A Bit of Serendipity

It turned out to be a beautiful spring yesterday though I didn’t spend much time outside because our neighbors are finishing up construction on their backyard “granny unit” and a compressor had been thumping away most of the day. Though (thank the Lord) they finally had the portapotty removed!!!! For a year it’s been parked next to our driveway and its weird chemically sweet smell has often wafted into our yard. Sigh. But it’s gone now. Hallelujah!

So instead of being outside I plugged away listing a few vintage hankies (like this tatted lace beauty) and taking care of a few small chores.

Then my eldest daughter popped over for a few hours to sort through some of the belongings that are still in our house. She happily said goodbye to the fancy dolls she had been given as a child that have been gathering dust on the top of a bookshelf for years and years and years. I put them out by the street with the sign “Free Dusty Dolls.” (I was tempted to add “Not haunted!”) I also listed them on Nextdoor.com and a guy in my city was interested. I assumed he was a reseller but it turns out his wife is Filipino and she plans on gifting them to children in the Philippines..which is wonderful, though she’ll need to give them a good cleaning.

My eldest also let go of a big pile of clothing and quite a few books. She’s has more to sort, but it was a good start. She did take her old journals, art notebooks, her kindergarten certificate (which she plans to put near her master’s degree!) and her huge pink ceramic piggy bank…which seems perfect!

Here’s the serendipity part for me...she pulled out some costume jewelry and said it was “up for grabs.” Well, I recognized a chunky silver carnelian ring (a long ago eBay purchase) that I had given her years ago because I had stopped wearing it. I knew it was good enough to sell though I couldn’t find any markings…at first.

I finally found some faint marks on the back of the ring (I had been focusing on the interior) and amongst the markings was “S’Palui” which is for Joachim S’Palui of Spain, a modernist jewelry maker from the 1960s/70s. Sweet!! Gosh, his jewelry does quite well and this ring would look perfect today. It’s a great, sturdy, everyday ring that makes a statement. It appears to be a US size 7.5.

So that was a nice discovery and I even did a little happy dance.

---

And today my dear friend JoDee took me to Filoli Gardens in Woodside, CA. It was a glorious day filled with blooms, new foliage, great conversation and a spot of lunch.

The only (tiny) downside was that it turned out to be a very popular day! We weren’t expecting that. Still it was lovely.

---

And in bizarro Etsy land, after several days of no sales, I’ve already had three today. Just bread and butter purchases, still they were welcome and encouraging. But I will keep limiting my buying for awhile. I know I have enough things tucked here and there to list.

Hope all is well with you,

Karen