Judy P's Tickle Trunk

….or one woman’s junk is another woman’s treasure.

Treasure indeed (I prefer to pronounce it “tray-zure” like they do in my favourite movie, Oh Brother Where Art Thou). If it weren’t for the thrift stores we’d be sitting on flimsy old K-Mart furniture made from paste and wood-chips instead of our nice sturdy 1980’s vintage well crafted household goods; each piece a treasure in its own right. Now that the winter-home is outfitted I suppose there’s no need for thrift store shopping but I go again and again for the following reasons:

Education. For example, after purchasing this bucket, (missing its handle) which looks remarkably similar to my Newfie grub box, I went straight home and looked it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out it is a vintage American firkin, or sugar bucket. (Not to be confused with the Newfoundland verb ‘firkin‘ which means poking at something with the point of a stick e.g. the coals in a fire) There were a few American Amish folk who were particularly well-known for their firkins. Mine is a mid-century reproduction but still well enough made to be sat upon without breakage. It has the extra bonus of being a sewing box. During my research I saw other sewing box firkins which had three screw on legs to bring the bucket up to armchair height but I prefer one I can use as a stool. That way I can sit on my firkin to do my fire firkin’. Win-win I says. Saying the word firkin is almost as much fun as saying fig puck (a bunch of figs on a string pressed into a puck).

Food fun. I picked up a whole stack of these Gourmet magazines.

Who cares if they are from 1999? I suppose food does follow trends but truly well-prepared food never goes out of style in my house. This issue has a particularly good looking basic pecan tart recipe and I might just have to go out and buy a bottle of Amaretto just to make their roasted pears with Amaretti and Amaretto.

Kitchen accessories. If you are going to make classic food, you need the classic food pans. Like this one.

This is not just any old Bundt pan. This is a real vintage Nordic Ware heavy cast aluminum Bundt pan from Minnesota. Why golly-gosh there’s even one of these in the Smithsonian. And if we should ever tire of Bundt cake this pan serves double duty. Turn your volume up for this video:

Yup, it also does double duty as a meditation gong. Pretty nifty, eh?

Collecting. I somehow ended up collecting pineapples. Please don’t send me your old pineapples – I fear slippage from the realm of collecting into that scary domain called hoarding.

Decorating. These little bluebirds looked right at me and told me to take them home; just the little touch of cuteness my kitchen needed.

Were I to start collecting salt and pepper shakers they would also do double duty. Please don’t send me your old salt and pepper shakers.

History lesson. (or stalking – is it still stalking if they are long dead?) This old astronomy book from 1884 was on the table with the sale books; all hardcovers fifty cents.

Well, it consumed my attention for two whole days and I haven’t even started to read it yet. I opened the cover and saw a name. Well. No point in looking on Facebook for a fellow who wrote his name with pen and ink. Had to Google him instead. Francis C Niznik.

Who knew there were so many Nizniks in the United States. Finally found him in a digitized copy of “The Brown and Gold” – the 1920 yearbook for Sacred Heart College in Denver; a boarding and day school run by Jesuit Fathers. “Nik” as he was known, was not on any of the athletic pages. Indeed, his hobby was “receiving visitors.” He had very short hair with a little forehead poof, kind of like those cuts in the show Peaky Blinders, and his look said he was ever evaluating the situation with an air towards mild skepticism; I would judge that he was nobody’s fool. He was on the debating team where he debated the issue “Be it resolved that immigration be restricted by the literary test”. He debated the negative side. He sang baritone in the choir. He studied astronomy. He must have – his name is on the astronomy book. The book was subsequently passed on to William McTavish and then to the Reverend H. Grosdidier. It ended up in a library in Salina, Kansas. If the slip is accurate, no one ever checked it out.

Writing prompts. I may have already mentioned that I am practicing my writing and am ever on the look-out for ideas. While perusing the sale table of the thrift store book section (you know you’re cheap when you’re looking at the discounted stuff in a thrift store) I picked up a book and this photo fell out. I slipped it into the astronomy book and brought it home. In a later Blog entry (I know, promises, promises) I will present the story I wrote around it. I have spent several hours staring at the details. Most remarkable is how much the doll looks like the baby, no?

 

Pity-fest. My favourite thrift shop is the Sheriff’s Ranch Thrift Store, about a ten minute drive up the road. After we arrived last month I made a trip there and they told me that they are closing. Now, for the two years I have been shopping there I have seen these poodle on a high shelf at the front of the store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adorable, don’t you think? Somebody loved the fur right off him. I went home that night and thought “they’ll probably throw it out when they close” so I made the decision to rescue him. I drove off to the store next morning and there he sat. I flicked over the price tag. Thirty-five dollars! Thirty-five dollars!! You’ve got to be kidding me! Thirty-five cents maybe. He’s either still there or he found a more generous patron. He’s probably full of insects. Maybe I’ll work him into the story about the family with the baby and the dolly. The good news is that the Sheriff’s Ranch Thrift Store has reopened just a ten minute drive in the other direction.

© Judy Parsons 2016.

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