Thursday, September 20, 2012

Fall Poetry: A Success Story Wreath

Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things –
   For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
      And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                Praise him.

~ Gerald Manley Hopkins

I was starting to feel self-conscious.  It seemed like everyone in the blogosphere had a garage-sale-or-thrift-store-"You'll-never-guess-what-I-found-today-for-a-steal-of-a-deal" story . . . 

Except me.

That is, until today.

I was driving past an affluent neighborhood on my way to an appointment when I saw a sign for a garage sale.  I was a few minutes early for my appointment, so I decided to take a peek.  Besides, I soon realized that this "garage sale" was two houses down from Donny Osmond's house and somehow feeling that neighborly with Donny was an opportunity I couldn't turn down.  

But I digress.

After perusing the offerings that were assembled on the driveway of the multimillion dollar estate, I realized I was WAY out of my league.  I saw designer couches for a small fortune, draperies and linens for hundreds of dollars, and a shiny sports car on sale for more than my annual income. 

As I went to leave, I caught a glimpse of a teetering pile of silver on a back table.  It was a stack of fifteen hors-d'oeuvres trays in different shapes and sizes.  I was relieved to discover that they weren't real silver because it meant I might have a chance of taking them home without having to take out a second mortgage on my home. However, the trays were thick and sturdy and embossed with beautiful designs, which didn't bode well for me.  I braced myself for the total as I asked the hostess about the price.

"Oh, those are my neighbor's," she said.  "She uses a caterer all the time and the caterer lets her keep some of the trays.  I'll give them all to you for 5 dollars."

I'm not sure which boggled me more---the thought of having a "regular" caterer, or the idea of tossing away beautiful servingware knowing that you would just get more of it at your next soiree.

I grabbed my wallet and handed the woman my meager 5 dollar bill and ran past the designer sofa and convertible sports car to my Toyota minivan before she could change her mind.

I then waved at Donny's house, and drove off.

After I got home, I picked one of the oval trays from the stack and decided that it would be the perfect addition to a fall wreath for my front door.



I wanted to put a plaque of some sort on my wreath to celebrate autumn, but I didn't want to go through the hassle of painting anything with chalkboard paint or stenciling letters.

So I went the easy route.

I took a bottle of fabric craft paint and wrote a little greeting on the tray.  (This is the same paint I use when writing on potatoes.)  After letting it dry for an hour or so, I simply wired the tray onto the wreath and hung it on the door.



Blessed Autumn indeed.


My only regret is that I didn't have room on the tray to write about my garage sale success story.   And how it all happened down the road from Donny.


Sharing at . . .



9 comments:

  1. Who is Donny Osmond? Nah, I know who he is. I just wanted to see you gaping as I did when reading your nonchalant "silver" episode ahahahah.

    Ok, I'll keep mopping around and feeling like the only person in blogosphere who never went a garage-sale-or-thrift-store-"You'll-never-guess-what-I-found-today-for-a-steal-of-a-deal".

    "Go Away Little Girl", I want to enjoy my pity party in full. Glorious wreath too ;)

    Be Blessed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations! Like what you did with the wreath. Last year I scored a silver gravy boat for $5, and I was ecstatic! Too bad you didn't meet Donny! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this wreath what a great idea. I saw it on Inspiration Friday.

    Cynthia

    ReplyDelete
  4. I adore your wreath!! What a great idea!! So pretty!! =) Deanna

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a great idea! And you were so lucky to get those trays for such a small amount. Isn't it fun to find a treasure like that! I love your wreath and it looks fabulous on your lovely front door. Happy autumn!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That wreath is absolutely beautiful! I'm loving all of the fall touches I'm seeing on your blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. that's a really funny story, and i'm glad you stumbled upon that garage sale. pricing is the only reason i hesitate with an affluent neighborhood. i want to put something in the middle of my fall wreath, so this is a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great story! Everyone deserves to have one of those :) And you wreath idea is so clever!
    Cheers, Andrea

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...