Before the Crack of Dawn - Our Road Trip Begins

It’s still dark as my daughter Megan, her little Chihauhau, Iggy Pup, and I begin our road trip traveling first to NYC and then down to Miami Fla. My trusty car is packed with two 1950’s chairs and a large box of frames for my daughter Jess along with our sleeping bags, a tent, the dog’s food, bed and blanket, our pillows and blankets, clothes and 2 duffle bags of shoes. And yes, we do need that many shoes! The Ohio countryside is beautiful in the dewy morning light and soon we’re in Pennsylvania. A few hours later and we’re still in Pennsylvania, a few more hours and yep, you guessed it. It’s the most boring part of the 9-hour drive and the temptation to speed (or as I like to call it “make good time”) is irresistible. Finally, there’s Jersey City, which I am always happy to see – if not smell - and we’re very close to NY (not to mention no longer in Pennsylvania).



After an unplanned detour due to a missed turn, there is one final obstacle...

the dreaded Holland Tunnel. I hate driving through tunnels especially this one. It goes under a river and I spend the whole time looking for wet spots. What if there’s a leak? A small leak could cause structural damage and the whole thing could collapse and we could drown or be eaten by sharks! I know, I know, too many disaster movies.

We emerge from the deep and head for the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn and Jessica’s apartment weaving our way through the streets of Manhattan. I love driving in New York City! How weird is that? I think that’s because only good, or at least confident, drivers dare to drive there. Meg says I always drive like a maniac so I fit right in. Hmmm...should I be insulted or flattered?

Why I Need a Truck

The tools are done and the auctioneer moves on to a table with some postcards and other ephemera including some Shirley Temple items that I would like to have. I wait and wait and they start on some Indian artifacts so I leave the area for just a second and when I get back, another bidder has snagged the whole pile of Shirley Temple programs and promotional material for TWENTY DOLLARS! Ack!

While I am beating my head against the wall for being so stupid, I notice a 1950’s tole style T.V. tray in a pile of junk. I pick it up and aside from some minor rust spots and scratches it’s fabulous, and there are two more, yea! Just then, the auctioneer comes around the corner and asks for bids on the scrap metal pile. I quickly ask to bid separately on the trays; he says, “You want to bid on these?” I nod hopefully. “These trays?" he says pulling one out. I nod again. "Ok, sure” he says looking at me as if I’m slightly deranged. No one bids against me on the trays but the rest of the scrap pile goes for a decent amount.

The auction moves inside the house and I have the winning bid on a great pink frosted glass ceiling light fixture and shade which I had asked them to include in the auction. That makes me feel somewhat better after missing out on the Shirley Temple items. I ask the auctioneer if I can bring down the rest of the tray tables with the holder from upstairs and now everyone seemed to think I’m nuts for wanting these. He asks me if they’re the same as the other ones and tells me, “Just take them honey” while looking at me with something akin to pity as in “Poor thing, it’s nice that they let her go out by herself occasionally.” Meanwhile, another bidder gets an antique upholstered rocker for $2 (obviously I need a truck!) and no one wants a 1920’s pink velvet couch with the upholstery in excellent condition except for being extremely dusty. If I had a way (like a truck) to get it to NYC it would pay for thetrip to visit my daughter.

No one wants the beautiful woodwork, doors or windows either. If only I knew someone with a salvage company! (And a truck)

My car is jam packed (truck!truck!truck!) and it’s time to bite the bullet and pay up. But when they total up my purchases I’m very pleasantly surprised and have a happy drive back home thinking about all the treasures I just acquired!

Coming up next: Unpacking, cleaning and sneezing and sneezing and sneezing

The Brothers Grim

I went to an auction yesterday way the heck out in rural Ohio. A very pretty drive from Columbus, once you exit the expressway it’s nothing but farms, fields, and churches at first, then a little while later there’s woods and smaller farms and the occasional pasture with horses or cows. I saw an Amish family with a horse drawn plow and a little further down a man on a tractor. The Amish way sure seems a lot more earth friendly, there’s not all that dirt being kicked up and blown away like there is with a tractor. Of course, it’s a lot harder and more time consuming. Every once in a while I would drive through a little town where it didn’t look like much had changed in the last 30 or 40 years, including the speed limit, and you better pay attention because I think tickets may be a major revenue source. And no, I wasn’t stopped for speeding; I was good - at least going through the little towns. ;)

After an hour and a half, I finally arrived at the auction where they were selling the estate of two elderly brothers who had lived together for a long time according to the townspeople at the auction and died within a week of each other. There were box lots laid out in the front yard with lots of goodies, old dishes and linens and suitcases and other miscellaneous items that one accumulates over a lifetime. On one side of the house were tools and lawn furniture including those cool metal chairs and on the other side antique furniture, including a huge old oak headboard and footboard attached with a wood frame, so gorgeous!

Inside the house was just sad. The house had a lot of potential and although small, I’m sure it was quite lovely in its day. Big windows with large oak frames, beautiful 6 panel oak doors, a front parlor, a front porch, a side porch, and a back porch, all enclosed and a big country kitchen with a washroom or mudroom off to the side. Upstairs there was a big open room on one side and two bedrooms on the other. At least, that’s the way I imagine that it was. The house had fallen into a sad state of disrepair and was dirty, full of mold and mildew, with a leaking roof, rotting structure and generally just falling down around the brothers’ ears. The relatives were tearing it down and all of the fixtures, windows, doors, moldings and whatever else could be sold were up for auction. Another woman and I were wondering why the relatives would have let the brothers live in such circumstances, it’s not as if they lived out of town. I heard two of them joking around with each other at the auction and I had to bite my tongue not to say, “How could you be so uncaring!”

That’s the 'good for me' but sad thing about many estate auctions. On the one hand as a buyer, I want there to be beautiful things being sold but on the other hand, I don’t understand why no one who knew the person wants to keep those things. It seems that many people don’t value the things, or in some cases the people, of the past.

Coming up next – Surprise in a Suitcase