Good Stuff Everywhere

I took a walk this afternoon after the yard sales were over. I walked past quite a few free piles. I found a gray rug for my bathroom. I’ve been looking for a good bathroom rug for a while. I also found a wearable elephant nose. Who knows, I may need it eventually. There was a string bag in one pile that was too small for buying groceries but the perfect size for hanging the kind of produce I don’t need to refrigerate, like bananas or sweet potatoes, in my kitchen. I also scored a game that looks barely played. That’s either a good thing or it means it isn’t much fun to play. We’ll see. Finally I found a little orange reusable lunch bag. I think my son and his sweetie can use it for snacks when they go sightseeing around Vermont this summer.

Early in the walk a very friendly cat ran down the sidewalk towards me and then stopped to say hello. I whistled as I walked past the field in front of the wetlands and a good-sized crow flushed up out of the grasses. The tiniest little red winged blackbird dive-bomb worried it until it flew into the woods nearby. I startled and then smiled. I adore crows but all hail the little guy.

My phone said it was 80º out but there was a soft cool breeze and it felt more like 70º. The sky was blue and cloudless. Vermont at its best. I rounded the corner back towards town and that’s when I found the rug for my bathroom. Fortunately I was hoping there would be free piles so I had a reusable bag with me. I rolled up the rug and it fit snuggly in with all my other freebies.

When I arrived back into town I stopped at the creemee stand for a small chocolate waffle cone. It’s my regular order. The woman there no longer asks me if I want any toppings. She already knows. As I approached the stand, the two older women ahead of me in line were cackling with laugher. One used her cane to wobble-dance her glee. I said, “You ladies need to settle down,” in a teasing voice. They told me they were laughing because they hadn’t been able to get the radio in their car to stop making noise after they parked to get their creemees. “It was so loud,” they said. They had tried everything. They even looked in the manual. They finally gave up because they really wanted their creemees. As they exited the car they realized that the phone in one woman’s pocket was playing music loudly. They couldn’t stop laughing.

Town was filled with lots of families here for the local college’s graduation weekend. It was close to dinner time and they were all filling up restaurants or closed venues that those with a little more spending power had rented for private parties. The town put up signs to remind all these out-of-towners that those of us in the crosswalks have the right-of-way.

The rug is in my washer. It’s been a great day.

Cinse Bonino
2023