The news makes such a big fuss over the people who camp out for those insane Black Friday deals. You know what? A good estate sale will bring out the pre-dawn fanatic every Saturday morning. We know what that first-through-the-door sensation feels like more than once a year.
And on this particular Saturday, I knew I had to be that crazy fanatic camped out at the door.
Remember the estate sale where the guy holding it told me he’d kept two Betty Feezor cookbooks for himself? Well, he’s having another sale and deep down in the description, he’s written “good set of Betty Feezor cookbooks.” And there’s a picture…three of them.
Okay, he’s obviously sent this email to a wide range of people on his mailing list. Oh, and by the way, the house itself is over one hundred years old—so lots of antiques and old furniture. I can see it now, I’ll be elbowing my way past pickers trying to get their hands on a side table.
The sale is at 8am and it’s relatively close, so I decide that I need to be there before 6am to beat out the crowd. Or, at least be near the front.
I’m motivated by the force of Betty and after a little issue of actually finding the house, I’m there at 5:45am. It’s dark, it’s cold and I’m the first to arrive.
I park just across the street, walk over and but my box down at the door. With my spot staked out, I head back to the car and find my pink Slanket (it’s the knock-off Snuggie). I wrap myself up and take a seat on the cold brick back porch.
Thanks to my smartphone, I
catch up on the latest news, update my Facebook status and send out a Tweet.
Time passes and I realize that I could’ve slept in a little longer and have
been just fine showing up closer to 7am. Oh well…I’m still first in line.
Others start showing up a little after 7am. They begin to line up behind me and await the start of the sale. A lot of them are antique dealers who are looking for jewelry and furniture. I keep waiting for someone to mention cookbooks…but I don’t hear a peep.
About 7:30 am, Tom and his crew of helpers arrive and go inside the house. I hear them setting up and getting ready. Just a little longer now!
Right before 8am, Tom comes out and explains how to tear the tags on the big furniture to claim them. And then he lets us in.
The Bettys are on the “goodie” table with the costume jewelry. I grab them and ask him to put my name on them while I look around.
Betty Feezor’s Best (Fourth Printing, 1962), Betty
Feezor’s Carolina Recipes Volume I (Seventh Printing, 1977) and Betty Feezor’s Carolina Recipes Volume III
(First Edition, 1984).
What? No Volume II? There’s a Carolina Recipes Volume III! I’m really thrilled to find that one. You don’t see it as often and I’m on cloud nine right now.
Just past the checkout table is a shelf of cookbooks. Wait…there are more cookbooks? I was so focused on Betty that I didn’t realize there were more.
With the Betty’s secure at the checkout desk, I take my empty box over to the bookshelf and start looking and loading up. There are a ton of people pouring into the house now, and this bookshelf is right in front of the main hallway—I’ve got to work quickly.
Here's what I found:
The Treasury of White Trash Cooking (Ernest Matthew Mickler & Trisha Mickler), Inside the Gate (Montreat Scottish Society, Montreat, NC), The Village Cook Book (P.T.A. Pantry, Davidson, NC), Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church Cookbook (Charlotte, NC), Barbara’s Top Recipes (Barbara Stutts, Charlotte, NC), Charity League Cook Book (Charlotte, NC), Purefoy Hotel Cook Book (Eva B. Purefoy, Talladega, AL), White Trash Cooking (Ernest Matthew Mickler) and Sinkin Spells, Hot Flashes, Fits and Cravins (Ernest Matthew Mickler).
So, let me get this straight…there are two copies of White Trash Cooking? One has the metal spiral spine and the other appears to be soft bound. The soft bound one is a special edition from 2002 and this is a first printing. Score!
Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church: 250th Anniversary Cookbook (Charlotte, NC), Charleston Receipts (Junior League of Charleston, SC, 1953 printing), It’s Not Gourmet—It’s Better! (Eudora Garrison) and Hopewell Heritage Cookbook (Presbyterian Women/Hopewell Presbyterian Church, Huntersville, NC).
Okay, now this is a nice supplement to my Betty’s. I check out and head back to my car. Time to exhale! All that and it’s only 8:15 am.
The house looks so calm and peaceful in the early morning light, doesn’t it?
That narrow residential
street on the other side of the trees has gone from dark and empty to bumper to
bumper.
I’m grateful for my Bettys
and the rest of my finds, but it’s been a long, cold morning and I’m heading
home.
As I make it back to the car, I take one last look at the back porch. It doesn’t look so dark and lonely in the daylight.