Saturday 7/19/08

Page Ave. – Candler Park “Yard Sale”

I’m recovering from a spill on my bicycle today so I wasn’t in an intense yard sale mood so I kept fairly close to home. This first sale was just two blocks from home but was overall disappointing. In the yard of a nice brick bungalow I found three women watching over as assemblage of clothing, pet stuff and kitchenwares. While I was there shoppers kept asking how some small discs labeled Bark Busters worked the sellers said you throw them at the barking dog and they stop barking. I don’t know if the bark busters worked but they were selling a Robin Hood costume for a canine. Other stuff there included an opened box of tea bags, two Frisbees a corset and a pair of rubber high-heeled boots.
I bought nothing.



McLendon Ave. _ Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

This was a small nondescript sale and the entire time I was there the seller was involved in an intense phone conversation with someone. Among the stuff there was a set of steak knives, a model of a ’57 Chevy, a plastic snowman, an empty guitar case, a few small dolls, a light up sign that said ‘lounge’ and a very old bicycle.
I bought nothing and the seller never got off the phone.











Warren Ave. “Oakhurst” “Yard Sale”

I could tell the seller at this location delighted and took pride in having a sale. The large signage was mixed with leftover (or early) Halloween signage. Among the well arranged clutter in her yard were three lawn mowers, three boxes of VHS movies, two piles of plush, a rack of brightly colored clothing and an assortment of consumer electronics placed upon a stand supported by Corinthian columns. A few things such as the overly cute hugging teddy bears placed on a child’s chair went beyond my normally limitless taste. The seller took some delight in showing me how well she had arranged some jewelry on the burglar bars of a window of her home. She told me that I was the first to notice her use of the Greek columns on the electronics table.
Upon examining the multitude of VHS tapes (which are now the 8-track of the millennium generation) I found she had multiple copies of Major Payne a film that few would ever want a single copy of. I bought nothing but thanked her for her great presentation.

Much too cute display.

















Assortment of colorful clothing.

















Great use of neo-classical design.
















Vickers Dr. – Heaton Park “Fountain Sale”

This sale was hard to find and was as advertised a fountain sale. In the nearly hidden driveway of this tree shrouded street I found a man selling a collection of pond and fountain accessories. In addition to various water projecting devices such as a waterfall made of wooden buckets he was also selling lifelike ceramic replicas of dogs. I asked no questions and bought nothing.

A few sales before leaving town…7/12/08

I had a wedding to attend in Birmingham so I had only a short time to explore what appeared to be a copious amount of nearby sales this Saturday.

Ponce de Leon Ave. – Decatur “Jumble Sale”

I need to start acquiring old plumbing hardware for an installation I’m creating at Agnes Scott College in the winter, so I stopped at this church bazaar to see what they had to offer. I found no objects suitable for my installation but I did encounter the usual debris of this type of event. As church sales go this one was better than most but did not have the spectacular feel of the Decatur sale I attended at the end of spring (look in the May or June archives). This inside event is held yearly and the jumble sale features everything except clothing. Not having much time I vainly searched for old showerheads and left without anything to assist in my artwork. But I did encounter some interesting art in my search as shown below.






Priceless snowman portrait.




















Abstract in blue.



















Neo-Cubist painting at Jumble Sale.

















In a zigzag return home I was able to briefly visit a few other sales before departing for Alabama.






Winter Ave.- Oakhurst “Yard Sale”

This sale had wonderful rough hand painted signs. In the driveway of a bungalow I found a woman helping her spouse divest some of his long held belonging. Here I encountered a hat shaped like a moose, several pocketknives, a voodoo doll, some ugly stemware, some camera gear and a stethoscope. The wife was getting rid of a few things as well such as some novel cookbooks.
I bought nothing.









Cooking secrets of middle Georgia revealed.
















Miller Ave.- Candler Park “Yard Sales”

This had to be the major disappointment of the month. According to the signs there were supposed to be three sales on this street but all I found was one meager sale and a driveway with two items in it. The single sale contained mostly baby items and the two items in the driveway were a chair and a metal shelving unit. I don’t know what happened to the other sale. I departed quickly in disgust.










South Ponce De Leon – Druid Hills “Yard Sale”
This event stood out as a definite man’s sale. Here in front of an out of place ranch home on a posh street, a young man presided over some fishing tackle, sporting goods and picnic coolers. Among the fishing tackle was an assortment of unopened packages of plastic grub lures. The gentleman did have a softer side as he was also selling small planters of bamboo and some potted aloe plants.
I bought nothing.










Casson Ave. Lake Claire “Yard Sale”

An artist friend on mine who is moving from her craftsman bungalow to a condo and needed to get rid of her excess stuff held this sale. Among the stuff gathered on her porch and walkway were religious candles and statuary, empty picture frames, luggage, a shopping cart full of plush animals, odd bits of hardware and an oversized paper mache’ demon head.
I bought nothing but considered returning to get the lighting stands that she had in her crawl space.









Woodland Ave. - Ormewood Park “Yard Sale”

Before getting on I-20 to drive to Birmingham we cruised thought Ormewood Park in search of one final sale before leaving Atlanta. Here we found a moderate amount of unexciting stuff crammed into a woman’s driveway. Among the clutter was a medium sized hookah, a selection of carved wooden giraffes, a large wicker flamingo, two little teddy bears in front of a sign saying “God Bless America”, an ugly wall plaque of a cow’s head and a book on how to shoot good photos.
We bought nothing.














Cool picture of book about creating cool pictures.

No Octogenarian but instead a bowl of self-esteem 7/11/08

Woodbine Ave.- Sagamore Hills "Yard Sale"
I wanted to visit another Friday estate sale before my vacation ended so I decided to check out an octogenarian sale advertised in the AJC. I call octogenarian sales the champagne of yard sales simply for their promise of what excess 80 years of a clutter induced lifestyle can offer. I headed there with Cindy around noon with the address or the six-mile distant household entered into my GPS. But the mechanical voice of Lori on my GPS led us instead to a dead end street near Oak Grove with no sale in site. We attempted to get into a nearby-gated community but the gates would not open. So we headed home with Lori continually nagging us to turn around when Cindy spotted a small sign for a Friday yard sale off LaVista Rd.
Upon arriving at our substituted sale of the day we found rows of folding tabled arranged in the yard of a large ranch home. It was all a bit too clean for my taste but we exited the car and explored the rows of well-arranged clutter. Most of the stuff appeared nearly new and lacking in any exposure to dust, mildew or being handled by dirty human hands. There was a winder selection then expected but it was simply a wider selection of the things usually seen at your average sale. Here were piles of plush toys, stacks of bedclothes, lines of luggage, boxes of Tupperware, gaggles of tote bags, arrays of footwear and the standard collection of boring barware. In the driveway were larger items equally mundane computer desks, filing cabinets and exercise gear. There were a few bright moments among all of this such as the table containing an assortment of opened bottles of creams, lotions and personal care products. Best among these was an opened container of children’s dental floss and a have consumed bottle of Cepacol.
Another note worthy items was a framed print honoring Jose Ferrer for his performance in Cyrano. The title item the big bowl of self-esteem was worth examining along with its companion bowl containing printed mantras of personal price such as “You rule” Cindy spent more time perusing the clutter than I. She also was well controled in refraining herself from buying the Chinese hand puppet or the horrid mugs with demented smiling faces on them. She did buy a small jewelry box for a dollar. It was not due to our excess collection of jewelry but due to our cat that awakens us every morning by climbing on the dresser and tossing loose earrings and bracelets onto the floor. I bought a pair of gym shorts.





Selection of slightly used creams and lotions.
















Self pride inducing bowl.


















Ugly mugs not purchased.

Stimulating Canada's Economy

I felt a compelling need this summer to spend my federal economic stimulus check outside the USA. But on that budget the furthest we could go was Quebec. This locale not only allowed us to disburse US funds in another country but also gave us a first hand understanding of the dreadful value of the US dollar.
In Montreal we watched the city prepare to the upcoming Jazz Festival, which we could not afford to attend due to the aforementioned devaluation of the American dollar. But we did get to take in lots of art, French fries with cheese and gravy, notable religious/miracle sites and even a few ventes de Garage. The grand religious site of Montreal (besides it’s Notra Dame Cathedral) is the Oratorio St. Joseph. A massive basilica overlooking the city atop Mount Royal. The basilica came about by the work and efforts of Brother Andre whose heart is interned and on display on in the basilica. In addition there is a full size replica of Brother Andre’s office and chamber complete with full size replica of Brother Andre. The resplendent lower chapel has a towering display of canes and crutches discarded by healed pilgrims. The adjoining gift shop sells replicas of the good brother in sizes ranging from one inch to five feet.


Replica of Brother Andre in his office.


















Heading farther north we spent a few days in Quebec City. This year the city is celebrating it’s 400 birthday and they are making sure everyone is aware of it. Among the celebratory events we took in was the Image Mill presentation, which is the largest architectural project presentation ever presented. The show was conceived and produced but Quebec multimedia artist Robert LePage. In it he projects animated imagery of Quebec’s history onto a massive riverfront grand elevator. The other celebratory event was the Jean Baptiste day street party. To which Cindy asked why are people getting drunk in the streets over John the Baptist? We never did find out but did see much wearing of the blue and white and copious amounts of Labatts being consumed.



Massive projection from Image Mill.(photo from the Quebec400 web site)












As for those ventes de garage, on our way to see the leaning stadium tower (the worlds largest leaning structure) we stopped at a few sales. I can now vouch that our French speaking northern neighbors do have yard sales but they also have much smaller yards. So most what we encountered was crammed on to stoops of sidewalks in front of homes. The fist sale I visited was just a few things on the sidewalk in front of a row home. Among the stuff was a hand painted room divider, a hot water bottle (perhaps a common Canadian item?), some bamboo blinds and a box of VHS tapes. In the box of tapes were several simply marked Seinfeld.
At another sale an old woman who spoke no English had a selection of clutter elaborately crammed onto her front stoop. Here was some costume jewelry, old coffee makers, a box of silverware, a satellite TV receiver, an assortment of glassware and several paintings of rural scenes.
The final sale we visited offered “Stock Retro” with an array of bold 50’s and 60’s modern furniture occupying most of the grassy area in front of an apartment building. In addition to the bright orange and blue furniture there was a wooden carving of playful dolphins and a mounted poster of Mel Gibson’s Hamlet.
We bought nothing.

Cindy examing the wonders of a Montreal vente de garage.














Retro Stock for sale in Montreal yard.