Bargain Day

            The book sale in Clinton today was a treat.  It’s not that I need any more books, but it is so much fun to scour the sale tables.  And at a dollar a title, I can get carried away. 

God Never Blinks:  50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours was the first book to catch my eye.  I opened it up and was immediately taken by scrumptious details that made me want to read the rest of the stories:  for instance, “a bottle of burgundy nail polish and a receipt for 69 cents.”  What will be the lesson there?

            Another find was Adventures in the Mainstream:  Coming of Age with Down Syndrome.  That one will go to Dana and Shawn when I’m done with it.  It’s hard to imagine twenty years into the future when Benjamin will be 23, but I know he will grow up whether I can imagine it or not.  (I still remember being unable to imagine my two-year-old daughter ever turning eight, and now eight is a 22-year-old memory.)

            Then there was something to share with my son when he visits next week:  The Butterfly Book:  An Easy Guide to Butterfly Gardening, Identification, and Behavior.  As a child, Joseph became somewhat of a butterfly whisperer.   Summertime and the smell of dill are synonymous to me because he always had a crop of caterpillars that ate the dill in their jars at an astonishing rate.  The best part, though, was after the chrysalis stage when the butterflies broke free.   A common sight in our living room was Joseph patiently waiting for the wings of a newly hatched black swallowtail to dry as it hung from his finger.  Maybe he and I can enjoy some reminiscing about the good old butterfly days.

            I have to admit, though, that the fourth one-dollar book is likely the one I will read first.  I am intensely curious about The Slug Manual:  The Rise and Fall of Criticism.  I haven’t experienced any slug inspiration this summer even though there have been plenty of them sliming along the ground.  Maybe this book will help me rediscover the slug side of life.

            Naturally, my bargain day did not end in Clinton.  At the Bayview Farmer’s Market, I was pleased to find cucumbers and zucchini at two for a dollar.  (We won’t go into the other thirty or forty dollars I spent on other produce.)  After lunch and a refreshing nap, I headed back out to buy a couple T-shirts at the farmer’s supply store for $1.78 each and then followed the signs to a free garage sale—held at the side of the road near WAIF in Freeland.  Yes, free, which meant I was free to pick up a pair of funky sandals, a pair of comfortable (though slightly too large) walking shoes, a unique bag, a canvas tote for future farmer’s markets, and a salt and pepper shaker set made in Germany.

            In conclusion, just in case any former English students of mine are reading this bargain blog, I am aware that I’ve broken at least one composition rule:  straying from my original topic in the previous paragraph.  But, hey, this is a free blog and you’re getting a bargain.