Weekend Finds and Photography Excursion

The clouds sit heavily under the hidden sky. The past two days have been on and off rain, sometimes a downpour, sometimes a drizzle. There have been few precious hours of dryness. It is, after all, the rainy season. Yesterday, Saturday, I missed my opportunity for a morning bike ride and I was bummed. Thankfully, there was something else to do on that dreary day and it was heading to my local thrift store to see what treasures could be found.

I’ll have a second post coming with all of the cool things I saw there, but I’m going to show you the things that my heart jumped into; the things that I brought home to keep.

So my brother and I are going through armoires and we come across this bit of awesomeness inside of one of them.

I know, it’s dirty as all hell, but it will get cleaned up easily enough. I just love things that remind me of my childhood and times past. Last night my son plugged it in and this is what we saw.

I was more giddy than I expected when I heard the familiar sound of static, the familiar image of graininess on the screen. My heart jumped. As for him, it was his first time ever laying eyes on a t.v. screen from before his time. It was a time when someone had to get up and change the channel, and every parent and child who had one of these remembers who was getting up to do it. The kids. Remember your parent calling you from afar to come change the television channel? We didn’t realize it at the time, but that privilege of parenthood was in its waning years. I’ve never been able to ask my children to change the channel, only go find the remote.

It does look like someone had to stand over this set to change the channel and (a beer bottle, maybe) got imprinted onto the tv for all time while he or she was changing it.

This imprint is one of my favorite aspects of this piece because it silently speaks to a way of life that doesn’t much exist in our part of the world anymore. To me, it’s like a piece of archeological treasure.

As they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When we got the attention of the floor person and pointed out the random old television set left in the armoire, he laughed and asked why on earth we might want it? He thought it was so funny that he accepted our offer of $5 for it. I got this for five dollars everyone. And it will work with a simple cable hook up.

The second thing that I found and instantly fell in love with was this old leather camera bag. Again, a little dusty (which I sort of like) but a little polish will straighten that right out. It’s a very solid piece with only a broken latch that still works.

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Originally it should have been between $4 and $5 but the lady at the register dropped it down to $2 because it came from a bin of variously priced bags and luggage. I paid two dollars for this beautiful bag that I am sure will last me the rest of my life. Before I went out today, I transferred my camera equipment into it. Time to take it for a spin.

But before we do, I’d like to show you just a few of my other collected pieces. Not everything, but some things that I feel go nicely with these two new editions. I’m a fan of old cameras and electronics and have been collecting them for some years.

My Cameras. Click on the first image to see them larger.

TVs and Radios

Both of these tv/radios belonged to my parents once. I was glad to take them off of their hands.

Sunday.

I’ve spent the last 3 Sundays going around to the beautiful parts of my neighborhood and taking photographs. It has come to be a real joy and source of creative release for me. I had the idea to highlight my city for this blog and my travel blog. Here’s what I have so far here. I feel so much gratitude that in such a short span of time, I’ve fallen for two new hobbies, bike riding and photographing my city.

I’ve gotten to see a whole different view of areas that I normally drive past in my car, and I’ve gotten to see everything around me with the fresh eyes of a traveler. Fort Lauderdale really is a beautiful city, and I love it.

So what do I take with me on an afternoon of photographing my city?

My Essentials.

A large glass ( better for the environment) bottle of water.

Headphones always come with me because music always has to be an option anywhere that I’m going.

Bikini bottoms because it’s Florida and you never know when you may need to have a swimsuit on hand. I was also considering taking photos by the beach today. Either way, after walking around in the heat, slinking into the ocean is a beautiful feeling. I like for the beach to always be an option.

A book to read in case I feel like taking a break, grabbing a coffee, ice cream, or lunch someplace. This particular book is The Art of Travel by Alain de Button.

Sunglasses and sun spray, lip gloss, my writing journal and tons of pens just in case 3 of them go bad. I err on the side of caution. Band-aides in case I trip on a rock and dash my knee open, I won’t have to go home. And finally, my wallet. I don’t like to leave this in the car in case something happens and I can’t identify myself. I know, I’m morbid. But I do think at the very least, carry some form of ID.

Oh, I almost forgot. This is my little piece of clay. It’s for helping me to focus and relieve stress. It feels so soothing to mash it between my fingers.

And last, but not least, a sundress to keep cool in the Florida heat.

And I’m off! Can’t wait to share with you the images that I take today of Las Olas Boulevard.

I also almost forgot my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Nothing good happens when I’m hungry.

What are your favorite weekend hobbies? Have you discovered anything new recently that you’re loving? Or is there anything that you like to collect? I’d love to hear about it. We’d all love to hear about it.