Publication Date: Friday, May 27, 2005
Remember lime green?
Remember lime green?
(May 27, 2005) Palo Alto sponsors city-wide garage sale
by Carol Blitzer
A year ago, I thought that catchy phrase -- lime green -- might draw buyers by the hundreds to our house and enable us to get rid of 35 years of accumulated junk -- whoops -- treasures.
Despite the cluster of lime objects -- and hundreds of other goodies -- we were a year out of sync with Palo Alto's citywide garage sale, which is held every two years on the first Saturday in June. This year's event is planned for June 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. By applying to the city, you can get free signs and ads in the Weekly, to help promote your sale.
Without the attraction of the citywide sale, our lime objects -- wicker hamper and matching waste basket, several shower curtains and plastic hooks, towels, needlepoint pillows contrasted with royal blue -- languished.
We advertised our hours as Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We were still setting up -- dashing in and out of the house with our pre-washed and pre-tagged items -- when the first people drove up about 8:15 a.m.
"Any old records?"
Nope. We hadn't gotten that far in our gleaning. We do own a collection of Mamas and Papas, Beatles, Moody Blues, etc. -- now unplayable because we stacked the CD player on top of the old turntable -- but were loathe to part with them.
Actually, my husband is loathe to part with anything.
We began planning for the sale months before, beginning with the items stored in the basement for the past 10 years. Most were useable -- but not necessarily useful -- household items saved for when our kids would set up their own apartments. How were we to know they'd take that first step on the East Coast and it wouldn't pay to ship an old wicker shelf, or two out of a previous three-set of nesting bowls? By the time they returned to California, they were grown ups with their own tastes.
We mentioned our sale to friends, and soon we had acquired a futon from one, a girl's bike from another. One couple set up a table and offloaded their own treasures. A neighbor trotted over with kids' books. Later she baked banana muffins, which sold faster than the books, for the same 25 cents.
The day was comfortably warm, just a tad breezy. Actually, the wind was brisker than sales -- but bargaining was the mode of the day.
How much for the large mixer? "$5," I said. "How about $3? Does it work? Can I plug it in? It looks like it's missing a screw," a would-be customer said. For $3, I thought he was missing a screw, but we plugged it in, demonstrated that it did indeed work -- and it came with a meat-grinding attachment. Sold.
Considering that it weighed 10 pounds and had been filling a drawer for 35 years, untouched, it was a relief to wave good-bye -- even though it was a gift from my favorite Great-Aunt Ida for our wedding.
Some items we practically gave away -- $2 for a set of curtains that I sewed 20 years ago when one daughter was into bubble-gum pink. Others we really did give away -- the black-and-white TV with a missing knob, an electric typewriter that worked, a brand-new lamp from Marshall's with the tag still on it (I loved the shade and kept that).
By noon, we took a breather and went inside to count our cash. $200, mostly in ones and quarters. We'd kept a pretty close eye on our treasures to keep pilferage to a minimum -- but someone actually stole our snazzy price labels and dots. I suspect it was the nice lady who told me how fun this was because everything was so reasonably priced.
We stuck it out for the last three hours, when the less serious garage-sale buyers drifted by, and took in another $40. Then, we loaded up the leftovers and carted them to Goodwill.
At the very end of the day, someone spotted the lime green rug-covered pillow, the size of a basketball. She thought her cat might enjoy it, and simply couldn't resist the color.
Assistant editor Carol Blitzer can be reached at cblitzer@paweekly.com.
What: Palo Alto Citywide Garage Sale
When: Saturday, June 4, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Cost: Free
Where: Look for ads in the Weekly on June 1 and June 3 for exact addresses.
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