Estate Sale - Sunday 3/15/2009

Gorgeous morning over Acton Valley. It was calm, cool and damp out. Lovely.



We went to an estate sale nearby. We thought we might want a couple of things but needed to measure the space in the house. One of the three sons helping to clear out the house wrote the important dimensions on masking tape and I stuck them on my arm.

I am always fascinated by estate sales. Going into people's houses. Seeing the view from their house, which was pretty great from the other side of the 14 and around a hill from that freeway.

"We're getting rid of some of Gammy and Gampa's stuff because they don't need all of it anymore," I heard one of the sons say to his energetic 3-year-old son.

Often estate sales happen when someone dies, but I don't think this was the case. The pall of grief wasn't hanging over the sellers. And when I was looking at the remaining appliances and dinner ware laid out on the kitchen counter, I saw a print out about selling short.

Sad enough. These houses are not more than 5 or 6 years old. I'll bet the couple's investments went south. Let's give those AIG execs their bonuses for doing this to people, shall we? I can't even express how angry this makes me if I let myself think about it.

We bought a leather recliner. When two of the grown "boys" picked it up, one said, "Okay, I just got bummed."

They told us this was the chair that the dad always sat in to read, but not in a "he's in a better place" kind of way.

I assured them that it's going to sit in a corner of our bedroom with windows on both sides, and that it will be used for reading again. I think they were kind of glad that it went to people who aren't going to stick it on their porch till it rots or something.

The little one shouted "good-bye! good-bye" as we pulled out of the driveway, and the whole family was waving at us. We hurried to roll down our windows and wave back.

I took a reading break this afternoon and sat in that chair with the windows open on both sides of me. Dodger was on my knee, loving looking out over my shoulders.

It was a very good buy.

Littlerock, CA - Saturday 9/27/2008

No, this abandoned house isn't exactly typical of the homes in Littlerock, California. But dang, the town is gasping. It's only a couple hundred people smaller than Lone Pine at 1450, but it doesn't have the tourist draw of Mount Whitney or trout fishing.

Although it lies along the currently expanding Highway 138, it's reminiscent of Route 66 after it's heyday. Permanent fruit stands and the old-style roadside gift shop Charlie Brown Farms (which serves barbecue and sandwiches and dozens of types of shakes) line the main drag.

We went out this way to check out yard sales. There's a festival at Saint Andrew's Abbey every fall, and the locals know that thousands of Los Angelinos head this way to buy up the monks' ceramic angels.

We didn't find anything we wanted, which was okay. But it was also a little sad. Not everyone's up against it, but a lot of people in Littlerock seem to be hurting financially. At least they can grow chickens in their yards. (Wish I could!)