Week 2 and they're scattered far and wide about the city. Now there are some parades in the farther flung suburbs, but there's no way I'm going to drive that far, there's a promising looking one, a barn filled with antiques some 20 KM north of Cochrane, but to get there, time to get back, the day's over, really, and so I have to give it a miss. It's an impossible day, really, to make a map, they're everywhere today and so eventually I decide to retrace an old familiar route - down Elbow Drive to Brittania.
And it's a great day; Brittania's "Parade" is small, about 8 houses scattered over a few blocks, most are desperate (contrary to what you might think the rich shop at Wal-Mart just as much as the poor do..), but at the final one I find an old teak chest, perhaps 16 tall, 18 deep, 30 inches wide, inside are numerous small compartments for hiding things in, a pip at $20.00, and an antique oak planter, 4 bartley twist legs and a spindle basket on top, perfect, and these are the treasures that keep me going...
I continue down Elbow Drive, there's a parade of sales in Haysboro, I turn to follow numerous signs, find the sales, many of them are too well hidden, and it's a game of numbers after all so I keep going, no time to search for the poorly flagged sales, some treasures may have to remain undiscovered...
Mental Note: Never turn left for a garage sale, always right, always right, saves time....
I find an antique Red Man Picnic basket, with politically incorrect logo inside the hamper, $5.00, keep going, an antique back massager that looks like a floor sander, weighs 20 lbs, all shiny steel and thick power cords - "How Much?" I ask, "$15.00" is the answer, too much for a novelty, keep going, a couple of books for the boy (the Dirk Gently Holistic Detective agency, he liked the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy), the collected letters of Queen Victoria, other small things, by 11:00 the treasures are done and I'm on my way back home.
Stop at the St. Anthony's Church - pointless, really, whatever they have looks like well picked leftovers from several weeks ago, not the slightest trace that a treasure was ever here, and finally, after numerous fruitless detours I'm home.
Sunday Morning I'm woken early by the lugubrious howls of a cat forgotten outside overnight, I would ignore him, not give into his wailing but the neighbors, they shouldn't have to put up with this and so I let him in, he sulks about wary of my foot, I help him downstairs to his own private Guantanamo Bay, the cat carrier, he can howl to his heart's content there but this revenge is no good, I'm up and so set off...
The Hillhurst Flea Market, where I can find those treasures I missed - a silver flute, $30.00, I pick it up - telling myself that I need one for travel, the other is too fine, now really, I never play either but that will change...and an old upright silverware case, with Chinese painting on the front in gilt, perfect as a jewelry box for the daughter, I talk to the book fairy and he tells me that CBC has their annual "Canada Reads" book sale at the curling rink and I head down to check it out.
Oddly enough I've never been.
And here, countless books, and I pass an hour or so going through them - they are ordered according to genre, but not really, it's a rough guide at best and so I take my time, walk the length of the tables, I'm looking for certain particular books that I haven't read or books that I have read and can recommend and pass on, there are tens of thousands of books here and I take the time to read every title...
Robertson Davies, every one of his books is here, a hundred different editions, paperback, hardcover, Atwood as well, I'm not looking for these...
I'm looking for specific books. And they're conspicuous by their absence. Not a single copy of "The Famished Road' by Ben Okri, although there are others by him. No books by Nabokov, Pynchon, Casanova, Miller, Bukowski, Laclos, and possibly they've been picked (there is more than one book fairy in Calgary), but they're still putting out boxes....
Slowly, slowly, reading every table, walking up and down the length of the tables, reading every title, taking my time, I've got time...
In a couple of hours I've found perhaps a dozen books - Edward Lear - "Journal of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria", a few other travel books - some recommendations to pass on, nothing specifically that I was looking for but that's the nature of Serendipity, you never find what you're looking for but perhaps I've found something just as good...these to be added to the pile of a hundred books or so at the foot of the bed, books I intend to read - if only, when I can find time.
Home, a living room filled to the brim with this weekend's treasures - a four star garage sale weekend and a couple of hours work to sort and place these new treasures.