Uncategorized

Shopping for a gift in the basement.

26 Comments

.

We love our local. It’s not a fancy place just a small rustic pub where, like Cheers… everyone really does know your name. The business is owned by two men… one cook, one bartender and I’m sure it would come as no surprise to either that their decor leaves a bit to be desired. The building is old, built at the turn of the century and the pub room is entirely wood. The few decorative items displayed are vintage Maine… an old sled, some snowshoes etc. A year ago I framed a collection of antique postcards of the town as a gift. Since then my husband has been sputtering about donating something as well. So…

.

.

We went shopping. In the basement. I avoid this part of our house like the plague due to the mess, the clutter and the absolute lack of organization. Truth be told I start twitching after even limited exposure… but I endured, for the pub’s sake.

.

.

The husband was all for giving them random junk but I said no. It had to be something Maine… or at least bar related.

This is what I chose:

.

.

A nice pair of vintage wooden skis.

.

.

And an antique wooden whisky crate. Perfect… right?

Wrong.

As I was cleaning the cobwebs and wiping off years of accumulated dust, the husband looked up the items online. Wooden skis in good shape can fetch a premium price in Maine as summer people like to decorate their vacation homes and cabins, so when he found a similar pair listed for $550? He changed his mind about letting them go. The crate? $55-70 … so it went in his I may sell this at a flea market pile.

Sorry local pub, no gifts for you today.

.

26 thoughts on “Shopping for a gift in the basement.”

  3. Can’t tell you how many times we’ve dug into some “stuff” to donate and rationalized it remaining with us…whether because of perceived value or “attachment” value. Those skis and that box are very cool and would look great in that pub…the box has apparently caught the attention of his Lordship.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Great basement, I’m diggin’ that stack of board games. I’ve never had a collection like that, but your basement is bigger than my whole house by about 700 square feet. The thing that really puts the Casa River Collection in front is that pretty much all the priceless cultural artifacts I can see have some actual value of their own. I collected a bunch of raw material for my wargaming hobby, which eventually gained a little value. Until then, it was cardboard and styrofoam packing material. When I renovated the garage without any space elsewhere in the house I had to get ruthless. All those bags of stuff I might have used still call to me “O Kenny, however shall the doughty Colonists ever be safe from the ruthless Indian savages if there is no styrofoam for their fort?” Oh, the 28mm Humanity.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. True that. Multiply everything by 56 and that’s a problem. My friend gave me his old 3D printer recently so building materials take up less space, but some styrofoam still comes in handy. Keep the faith.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Oh dear. This post is giving my PTSD from my days of living with my late hoarder husband. So many times I was cheered at the notion that we would actually be getting rid of stuff (which was mostly truly garbage) only to have my hopes dashed in a similar manner…wishing you strength, Rivergirl.

    Deb

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Why not ask the pub owners if they are interested in buying some artifacts to posh up the pub? You don’t have to charge on-line prices, just something all can agree on (like free drinks for a month), and the hubs can still see the stuff when he is at the pub, and think, I did a good deed.
    By the way, some of those old bottles on the shelf might look great on a pub wall — or even inside the DeWar’s box..

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. We’ve actually offered to let them come shopping in my husband’s treasure trove. They never took us up on it. Decorating isn’t high on their priority list..
      🤣

      Like

      Reply

    1. We never had one until 2 years ago. A lot of the older townspeople fought it and it took forever to get a liquor license. This horrible den of iniquity is usually closed by 9:00pm.
      🤣

      Like

      Reply

  11. The skis are rather lovely. Maybe you could do what some artists do with their work, i.e. put some stuff up on the wall of the pub as commission items? They’d decorate the walls for a start, and maybe someone would buy them? If there’s a little tag on it, maybe the hubby would get some inquiries such as “I’ve been looking for a ____. Do you happen to have one?” Aside from that, did no-one notice the look in his Lordship’s eyes next to something resembling a box?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment