Home from the treasure hunt
I feel like I’ve been on a day-long treasure hunt, where around every corner I found something else to bring up my feeling of contentment. Admitting that my satisfaction level isn’t particularly high, I still will look back on today as “a good one”.
Things started with a trip to the local flea market. This one is in a huge rambling building that used to hold a car dealership. I had figured out that the guy with all the musical instruments and old amps might have some microphone accessories; he did, and I scored a clamp that actually fit my trio of Hammers. One of them, anyhow. He only had one left, but for $5 I was on a roll.
There’s a certain amount of stress involved with a flea market. Will I have to get a tattoo or a “coupe Longueuil“? If I choose one of those radios, will I find the one that was removed under cover of night from a car we used to have. In fact, the stress factor had attracted a two teams of experts equipped with some special high-tech electronic equipment; all the chairs were taken, so I didn’t get to hold on to a pair of tin cans and find out if this was the answer to all my issues. I didn’t see any famous actors either, but maybe next time.
I did find a used book stall where I acquired an eleven volume set of filiations from the local area. Given the number of hours I’ve spent using these in my genealogical research, I felt like I’d come across a set of familiar friends. In passing, paper is so last century. These books had made the transistion to digital, and I now have additional sets on my laptop and on a web site. For the rest of the world the content is as interesting as an old phone books; for me, every name reflects an individual that might some day be related to my progeny. Puzzles yet unsolved.
After a healthy recharging of the tummy over at Extreme Pita, we decided to go to a local music store – they also sell sound gear and I did find another pair of microphone clamps. The cool part came when I asked the young clerk if he had any “older” microphone stands. You know, nudge nudge, wink wink. Off he went to search in the rear of the store; returning about fifteen minutes later with two pristine stands and no price tag. Not to matter; with the help of two other employees he found a SKU that allowed him to pull up a possible value. At $21 each, I could only go along with the gag and spend some cash. Quickly, before he figured out that such a price was valid back long before he was born. I don’t mind a bit of dust on stuff. The waiting time was enough for son #2 to start pricing a marimba. He had also priced out a 32 inch wood lathe at the flea market, so he must have the treasure hunting gene.
There was also a quick shopping trip to the big box store where we declined the comfort of a shopping cart and carried all the foodstuffs in our arms. This is a carefully learned strategy; otherwise, you never escape with less than $200 worth of foods you normally wouldn’t touch. We did replenish the granola bar collection and get another huge jar of nuts. I’ll soon have to find a use for these aquarium sized containers, and it won’t involve goldfish. I’m not nuts!
