g is for garbage picking
For a girl who was horrified when her father would stop by the side of the road to pick up a “perfectly good ironing board” or a vacuum cleaner that just needed a little fixing, I certainly have come a long way. Back in my high school days, I wanted nothing to do with garbage picking. I couldn’t imagine anything more embarrassing. And yet, today I’ve certainly gleaned my fair share of trash treasures.Several years back, Dad and I loaded about 50 wooden grape crates into his trailer after finding a neighbor who had just finished his annual wine making adventure. Piles of the empty grape boxes were just sitting there, awaiting their garbage day fate. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be the proud owner of fifty wooden crates, even though I was clueless about what I would do with all of them. (Most of them have yet to be put to any real use, but I’m convinced that one of these days, I will have the most magnificent brainstorm and will truly rejoice over the miraculous find that those crates were.)
Other amazing and inspiring finds have included...
- a glass top that fit perfectly on the empty table base I had picked up for dirt cheap while working at Pier 1
- a set of pool balls from a kids billiards table
- a handmade pottery bowl
- 3 retro turquoise chairs
- vases
- a set of encyclopedias (that I used for one of my college sculpture assignments)
- books aplenty
- a dining room table and chairs
- a toboggan
- board games
- a huge, incredible mirror
Comments
The lettering was written upside down...a style I discovered years ago while doodling along the edges of my middle school history notes and then picked up again recently! Fun stuff!
You have opened my eyes to the wonderful world of trash. To things I would once turn my nose to I now inspect to contemplate all the fruitful ways in which it can be used, or reused.
As the saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." How grand to be on the other side of this equation, for once. d
Sounds a little better than picking, but it's really all the same. I should explore my neighborhood come Sunday evening just to see what i can find. I haven't done it in a while but as you know, one can discover many a treasure in the random assortments of discarded items.