Two Good

Great goods

Fortunately for me, Riverside does not have restrictions on garage sales like some communities. Almost every weekend there’re hand-done signs along city streets beckoning to dedicated salers like Paul and myself. Returning from my walk this past Saturday morning, I was excited to see familiar signs in the neighborhood: someone who has periodic, expansive, sales was having another, and I was an earlybird. Checked it out; good stuff … I picked out some items and promised to pick them up and pay later (the seller knows me, and where I live). Then I went one yard over where another sale was going on. This sale was being held by Susan, whom I’ve bought cool things from in the past. She lives in a cute little old house surrounded by an interesting conglomeration of succulents, carefully gathered rocks and driftwood, and, my favorites, rusty and concrete stuff … I didn’t see much on the lawn of interest, but I noticed she was up the driveway dickering over the price for two hand-painted signs from a now-defunct desert nursery. I moved closer to witness the transaction but they couldn’t agree on a price … turning, the prospective sign-buyer was now interested in what Susan had in her backyard, and, I confess, I was too (having only imagined it, based on the front) … when they went through the gate, I followed, making sure to identify myself as that guy with all the succulents up the road … thankfully, she invited me to have a look around too. The first buyer, a prickly, nose-in-the-air type, poked around, but sniffed at Susan’s prices and left… meaning I got to peruse Susan’s collections at my leisure and ask questions … I won’t go too far into what-all I found in Susan’s backyard, that’s a later post. But, I will show you what I got at these virtually side-by-side sales; from the top: a fabric-like woven metal grate; a gorgeous fragment of concrete with a rusted metal sunburst embedded in it; a handsome trellis-like rebar grid; a nicely graphic, round grill top with an interesting pattern; a hefty wagon wheel; and a lovely old painted/rusty floral urn detail.

Hot stuff

Here’re close-ups of the faves: the concrete sunburst, the graphic grill top and the cast-iron flourish … they all sport the gorgeous rusty texture and weathered patina I love so much (click for a closer look). All but the wagon wheel in this group came out of Susan’s yard and I think they’re awesome! From the non-Susan sale, I got not only the wagon wheel, but also this:

Fancy-schmancy

Two schmancy  curlicued metal pot stands, one black, the other white. The white one’s pretty tall, about 5-feet, and the shorter black one, about 3. Both would make interesting counterpoints in a minimal scheme or fit right in with something more traditional or very fancy. I like the whimsical silliness of all those metal curls and can’t wait to pair them with pots and plants for our upcoming garden sale. Also from Susan: several intriguing concrete elements. Each is fairly heavy and some are painted white … I love their gothic flavor and think I can work them in easily into the Rancho’s temple area, which, will be getting some new life soon. This was a terrific haul, for great prices. Two great sales, right next to each other and almost next-door! That’s too good.