The Four Seasons

Linda and I were at a neighborhood yard sale a couple years ago, and though there was nothing at this lady's driveway setup, it did make for a neat photo, especially with the amazing Japanese maple. So I asked, "Do you mind if I take a picture? Your Japanese maple is really beautiful."  The woman was so excited to hear this she said "Oh please do! But wait- let me show you something and also wait til I shut the garage door before you take the picture." Then she proudly came out to show us these portraits of her tree in each of the four seasons, taken from the same spot in her driveway. I thought this was so great. Sometimes the best things at yard sales are things you can't buy. No, I'm kidding. but I love that she loved her tree so much.

8 Time Champion

Old stock Champion t-shirts from a thrift shop.
I think the little stapled card tags dates them to the mid-70's.


Related: old stock iron-on letters from the Ft. Lauderdale flea market last month.
Eight "If dogs run free, why not we?" t-shirts? why not?!

Bulloww-Up

We don't usually buy records anymore unless there's a poster inside, but here are the latest exceptional exceptions.
Lalo Schifrin's Bullitt and Herbie Hancock's and the Byrds' Blow-Up.

garage & basement

Collagical

Collage, signed "RC '76" from a yard sale.

Take R.I.T

Selections from Rochester Institute of Technology yearbooks, 1974, 76, and 78.

(in no particular order)

Fear and L.L.oathing

Vintage 70's L.L. Bean crazy-patchwork "Rainbow Lake" jacket, of the Hunter S. Thompson school of Gonzo jacketry, made up of every scrap of corduroy and twill in Freeport. I believe Raoul Duke's (as played by Johnny Depp, above) was actually an Abercrombie & Fitch, but the Bean version was a little crazier, and came with a belt/gonzo headband. From a yard sale last spring, it didn't fit either one of us but it was obviously too cool to pass up. But after languishing in a closet (with other "things-that-hopefully-might-fit-when-I'm-a-wizened-95-year-old") it was time to think we'll probably find another one by then and let this one go-along with my future William Holden looks, below.

So we put them all on ebay last month for some crazy bidding as the patchwork jacket went for $610 and the old Abercrombie and Bean safari jackets went for 200 each.

Rainbow Lake old friend: I will see your amazing technicolor dreampatches another time, another place, and in a bigger size. 'Til we meet again!

Food & Wine (yard sale edition)

Top: Super-delicious peanut butter mash-up cookies made by two kids in front of their parent's tag sale. "The secret is to smunch the Reese's into the cookie while it's still warm." and barely leave a fingerprint. What a great idea- and so good. 5 stars!

Above: 1990 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux from the deep dark basement of an estate sale. I don't know much about wine, but this was pretty cool to find and how nice would it be to bring a dusty 20 year-old bottle of Bordeaux to a dinner party?

(accepting invitations...)

Rising Sunkist

Awesome-graphic-filled 1985 Sunkist cardboard shipping box for the Japanese market. Dew-picked from a dumpster at an estate sale last weekend, where it made its way back from Japan with Gramp's' antique dishes.

...and into our car despite Linda's wishes...

Everything's Gone Green

Recent green things from yard sales, a couple landscapes, and a car.

From top:

24"x36" framed silkscreen by Tony Johnson, signed on the back "To Mom, thanks for everything. Tony"

The Who flyer at a garage sale

L.L. Bean Swiss Army knife

Frog pond and old hippie houses in front of Linda's parents' house, Long Island, Maine

Greenpeace New England cap from 1982

Vintage Vera towels

Prehistoric vegetation looking like a museum diorama behind Linda's parents' house

1970 Porsche 911S, from Fantasy Junction

Another Swaine Adeney Brigg umbrella, $3!, in British Racing Green.

(related)

Fiam glass nesting tables

Three thick glass nesting tables made by Fiam Italia, makers of Cini Boeri's Ghost Chair. Linda found these browsing Craigslist one day but the listing was over a month old. We called anyway and the guy said he still had them, that no one had responded. They were his boss's, who had a yard sale after he got divorced, but nobody bought them there either so the guy took them. Crazy. they were $40.

a to z by Bob Gill

A to Z picto/typoographic color matching flipbook by legendary graphic designer Bob Gill, 1962.

A slightly redesigned edition was reissued by Italian publisher Corraini last year, which can be found at Jenny Dalton's small but excellent book dept of Little Big Magazine.

Pottery Class

Lucite desk

We bought this a couple years ago at a yard sale in Key Largo, via a defunct realtor's office in Miami. It came with matching Rietveldish slab-of-lucite chair and a drawer full of old real estate contracts. Pictured here on its way into the studio to replace the vast expanse of Prouve-esque farm table which I've been using.

Seasonal desks!

Sika Mobler

Old Sika Mobler teak nesting tables, from a garage sale.