Friday December 3, 2004

Altamont Dr. -Oak Grove, Moving Sale

Oak Grove is an older suburb that I am not too familiar with. It’s just a place I pass whenever I make the long drive to Northlake Mall. After I turn off N. Druid Hills Rd. I notice yard signs railing against large infill housing construction. Like a lot of older suburbs the ranches are now being razed to make way for McMansions that not only raise property values but also block out the sun.
In front of a 1960’s style two story colonial is a sign proclaiming Garage Sale Now. I like the positive emphasis of the sign. So I first head to the garage but find that the sale is inside. Near the front entrance is a metal outdoor dinning set or 4 chairs and a table next to it is a foreboding pitchfork impaled into the ground. Inside the home I am sad to find that nearly everything is gone. A few lone items ring the perimeter of each room. In the living room is a large old painting of animals lined up to board the ark before the deluge. In the nearly empty dining room I find decorative tiles of the Hermitage (The one in Tennessee not the one in Russia) and Monticello. The owner was undoubtedly a lover of presidential homes. In the den I find a number of books, mostly on religion and travel. There is a 1978 Guide to the USSR, a copy of “From here to retirement”, "A brief course in German” and a Billy Graham book in Polish. There is also some sheet music of a comic opera entitled “The Captain of Plymouth” and a book of sheet music contains 20 Scarlatti sonatas. On a shelf in the den is a Duraflame log still in its wrapper.
Upstairs I find rolls of Christmas wrap, a deep red shower curtain, an ashtray from Guatemala, an old portable typewriter, a large collection of ladies belts, a small collection of ladies bifocals, a WXGZ TV 32 year pin, a pair of crutches and a sweater with a image of a woman hanging clothes on a clothesline embroidered on it.
I buy nothing.