Friday Fossicking
I have a wall filled with blue plates. i have been collecting them for many years snd they have travelled with me to whichever house I am living in. But earlier this week, one plate fell down and smashed. So now I had to find a replacement.
Friday was a good day to start looking. I had only a booster covid shot in the morning so off I trotted.
i thought that an op shop (opportunity shop) would be the most likely place to find one. There are many op shops in town so i started my journey. i didn’t find my replacement plate but what I did find were clues to others’ lives.
Looking around, I thought of my quote:”To live in lives we leave behind, is not to die”. I wondered if the same could be said of things we leave behind. Many, if not most, items have been donated by family members following the death of loved ones.
Wand still looking around, who, I wondered had owned that very large portrait of a young girl? Who, the dining table and eight chairs displayed in the window of one shop? And the many full crockery and cutlery sets. So many of these in each shop waiting for a new owner. There were plenty of toys, dolls, and teddy bears, even a very large bear sitting in his own chair. I wondered for which child this toy had been bought originally, and how many more had owned and loved this bear since.
Leaving the op shops I ventured into an antique shop and wondered how far and how often these suitcases had travelled.
And in another, who had been the owner of this statue and where would you put it if you had it?
So after a busy pleasant morning of browsing, I came home empty handied but determined to visist more of the fabulous antique shops our city.
And now, I am off to sit in the sunshine with a cup of tea and a good book.
And According to Dr Seuss “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.“
Until next time, take care, keep safe.
I choose how I will spend the rest of my life 
Sounds like a lovely day.
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It sas.lovely, Patricia.
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Live this. I have wandered through such shops and never thought of who owned them previously. But I will now!
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I had never thought of it before. But it is worth thinking about.
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One of our grandsons loves to go to thrift shops. He has bought retro clothing, vinyl records, and some decorative items. I check out earrings, cookware, and kitchen gadgets. I hope you find your blue plate easily.
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A couple of my grandson’s started going to op shops when they were at Varsity and they bought their clothes there. I understand from them that there’s a good supply of young men’s shirts etc and even though they now don’t have to do it, they still go and look in these shops.
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It is fun to browse in those shops.
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Is an op shop like a charity shop or a thrift store? You can get great writing ideas in those shops. You will find your replacement plate when you are not looking for it. That’s what happens to me.
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Yes Darlene. They are charity shops, but I like the name opshop. I have only recently started going to them although for years I have donated items. In fact each time I have moved, and always to a smaller house/apartment, I have become on first name terms with the drivers.
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Interesting, isn’t it, how one is inspired to write a blog just by going about the business of looking for a blue plate? I was intrigued by two words in this piece: 1) fossicking..although not new to me, I have rarely seen it used; 2) op shop, which i’ve come to realize is one of those down under words. In the States we call them thrift shops. Thanks for the bit of education.
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Thanks for the comment. Yes op shop is a word used here, but not I think, anywhere else in the world.
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