Monday Rambles

First off, I'd like to give a welcome to new reader Tammy, who made her first comments over the weekend.  I'm trying to get better at recognizing readers and such, so bear with me as I learn how to be a good blogger.  She's one of those "no comment reply" readers, so I'm welcoming her this way.  I hope you enjoy your stay,Tammy.  I'm a little stranger than some other bloggers, but I think you'll find something to enjoy, even if you don't like everything.

I hope everyone had a good Fourth.  I did not venture out.  Instead, I spent the day resting, napping (are those the same things), tidying, cleaning (ditto), pricing, and sorting buttons.  More on that last one in a few days.  I also worked on some blog posts.  I know I've got you all hanging on, waiting for some topics to wrap up.  I'm hoping to be all caught up by the end of the month.

Keith went camping over the weekend, but I stayed at home.  Some folks think it's odd that he'll go and I'll stay, but I simply don't like camping the way that he does.  With the way I feel these days, it does me better to be at home to recharge.  Going to the woods is good for him to do that, so I have no issue with that.  His job is stressful.  My health situation is stressful for him.  I have to make him go sometimes, but I want him to be able to take care of himself.  He usually goes somewhere in the county, so if I do need him he can be home pretty quickly.  

Can you believe it's July all ready?  Yeesh!  That means I need to plan a cemetery visit soon.  There's a booth in the Peddlers Mall that sells lovely (and very affordable) floral arrangements.

Today is a day of rest for me too.  I am still not done with the booths, but I'm taking the day off.  I want to finish some cleaning work.  I'm also needing to recover from going to the Big Flea yesterday.

I can hear you all from here:  "I knew he'd never keep that moratorium."  But there's another side to this story.

First off, we're not talking about a bunch of yard sales here.  The Big Flea and I have a long history.  It's a special event for me.  I feel like by supporting them with my attendance, I'm giving them more reasons to expand their schedule again.  Peddlers support other peddlers, you know?  Finally, today is my mother's birthday.  (More on that tomorrow.)  One of the ways we would celebrate every year was by going to the July 4th Big Flea.  Going yesterday was something I had to do.  Moratorium be damned.  I honestly don't feel like I'm justifying here.

I did try to keep true to the spirit of the moratorium by doing a lot of people watching, buying things mainly for the house or for me personally.  I failed a bit at that intent, but that was to be expected, I guess.  That reminds me that I really need to do a post about my comic book finds lately.  It's long overdue, even though I know it will bore a lot of you.

A few of the purchases of the day.

My FP streak continues!

I thought this was a Fisher-Price military transport until I saw the Forestry logo, making it a Forestry Service all terrain transport.  This relieved me greatly.  The thought of Little People going to war was disturbing.

Nothing but awesomeness!

One dealer had an amazing stash of older religious medals.  Now I have an amazing stash of old religious medals.  They're going right into the collection.  (Note to self:  Do post about religious collection some time.)

Let's look at a couple of these a little more closely.

People used to pin medals and badges to their clothing.  It's common to find them with the pins.

This one was a new one for me.  I'm used to seeing all the common, popular ones like St. Anthony, but this is the first item dedicated to St. Stanislaus in my collection.

This one totally tickled and thrilled me.  I hope you all can read the inscription to Nuestra Senora de la Leche!  Woo hoo!  My second nursing Madonna item, found in the same year yet!

I also found this old brass crucifix.  I haven't decided whether it's a keeper or not.  It might stay with me a bit, then get passed on to someone else via the booth.

Anyone up for a game of Squarbles?

Vintage dime store toys still in package.  I am particularly in love with that play razor.

What a pair!

 A couple of oddball vintage elves, because oddball vintage elves rule, of course.

Now Chiquito can cosplay as Harry Potter!

 Two pairs of tiny eyeglasses for dolls, I guess.  Are any of those American Girls near-sighted?  I just thought they were cute.  The glasses, not the AG dolls.  Those are ghastly.  Also a vintage Tootsie Toy vehicle.  That's not ghastly in the least.

And then there are the comics.  One of the things I love most about the Big Flea is the selection of comics that are always there.  We're kind of thing, me and comics.

I got these from a dealer I buy from at pretty much every Big Flea.  Sadly, his prices have gone up some over the past couple of shows, but I can still find some stuff.  He and I seem to always have a conversation about buying lesser grade older comics, like these.

I was excited to get the one on the far right.  I only had Space Ranger stories in reprints, but no original comics.  Next to it is an issue of Hawkman from the 60's series--there have been several other Hawkman series since--which is only my second issue for this series.  Happy!

I've never been a freak about comic condition, unlike most other collectors.  The older titles that I like can be expensive in higher grades, so I am always happy to have a battered but complete copy that I got on the cheap.  All I want to do is read the damn things, which is what they were made for.

I'm not sure, but I seem to be developing a thing for old DC horror titles.

Whenever I approach a box of comics and I am shopping primarily for me, I scan the tops of the comics in the box and go right for the sections that are the most yellowed with age.  I only bother to flip through an entire box when I'm shopping for the booth.

So I'm at this one booth, see a telltale yellowed section in one box, and zero on it.  As I start pulling out one (to me) treasure after another (for a buck each!), the dealer comes over and starts watching me.  He kind of starts whining about everything I'm selecting.

"Oh man.  I can't believe you found that!"

"Oh geez.  You're killing me!"

"Dang!"

Then he says, "I just bought this collection and haven't even looked through it yet."  I didn't say anything, actually I've been tuning him, but I'm thinking:  "Why would you do that?"  I would never put anything out for sale without checking it out first.  If I put some kind of rare collector's item out for a song, and someone snags a super treasure bargain for it, well, all I can do is be happy for them and learn from the experience.

Let's take one last look at that comic on the far right in the second photo.

Yes, Lois Lane had her own comic for years.

Yes, that is Lois Lane turned into a snow person.  A snow person.  Who is melting.  This is why I enjoy the hell out of older comics.  Also, Snow Satan.

Fun printers blocks of cartoon-ish line art.  Can someone tell me what is going on in the second one?

Oh Yeah!

Finally, Kool-Aid cups totally rock.  Am I right or am I right?  I bought a set of five.  Is it just me, or does his slightly enigmatic smile remind you of someone else?  Someone page Dan Brown, stat!

Overall, it was your typical Big Flea--lots of salvage groceries and health and beauty stuff, Avon reps, sock sellers, etc.  Plus, a healthy sprinkling of secondhand and antique dealers.  Some of my regular stops weren't there, which was disappointing.  There were even about a dozen or so empty stalls, which was so unusual that I noticed it.  The Big Flea is usually fully rented out.  Still, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon, just like always.

I think being a flea market vendor must be a hard life with all that packing and unpacking and moving from show to show. (And then someone comes along and finds great bargains in your comic boxes!)  I very much prefer renting out my booths and leaving my stuff there and letting someone else handle my sales.  I am glad there are flea market vendors, since there would not be a Big Flea without them!

Do you know that there are people who goes to the Big Flea and don't buy anything? I do not understand this.

The next Big Flea will be Labor Day weekend.  It will have the extra wing of antique dealers.  I'm counting the days. 

As long as we are looking at pictures, here's the one I owe you all of the new book booth.

The Eddie's Attic/Booth 62 Literary and Media Annex!

I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  Getting all the stuff out on its own was a good thing.  Thursday, almost all of my sales came out of this booth, and a good hunk of Friday's did too.  It's nothing fancy, I know, but it's books, you know?  They don't need fancy to attract buyers.  I am planning on adding small shelves on the back wall for action figures and nerd toys that fit the theme.

Book and comic sales have picked up considerably since the establishment of this area.  I have sold several of each every day after setting it up.  The books were so hard to get to before that I didn't sell as many.  I always sell a lot of comics, but nerds are resilient about what they'll endure to get their fix.  Suspend a box of comics over a vat of acid in a cage, and they'll swing over on a jungle vine with a blow torch to break in and get to them. 

I was not able to get to where I wanted with the other booths on Friday when I went to the mall.  I hit a point where I realized that I needed to pull 3/4 of what was in one spot out and deliberately put it back, one piece at a time.  I had hoped to avoid doing that, but it turned out to be unavoidable.  I knew that I didn't have the time or the energy to do all that at that point in time.  I'll start tomorrow with that task.  I'm thinking I'll be done on Thursday.  Work tomorrow.  Rest Wednesday. Finish Thursday.  Spend Friday in a coffee shop quaffing lattes and reading graphic novels.  That's the plan.  We'll see how it goes.

I was able to leave on of the remaining spaces orderly enough that people can get into it.  The other one is still derelict, but I have it blocked off enough that no one can get into it.  It's probably better that way.

Happily, despite the chaos, sales have remained steady and strong.  I think the holiday weekend helped somewhat.  I have high hopes for this month.  I can't wait to see how it pays off.

Speaking of high hopes, here's some life insight from a public bathroom stall.

Can I get an "Amen!"

And someone just popped in to say "hi" and see what the big deal is at the computer today.

It's Chiquito!  He loves all his blog fans!

And, with that, he scurried off.  I think maybe I should, too.  It might be bedtime.  He's always right about bedtime.  Much rambling today has worn us both out.

Nitey Nite!