[continued from previous entry]
They're funny things, yard sales. You get the cold-eyed, unsmiling types, you get vans full of families and extended families. You get locals who saw the handbills at the general store or post office, you get travelers drawn up the hill because of the big, hand-painted signs down by the two-lane. You get focused individuals who browse with certain needs in mind, you get others who just drift through, this stop nothing more than one moment in a day of drifting. Some note the cars parked along the gravel road and pull up out there, leaving the driveway clear. Others see the driveway, ignore the cars on the road, and pull up the drive to the house as if they own the place, oblivious to the fact that they may get blocked in by the next oblivious driver or that they're parking right in the middle of the sale, making life inconvenient for everyone else. (At the start, I waved people back out to the road, gradually adopted a shrugging attitude about it all as the slow, tidal rhythm of folks coming and going took hold, figuring they'd have to deal if they got blocked in. I drew the line, though, when one big van tried to park on the lawn -- that driver gave in to my negative response, retreated back out to the road and parked, a huge family piling out of the vehicle like clowns a Volkswagen in a circus, descending like happy locusts on the tables of books outside the garage.)
I wound up with enough cash to make it worth it, enough to warrant doing more. And when I say 'more,' I mean that although I came away with a pocket of $$$, it barely made a dent in all the stuff I have to clear out. I continue going through the house, aware that certain areas await attention, one or two of which will need serious, sustained attention, a prospect I find myself shying away from, not the kind of work I'm keen on wading through alone, but aware that the days are slipping by, that at some point I'm going to have to come to grips with it, alone or not. This morning dawned cold, a chilly breeze blowing, feeling like late summer Vermont with the clear sense that the first signs of autumn were not far off, a reminder of just how short the warm season tends to be in this part of the world. Summer will be on the way out soon, and I'd prefer not to find myself mired in an eternal state of emptying the place out in super slo-mo.
One of the most gratifying aspects of the sale: the weather gods made nice. Rain fell in the wee hours, the sky cleared around dawn, and though clouds built up during the course of the morning, distant thunder rumbling off in other parts of the local world, our parade was not piddled on. For which I gave groveling thanks.
At one point, a car pulled up, parked out on the road, a 30-something mother and her daughter got out, the girl maybe 7 or 8. The began the walk up the driveway, the mother took the girl by the arm, paused and gave her a brief talking-to. A cautionary talking-to, looked like, of the don't-blah-blah-blah variety. The girl, a bit plump with a sweet face, behaved like an angel -- mother bought something, gave daughter the money, she handed it to me with a soft, shy thank you. When the they began the walk back down the drive, the girl called back another thank-you, smiling.
I don't know that I have the temperment to be a parent. But I like kids.
So. People came and went, money changed hands, items were carted away. A warm, beautiful morning slid by. When midday approached, I changed clothes, got in the car, headed into town, leaving neighbors to carry things into the garage and lock up. On my return, mid-afternoon, I found everything just the way it should be. Sent off emails saying I'd be doing another sale, if they wanted to take part again they could just leave their things in the garage. Let them know Part II would happen this coming Saturday, received okays. Came out of the affair content, continued slaving away in the house, getting things ready for this Saturday.
[continued in following entry]
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July, Vermont:
España, te echo de menos
rws 10:06 AM [+]
Comments:
I like them buyers that show up to your house an hour early and offer to buy everything, sight unseen.
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