Sometimes The Pick Finds You
Homage to Lucinda
Where on earth did you find that? A question asked too many times to count. Let me count the ways, lol. Auctions and estate sales are my absolute favourite, auctions probably come in first before anything. Well dumpster dives and roadside picks are up there too! I think the fun of an auction is the bidding fun but oh the deals you can sometimes land! But there is always the risk of feeling the loss when out bid, but that is all part of the fun!
Thrift store gems are becoming harder and harder to find, with them now charging more and more all the time to the point of absurdity, but that doesn’t stop me from going and being hopeful because sometimes you can still land a good deal!
In my pursuit of cool vintage finds my search has led me all over the place driving around for many miles looking like the clampers in my truck, that’s ok I’m not proud! Having had a home in Montana lead me to some of the best vintage markets I’ve ever been to. Here in Canada, we still have a lot to learn about what makes an amazing flea or vintage market. Maybe its time for me to host my own?
I have travelled clear across the US a couple times in search of treasures, twice to Texas to the famous antique week in round top Texas. If you have never been my oh my I so encourage you to go!! On one of those trips, we went a little further to NOLA and by accident stumbled on this salvage yard of the most amazing things!
Now while all these adventures were fun and amazing and glorious sometimes the most amazing finds find you!
As I have mentioned before one of the divisions of our company is large item removal, and one day a few summers ago while our crew was on a job, they were approached by a gentleman that wanted them to stop by to give a quote to have some items removed. So of course, they obliged and once seen they called me right away because they were sure there were some items in there I would probably want to check out. So of course, I head over there to look, and it is literally an entire backyard to the top of the fence with just a pathway from the gate to the back door. Sooooo a monumental task to go through but I can already see some keepers and finding out that these things belonged to a woman who has passed away, this is her whole life dumped into a back yard just to be disposed of hauled away to the landfill! Well that just hurts my heart. My immediate feeling is a life deserves a little more honour than just being hauled away to the dump! So, the very next day I drove my 12-foot trailer over and began going through everything. Now don’t get me wrong some of it was garbage and some of it was not my thing but at the very least it needed to go to the thrift store. But immediately there were some keeps, and I started loading up! OMG this could take weeks to sift through retro lighting bags and bags of fabric and vintage clothing, I called my friend who had a vintage clothing store. I called another vintage loving friend, want to help and I’ll share the bounty? It’s summer it’s hot and I’m starting to melt! But add I gradually get deeper into the pile there are boxes, so many boxes and I start opening them and every piece is wrapped carefully in yellowed newspaper dated back to the 1980’s and 90’s!! Obviously undisturbed for the last 30 years!!!! I’m now thinking what is all of this??? I open another box and I find vendor tags for antique shows, and I begin to realise while she may have been a bit of a hoarder (Oh God a fear for all of us collectors, there is a very fine line you know) This was her collection!!! She was a collector!!!! And her family or at the very least the executors were going to trash the whole thing!!! So, I just quit opening every box and just started loading them up to go through as I had time!
I spent many days, weeks really going through everything and as I went through her personal affects, I learnt who she was, her name was Lucinda and she spoke Spanish as well as English and I’d talk to her while I worked. Maybe that seems weird, but I believe that from the great beyond Lucinda found a way to find someone who would understand what was buried in the piles and wrapped ever so carefully in all those boxes. Someone who would care for and appreciate and in turn get those into the hands of others who would appreciate them too.
We don’t always find the treasures sometimes they find us in the most destined ways and when that happens its is a most beautiful thing! Thank you, Lucinda, for trusting me with you things!
Much Love,
A. xo
