West Plano yard sale report: adventures in black and white

by BY CLAIRE HOFFMAN

PLANO — Mission: See where the wind takes me.

I got up to do a long walk with the dog because I knew there was rain coming and I wanted to make sure we could get out before it rained. So it was 8 a.m. by the time I got out. By then, it’s almost a waste of time. There’s that massive crowd of people at 7 a.m. and they take all the good stuff. If you don't get out until 8:15, you're not going to find anything good unless it's something no one else is looking for. So I just started going across town and looking for signs. It's fun that way.

The first sale I found was a group of people. They had mostly useless kitchen stuff and kids' stuff. But they had a drawing I bought, a sketch of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's black and white, which made me think it would go with these photos I bought. I had picked up a couple of B&W photos with black frames. One is in a restaurant, one is a rack with pitchers and old milk jugs. It was someone who was doing B&W photography. They had a whole bunch of them, hundreds of them. I got three for a buck.

I like to have things on the walls, but I can never decide what to put up. Making a commitment to having something on my walls is huge because then I have to look at it forever. I’ve always liked the look of B&W photos. This was a cheap way for me to see what I like. I like the look of the Golden Gate Bridge. That and the fact that it was B&W made me want to get it. It was $4. I'm not crazy about the frame; I'll probably change it.

They had other pictures, all those typical pictures, the glass-covered ones you see in people’s bathrooms of flowers usually with an oval-cut mat. They had a painting, a scenery painting, but I didn’t like the colors. I see a lot of those, but again, I don’t want to make the commitment to the art.

The next sale was this Asian woman's clothes. She was selling all her shoes and clothes -- rack after rack of shoes and clothes. I thought it was rude. If you’re only one size, and you’re going to sell your clothes, send them to a consignment store. 99 percent of the people who stop are not going to be her size in shoes or clothes. Don’t waste people’s time and gas. It kindof pissed me off.

Then I went to a church yard sale around the corner. All the people at the church bring their stuff, and the church gets the money -- it’s a fund raiser. Given the nature of the event, it wasn’t that big. Of course, they had lots of toys. But there was a set of 12 wine glasses: 6 bigger ones and 6 smaller ones. They’re octagonal-shaped glasses with black stems. They were 50 cents apiece, so it cost $6 for the set.

I hadn’t even thought about getting wine glasses. It was one of those things where I saw how cheap it was and it was a full set. You can always use wine glasses. I have some mismatched. I even have three with black stems that are round. So they kind of match. Not that it matters, I don’t care if they’re mismatched. But I liked the 8-sided glass.

Today's take: B&W sketch of Golden Gate Bridge, set of 12 wine glasses.

Total: $10.

This story was submitted by a member of the Pegasus News community.