…artwork.
I’m not sure if this is a practice in most of the country, or even in the state, but in my neighborhood, if you no longer want something, you set it on your curb, and chances are, it’ll disappear. No, it won’t be taken away by the weekly large refuse pickup, though we do have that. It’ll be scavenged by the neighbors. For example, earlier this year, Mr. Burt got a new desk and chair. We set the old chair on the curb, went inside to get the desk, and in the three or so minutes it took us to lift the desk and drag it out the door and down the front walk to the street, the chair was long gone. A few hours later, the desk was gone, too.
Today Mr. Burt and I thought it would be nice to enjoy the balmy October weather by walking up to the doughnut shop around the corner. As we walked through the neighborhood, admiring landscaping, we noticed two 24 x 36 inch canvases propped against a neighbor’s mailbox — vintage ad artwork, such as we use to decorate pretty much our entire house. They were in good condition, so immediately we claimed them, and carried them with us to the doughnut shop, lest they be claimed by some other scavenging neighbor before we could get back to them.
In the doughnut shop, the lady behind the counter saw us carrying canvases and asked if we were artists. I gleefully told her we’d taken them from someone’s curb. When we left, because we arrived too late for there actually to be any doughnuts yet, and headed down the street to Dunkin Doughnuts, Mr. Burt said, “If anyone asks, just say we picked them up on the way out. Don’t tell them you took someone’s trash!” But isn’t that the fun of it, telling people about your really awesome deal on something cool?? And anyway, it’s really funny when you acquire things this way. At least, I think it is. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and all of that…
It was a hoot trying to make our way across a very busy four lane road to Dunkin Doughnuts with these canvases. We were jaywalking, and it was really windy, and the wind kept catching the canvases. So we’re running across the street, trying not to get hit by cars, or to get picked up and carried away like parasailers…
On our way home, we passed the house where we’d found the art just as the homeowner was returning from the grocery store. She saw us carrying the canvases and grinned. We thanked her for getting rid of art that matches our decor, and she said her boyfriend manages an apartment complex that was redecorating the lobby, and brought the prints home for her. Not having any wall space for them, she set them out for any passing neighbors. I’m very happy we were the passing neighbors!
Here are our art treasures:
Those of you who have been to our house know we’ve got a bit of a musical theme going on in the living room, so I’ll have to find a spot for the instrument one in there. Probably the luggage one will go in the stairway, as it and the upstairs hall are in a travel theme.
Our art find sort of makes up for not being able to buy our sectional this weekend as planned. Stupid Havertys raised the price, and then wouldn’t bargain at all, not even for free delivery; you’d think with the economy in the toilet, they’d be a bit desperate for sales! It was doubly frustrating, since they had the pieces we wanted in stock, and could have had new furniture this week. Oh well, guess we’ll wait and hope for the price to drop! (Though not, we hope, at the economy’s expense.)
