A Very Junkriffic Weekend

Okay, I’ll cop to it—I totally junked all weekend long–and a little last weekend as well. But it’s been what seems like a long cruel winter here in Georgia, and I really had a dry spell, what with signings for DEEP DISH and working on The Breeze Inn down at Tybee. Last weekend I went to the first estate sale I’d been to in ages, in Savannah, at the home of Herb Traub, a noted Savannah character who was the long-time owner of The Pirate’s House restaurant. No kid who ever visited Savannah in the past few decades left town without a visit to the treasure chest at The Pirate’s House. Mr. Traub passed away recently, at the age of 91, I think, and so the family was cleaning out the Ardsley Park home where he’d been born and lived his whole life. My friend Susan (she’s the madam at Seaside Sisters on Tybee) and I left Tybee last Saturday at the ungawdly hour of 6:15 a.m. to be in line for the 8 a.m. start of the sale. The morning did not have an auspicious start. We got to Krispy Kreme for a pre-sale snack, only to find that–quel horror!–there were no doughnuts. None. Zip. Whoever heard of such? Turns out they’d cleaned all the machinery the night before and hadn’t started the assembly line going yet. Who knew Krispy Kreme cleaned anything? I always assumed the grease there was vintage. We did settle for a couple of day-old doughnuts. Not the same thing at all. When we got to the sale, we were maybe 12th in line behind a whole slew of dealers. Still, we had a jolly time chatting, and when the doors opened, I managed to snag a few treasures, including a first edition autographed biography of Savannah native Johnny Mathis called Our Huckleberry Friend. After that I scooted over to a sale a few blocks away, this one run by a gang of affable gay guys who were totally into playing dress-up. They had racks and racks of cool costumes, but I managed to escape with only a retro 50s bamboo table and a couple old suitcases, which went immediately into my booth at Seaside Sisters. Tragically, I was unable to hang around at Tybee for this weekend’s big St. Patrick’s Day parade and doings. Mostly because Boomerang Boy and his gang were taking over The Breeze Inn for the weekend. Eight college kids. As far as I know, there were no injuries or arrests. There was a serious plumbing issue, but Roto-Rooter seems to have taken care of the problem. Oy. On the plus side, it was Scott’s Antique Market weekend. I went three days in a row. I don’t happen to think that’s excessive. Besides, I was filming video for my upcoming film: Junking 101: Scott’s Antique Market. Coming soon to a blog near you. Among my scores: two wicker planters, a wicker coffee table, a huge ’50s rattan mirror frame, a pair of oil paintings of parrots, and a pair of framed seashell prints that were part of a vintage English teaching folio. In between Scott’s jaunts, I managed to discover a cute antique shop in Tucker, Ga. called Main Street Marketplace, where I picked up three more pieces of vintage luggage for my booth. And then, finally, to top the day off, I visited an estate sale being run by an old college buddy, where I bought an old leather-bound 1900s grocery store ledger book, a glass cake stand, a sort of antique cardboard chest, some linens, a ginormous blue and white spatterware batter bowl, and a few other odds and ends. Ah. I feel so much better now.