind:

I guess it was go big or go home day at the art factory. Unfortunately for us, they chose “go big”. Once you’re in this far, might as well go 3D too. I could see this awfulness all the way across the store. The original owners have done the right thing by dropping them off at the thrift store; it’s up to the rest of us to force ARC to consign them to the bin. Good news is that Italy is off the hook, because these babies probably came from China.

Is there a sadder sight than someone waiting for their first kiss?

We see these kissing statues all the time missing their partners in crime. Apparently they mate for life because you never see them paired up with another singleton. It would be tricky because they come in all different sizes, and it just wouldn’t work if the kissers aren’t lined up. Anyway, we feel for her and hope she isn’t left hanging for the rest of her life.

Well, isn’t this the most fabulous baseball cap ever?

Of course we have questions. First off, why is this sparkly cap paired with a button up shirt? Looking at the ball itself, I have no problem with the glitter, but what’s the deal with the American flag wings? The words say, “Baseball Champs” but there isn’t a team logo on the hat that I recognize. I haven’t heard that glittery baseballs are part of any official team logos, and not likely to be any time soon, so maybe the makers left the team’s name off to avoid controversy. Lastly, the hat has shredded edges that look like the distressed, torn jeans; that must make it worth much more than an intact hat would be. Having said all of that, Kathy said that she would wear it to a Colorado Rockies game. If it were sunny, it could be used like pointing a laser at the opposing pitcher.

We stopped to look at the belts and found these two, probably from the same closet:

I think we were looking at the beaded belt on the right first. It looks like it would be pretty uncomfortable to wear for any length of time because of its width. But then we became aware of the craziness to the left. It kind of looks like a slightly feminized version of a championship belt from the WWE. Take a closer look:

It doesn’t get any better! Those big wide belts only worked for slender women who might fall over from the weight of them. As a curvy gal, I’m speaking for myself only, my appearance wasn’t helped by something this wide digging into the spare tire I carried around my middle. I hated those big belts and they hated me.

Last up, here’s a mystery I found while helping to pack up my parents’ house:

It’s an old aluminum film cannister from the 1970s, and my grandfather had them by the hundreds because he loved taking pictures of everything and anything. I picked it up out of a side table’s drawer and my mother said that it was an old thing of my grandmother’s. So of course I opened it:

This is what people did for fun before computers, phones, and tablets. There are lots of these little letters; I didn’t feel like counting them. They were all hand-written on squares of paper about a half of an inch squarish. My grandmother would spill them out and write out all the words she could find. No wonder she was a killer at Scrabble. This must be what she meant when she said, “You kids go and make your own fun!” It makes me smile that my dad kept them after his mother passed away. I’m going to keep the cannister and think of both of them. I might even try to write all the words I can find!

Thanks for reading this week and keep your hatches battened. Hopefully we can find a bunch of new weird stuff to show you next week.