Well, I’m not too sure how this day is going to turn out. I’ve got six sales on my list and I’m not too sure about any of them. I even checked out Craigslist and put in a call to a listing that featured cookbooks.
The phone call did instill some hope for the next day. The post was by a couple named Ken and Susan. The cookbooks are a combination of Susan and her mother’s collection. They’ve already given some to Goodwill and her daughters…but there are still several cookbooks left. The picture with their Craigslist ad had a few Junior League cookbooks in it—but I’m sure those are already gone.
Susan mentions that she and her husband are both ministers and they once attended a local Moravian church. They now take their ministry to a local nursing home where Ken plays a 103 year old tuba every Sunday morning. Susan also says that one of the cookbooks still in their stack is one from a Moravian church. Yeah! I’m definitely adding them to my list and will see them the next day. They live on the other side of Charlotte but I’ve got a few stops that will put me nearby. For me, that one Moravian cookbook is worth the drive.
Good thing I had that hope to start out my morning…because most of the stops were a complete bust. I did find one sale that had cookbooks and here’s what I snagged:
Spindletop International Cooks (Spindletop Oilmen’s Golf Charities, Inc.), The New York Times Heritage Cook Book (Jean Hewitt), Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts (Kitty and Lucian Maynard) and The Justin Wilson Gourmet and Gourmand Cookbook.
Nice start but then I ask if she had any more cookbooks. She mentions that she had already sold some yesterday. Again with the “yesterday” comment. So I ask if she had her yard sale open on Friday. Nope, but she had already sold some yesterday through a Craigslist ad. Really? I’ve missed out again on sales because of “yesterday.”
At least I’ve got my own Craigslist coup coming up and I’m very excited. I make a phone call and get the address from Ken. I’m on my way!!
As I pull into the driveway, Ken is finishing up washing and rinsing a truck. We go into the garage and up the back stairs to a large bonus room containing the biggest model train set-up I’ve ever seen in my life. I take a picture and email it to my old boss, Tony. I write in the subject line “Jealous?” He was….
Along the walls, there are bookshelves and bookshelves packed with books. Ken tells me that they are in the process of scaling back and selling a ton of books.
There is a table with cookbooks in front of me. As I start going through them, I’m surprised the Junior League cookbooks are still here. If they really did have someone come earlier and buy some of their cookbooks, why did they leave these?
Here’s what I snagged:
The Bakery Lane Soup Bowl (Margery Mitchell, Joan Sedgwick), In the Kitchen The Costco Way, Cooking with Class (Charlotte Latin Schools), Cooking with Class: A Second Helping (Charlotte Latin Schools) and Christ Church Cooks (Christ Church, Charlotte, NC).
Virginia Hospitality (Junior League of Hampton Roads, VA), The Charlotte Cookbook (The Charlotte Junior League, Charlotte, NC), Yorktown Cook Book (Grace Church, Yorktown, VA), Favorite Recipes Book II (Oak Grove UMC, Mt. Pleasant, NC) and A Calendar of Dinners with 615 Recipes (Marion Harris Neil).
This last one, A Calendar of Dinners, looks quite old. I open up the book and the inside decoration is a wallpaper of cans of Crisco and clouds! This is a cookbook underwritten by The Procter & Gamble Co. with the recipes using Crisco. And this thing is old! I’ve got the Eighteenth Edition…from 1921! But as I’m going through it, I notice that the next to the last page has been ripped out! As it happens, I don’t have the big December 31st menu.
Okay, so these are all great…but I came here for the Moravian church cookbook. Ken looks again. Then he looks on another shelf. Then on a different bookshelf on the other side of the room. It’s not there…or anywhere.
I can tell that he’s a little shocked that he can’t find the cookbook. He knows this is the one and only reason I drove all the way to their home. I’m trying to mask my disappointment but it’s really hard. I thank him for looking, pay him for the ones I had and head out.
I decide to try one more sale before heading home. It’s a fancy detatched garage with no cookbooks, but look at what interesting thing I find:
It’s a small metal mold for a chocolate bunny. Seems pretty appropriate for the upcoming Easter weekend!