The Joy of Thrift-Shopping

The N.O.A.H. thrift shop is not on my regular walking route, which is a pity, as it is a splendid place to while away an afternoon. And occasionally I have found a real goodie among all the Stuff.

And I mean scads of glorious Stuff, stuffed wall to wall in a big open building down one block from South Montezuma at the corner of Granite and Walker Streets. Too bad. It's not nearly as convenient as the Salvation Army's downtown emporium. Location, location, location, as they say in the real estate business.

N.O.A.H.'s merchandise appears a lot more varied than the Sal's (perhaps a function of the crowding.) But if you're looking for baskets, they have more than several -- they have lots of 'em.

Perhaps you are into figurines. There they are, complete to the box from Costco.

A matched set of books to give the living room a more learned (or perhaps Victorian) look. Years ago, I came across many of those old, complete sets of this or that author's works that an earlier generation of door-to-door drummers hawked to middle class housewives. Today, such books are rarer than a 78 rpm record.

A teddy bear plate or two for the toy fancier. (And this place is really the store for stuffed bears, horsies, bunnies, puppy dogs, whatever! Take a look here.)

How about a painting for somewhere (I don't know quite where) in your house...

...and a Henley shirt possibly worn by the painter himself.

Clothing? Oodles to choose from, including some quite smart selections. Got several hanging in my closet.

Then there's a nice garden party (or gardening) hat...

...as well as a slinky blue teddy plus a cosmetic case for that special weekend getaway....

...and plenty of accessories hanging on the wall next to the mysterious bamboo curtain which only proves my ignorance of much famous art. As I found out from Judith, it bears a reproduction of Klimt's The Kiss. Now the mystery is when, where and how the painting made its way onto a bamboo curtain. In Prescott Arizona.

Stuffed Toy Overload!

I've named this post in honor of a site that I may have recommended in the past: Cute Overload. This is a first cousin, but live and here in Prescott. You may recall that on Saturday, friend Georgene and I escaped from our cages for lunch and an excursion to favored spots. One of which is the big resale operation run by N.O.A.H. over at the corner of Granite and Walker Streets. Benefits homeless animals, so it's a good cause, as well as a place to score interesting finds. (Georgene walked out with a telescope.)

I started out looking at books and records; Liberaci LP anyone? It was after I scanned the books and 8-track tapes that I became aware that the entire store was absolutely awash in stuffed animals. Everywhere I turned.

Occupying the high chairs.

Ensconced on a drawing table, together with four pictures.

Sharing an overstuffed chair.

Flounced out on a barstool.

Straddling a huge collection of shirts.

In addition, there were several racks chockablock full of smaller stuffed animals.

And to top it all off, high on the wall above the shoe racks was a large painting. Of teddy bears.

Reviewing my pictures, I remain overwhelmed by the size and the number of stuffed toy creatures. I wonder how many there are per capita in the USA. I worry about how precious an individual toy bear or rabbit or dog or cat can be when a child's room is paved with critters, as was my daughter's tiny room at one time and another. I grew up in a more Spartan world (the Great Depression was upon us) and had the one precious little brown teddy bear above, named Julius Otto, plus a couple of stuffed critters sewn by my mother to match dresses she made. JO has been around a long, long time -- Mom had to redo his face. I wonder how long Fred, the granddaughter's white bear above, will last.