Treasures

Good morning!

I was so excited to get up and share my treasures from Alameda. I had one main mission and that was to find a rotary phone. As much as I liked that yellow one I showed you here, I was not quite ready to fork over $40. I am glad I waited because I accomplished my mission for $20 in Alameda.

Check out my bat phone! I love it so very much. The best part was after I bought mine, I saw an identical red one for $28. It worked out even better that I found red and not yellow because look what I found a few more rows over --

-- a darling white bench with red toile fabric. In the end, I'm glad I didn't go for the yellow phone on Etsy because then I might have passed up this bench. I was so proud of myself for not automatically paying the price on the tag too, my normal shopping practice. It was $24 and I asked if they would take $20 and they quite happily agreed. I wasn't even confident the bench would fit under the desk but it surely does fit!

Finally I splurged on a children's book that is 73 years old. It is not in pristine condition or anything and at $15, it cost me almost as much as my bat phone or bench. But I adore the stories and illustrations.

I will take very good care of your book Violet. The stories are so charming and Little Bear's Ups and Downs include when he played with rough children, when he got rich and here is a page from the story of his ups and downs with porridge.

Little Bear wakes up one day and refuses to eat his porridge. Mother Bear is convinced he is quite ill even though his tongue is perfectly pink. So she gives him maple cakes and sugar and then all he wants to eat is sweet things. Father Bear is not too happy about that and puts Little Bear to work in the fresh air to build up his appetite.

Mother Bear is not too happy about that but she doesn't argue. Even though she wants to say something unpleasant, instead she says "Oh hum! Oh, hummy-hum-hum!" Do you think that might be the secret to a long, happy marriage? The bear family also laughs a lot together, even during frustrating moments. They are forgiving of mistakes and don't take life too seriously. I have a lot to learn from these three.