thrifty junk

Today I took a break from work and snuck inside The Ark Thriftshop for an hour or so. I found a really cool wooden tray that had little dot drawings of birds and other animals, some glass vases and a weird teal/turquoise colored industrial glass piece that I had no idea what it once belonged to, but it looked cool on its own.

I have to admit, there's one thing about The Ark I quite enjoy, and he's not for sale...Luke is a really great guy from Australia who works there and remembers me each time I come. I guess as my friend Marilyn puts it, "There's not a lot of six foot girls with pigtails walking around!" He is very nice and has given me some good discounts on stuff, and even asked me once if I was an artist. I don't know why I loved that so much, but I found it very amusing.

Today when he got done discussing the price of a table set with a woman (she didn't like the price), he came over to me and we talked a bit. He looked over what I had already chosen, focusing on the bird tray. We talked for a bit about birds, which is a decorating thing I've noticed I subconciously gravitate towards, and he talked about how his aunt made bird aviaries in Australia. I wonder if he misses being there. Being a native chicagoan*, I wouldn't know what it feels like to be far away from where you once lived. I showed him something I had been given earlier today, a white travel makeup bag that I said I wasn't too sure about but I didn't want to throw it away. He said, "Oh, that's not really you." Then I said I was thinking of leaving it there, and he said I should be careful that my friend doesn't find it there and get mad at me!

The funny thing about me and thrift stores is that it's kind of in my blood. My mom's dad was a junk shop owner. In fact, he had a heart attack at work while loading or unloading a truck. I don't remember much about him, other than he had a mean temper, and he owned that junkshop. I often think of him when I feel the urge to pluck unnecessary things from the alley, or when I'm in a thrift store like The Ark, or when I rescue something from being thrown away. I think he would have liked The Ark, but it's a little too big and organized for him. I think he would have preferred the place that used to be down the block but is now gone, Betty's. That place was a maze of junk, piled as precariously high as it could be without toppling, and it seemed to spill out from each opening, onto the sidewalk, into a side lot, and it was no surprise that it caught fire and burned...

When I'm at The Ark, which I make a point to visit once a month or so, I manage to scour their three floors and find things that are perfect for me and even impress Luke. I can look into their shelves and shelves of glassware and pick out the one thing I want. And I have begun to see how they often place the same kind of thing in the same spots because they sold from those spots previously (to me in most cases), like this fluted vase that has a something almost like a paperweight on the end was in the same spot where I found one the last time I was there. Even Marilyn went there with me once and was impressed by my keen eye. There's always something I pass up, for lack of money (some of the things are on the pricey side there) or I wonder what the hell I'll do with it, and I tend to always regret it later.

The one thing I have truly regretted passing up was a beautiful tea tin that had all kinds of colors in it (which means it can go with anything). I'm not certain why I passed on it, but I do remember not two days later seeing a magazine about home decorating trends and that being on the list. I went back and it was gone.

Today I had to pass on an ashtray that was like a square chunk of stone with a polished concave circle in the middle that was absolutely beautiful and five dollars and I don't smoke and what am I going to do with it, put change and keys in it and there's already a million little things I have to put keys and change in and good grief...but now I am wondering when I can get back there to buy it; and it won't be til next week sometime.

If any of you thrift-like minded would ever like to go to The Ark, just let me know.

*speaking of being a "native chicagoan..." I finally typed up a new post about the Warhol exhibit at the MCA. Check it out and make sure to leave your comments/criticisms/praise. thanks.