The Naturalist's Estate Sale
This was definitely in my top two estates sales ever. Right up there with the hatmaker/printmaker couple sale in Kenwood-- this was a Nature-lover's house in Longfellow. A small, unassuming house that beckoned with vintage linens waving in the breeze out on the front lawn. Jennifer tipped me off to this one, calling me while I was weeding my side garden and insisting "you have to go!"

I rode little blue over and had a devil of a time finding something to lock her to. Finally a smallish tree half a block away seemed like the best bet.

Nothing was lacking at this gem of a sale. Vintage jewelry: check, cool glassware: check, ladies' hats, scarves, pins, and vintage clothing: check. Vellum maps of the BWCA, binoculars, wool blankets, wooden musky lures, old lanterns, geodes, shells, chemistry sets, flower press, rock cutter, and my favorite, but dang, it didn't fit-- vintage ladies' fishing jacket!

I am in a severe paring-down mode, or at least a stasis in my possessions mode, so I had to restrain myself at several points, especially with the light up globe. But I did come away with a small ziploc bag of paper ephemera including Audobon Bird Cards (unused), two Boy Scout Luminous Pocket Planitaruims (Northern and Southern hemisphere), a small envelope with a copy of a letter written in 1944 from George North, who was stationed in North Africa, and a compass from the US Army Corp of Engineers.

If tomorrow is half price day, it may be hard to stay away.