I can’t believe how much artwork was at almost every single yard sale this morning.
The very first sale was at 7am and from the other side of the gate, you could see a bunch of framed bird and duck prints. Needless to say, when the gate opened and the masses went towards the fancy duck prints—my path went to the opposite side of the yard. Cookbooks? Nope. But, as I rounded the yard and headed back toward the gate, I spotted this cool looking framed painting:
The lady having the sale was the artist! Instinct told me to grab it and this was my first find of the morning.
My second yard sale got my heart racing. When I asked if there were any cookbooks, a lady told me that there were a ton of them in the room right beside me. I looked on all the shelves and didn’t see any. When I found her again and told her that I couldn’t find any—she said that the “Mom” must’ve taken them with her. Okay….I thought this was an estate sale. Did “Mom” take them with her to the great beyond?
I’m disappointed, but found this cute needlepoint of the state of North Carolina:
On the way to my next sale, I spot a sign that says “Moving Sale.” I decided to turn around and give it a try. Good thing I did! When I finished looking at the items in the garage and rounded the corner to the back of the house, I spotted a box of cookbooks! I grabbed most of them and went to check out. A lady helping with the sale found a box for me and said there was room in the box for more. I totally agreed—so I asked if there were more cookbooks coming out.
She pointed me to the lady holding the sale and I went up and asked. She paused for a second and said that she did have more. She went inside and a less than a minute later, she brought out a stack—as did her husband!
I started looking through them and adding to my box—now it was overflowing! Take a look at the haul:
Southern Living Annual Recipes 1979, The Martha Stewart Cookbook, Out of Our League (Junior League of Greensboro, NC), Finest Old Southern Recipes(Wooden Cover) with Southern Cookbook: 250 Fine Old Recipes (Lillie Lustig, Editor), Charlotte Country Day School Cook Book (Charlotte Country Day, Charlotte, NC), Pick of the Crop (North Carolina Chapter 35 Telephone Pioneers Cook Book), The Charlotte Cookbook (Charlotte Junior League, NC) and Charlotte is Cooking with Allen Tate.
A Goldmine of Recipes (Cabarrus County Extension Homemakers), Three Rivers Cookbook (Child Health Association of Sewickley, PA), Cooking with the Cobb Clan (Descendants of Katie Lee Sockwell Cobb), Sharing Our Best: Taste of Travelers (Travelers Insurance Company), Sugar ‘n Spice and Everything Nice! (The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, PA) A Book of Favorite Recipes from Charlotte BPW Club, Tried and True Volume II (Craig Avenue Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC).
I asked Ruby about her these cookbooks and she said this was part of 50 years of collecting them!
She pointed to the inscription on this Southern Living Annual Recipes from 1979:
(To "Supercook" on her 38th--I don't see how her culinary ability could get any better, but she wanted it anyway.)
She said, “This was from my first husband when I was 38—now I’m 71!”
Ruby then showed me several that were from when she and her first husband lived in the Pittsburgh area. She points on Three Rivers Cookbook and tells me about how this was a gift from the real estate agent when they closed on their home. The agent even had their evening meal catered for them on the first night after they moved in. Isn’t that nice?
I was on the fence about Cooking with the Cobb Clan. But when I asked Ruby if I needed to get this one, she said that this cookbook was from her friend, Phyllis’ family, and she had once owned a restaurant. I guess that settled it!
I’m so glad I turned the car around and gave Ruby’s sale a try. But now I’ve got some decisions to make. It’s about 7:45am and I still have two more 7am sales—but I’ve got two sales coming up at 8 am that I need to think about as well.
I give up on making it to the other 7 am sales and head for the closest 8 am sale. Fifteen minutes later—it’s a bust. Now I’ve got another decision to make. My 9 am estate sale is further down and across the border in South Carolina. If I leave now, I’m there around 8:20 am. That’s a good bit of time to sit and wait for the door to open. But, on the up side, it’s an estate sale from the awesome Bell. Remember the morning spent with her mother-in-law’s shed and the later one inside the house? Plus, she’s listed cookbooks in the advertising.
It looks like I’m heading to South Carolina!
As I’m pulling into the neighborhood, I notice a brand new Krispy Kreme. I think we all know where I’m visiting after this sale…
This is a development of apartment/condos and the sale is in one of the smaller units. I knock on the door and Bell says to come in. Bell is ready and her cousin is there as well. Bell points me towards the kitchen and I find a bookshelf with some cookbooks. Here’s my stack:
Nathalie Dupree’s Southern Memories, Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals: Get Togethers, Cooking with Rachel and Friends (First Baptist Church, Rock Hill, SC), The Magnolia Collection (Gene Westbrook), The McClellanville Coast Seafood Cookbook (McClellanville Arts Council, McClellanville, SC) and Sweet Savours of Summerville (Bethany United Methodist Women, Bethany UMC, Summerville, SC).
I take a look around the rest of the condo and it’s very nicely decorated. Lots of doo-dads and decorative boxes you’d find at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. Plus, there are tons of paintings on the wall…
Turns out that the condo is owned by a lady who is an artist—and all the paintings are all by her! Seriously, it’s like I’ve stumbled onto Art Day at yard sales. The prices for the framed art are a bit too steep for me, so I’ll just stick with the cookbooks.
At this point, it’s after 9am and the sales are over for this morning. I’ve got some nice finds in the cookbook area and a two interesting pieces of art. I think it’s time to treat myself to some Krispy Kreme!