As you may know, I have a ‘picker’. It’s my friend/co-worker/Carriage House sale partner/garage sale mentor Sue. She has an amazing eye for treasures, plus she loves the hunt.
I keep saying that one of these days I’m going to do an updated tour of her home and garden here on the blog because you guys would absolutely love it. Here’s just one quick shot from the last time I photographed her garden …
I did share it once already several years ago (here and here), but Sue is one of those people who is frequently changing things up. I totally envy her ability to do that on a regular basis. I tend to get too complacent. She’s moved several rooms around, and redecorated most of her house since our last tour.
During garage sale season it’s always fun to come in to work at the day job on Monday morning to find a little pile of treasures in my office.
I never know what she’ll find, but it’s always good. Sometimes the goodies are all packed inside a vintage suitcase!
Sometimes the stuff is completely random, but Sue knows that I’ll love it, like this black doctor’s bag that I added a stencil to.
Last fall I came in on a Monday to find this adorable pair of little chairs leaning against the wall in my office.
And Sue always knows to grab pretty much anything galvanized for me.
This past Monday I came in to find this simple little wooden box on my desk.
And nestled inside were three amazing vintage glass bird ornaments.
Both of the next two had their spun glass tails intact which isn’t always the case with this style of bird ornament. I have a couple of them that are tail-less.
I do already have one similar to the one above in my non-collection of vintage ornaments, but I’ve never even seen one like this last one …
I have to include a photo of those last two birds together here so that you can see the size difference.
That last one is quite large. He’s actually 9″ from the tip of his beak to the end of his tail.
Believe it or not, Sue paid only $1 each for the ornaments!
When I asked her about where she found them, she said she just happened to be driving past a garage sale over the weekend and decided to pull over and check it out. Then she told me that the bird ornaments were ‘the only treasures in a pile of shit’.
I burst out laughing and said ‘that is the perfect blog post title!’
But seriously, that’s how it goes with garage sales. Sometimes you have to pick through a lot of shit to find the occasional rare treasure.
q is for quandie 
How fortunate you are to have Sue for a friend. She is my kind of gal and love the blog title of the day!
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LOL, thanks Laura! I just had to laugh when Sue said that because it just describes in a nutshell what it’s like to garage sale sometimes, right?
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Very cute. I remember Grandma R had glass birds on her tree every year.
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I don’t remember that at all! Maybe subconsciously that’s why they appeal to me 🙂
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You are blessed! Wonderful finds. What a blessing to have such a wonderful friend to share your passion with. She has found you some wonderful things. 😊
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For sure!
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Love it!
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Thanks Susan!
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I love this post, so glad I caught it. Yay for Sue! BTW I know where you can get real spun glass bird tails. 😉
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I noticed there was a place online selling them when I was researching what to call those tails. I never know you could get replacements. I may have to look into that!
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Love the title! Made me smile! I have several birds like that, some with, some without tails that were my mom’s, but none that large!! Oh and yes, I stopped at a sale one time that was pretty much the same way and found a small crock lamp – old – with a burlap type shade for $1. One of my very favorite things! Love your blog…..keep ’em coming!
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You just never know when you’re going to find a treasure 😉
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It’s one of those days that I find myself a little down, no reason, just feeling blue! Thank you for making me laugh with the title of your post! I have never seen the bird tails like those have. I have several vintage ornaments, last year I didn’t get them out because the year before I broke two or three of them! Sounds like a great friend in deed.
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Well I’m glad I could brighten your day Shelly. As for the ornaments, it seems that every year I break at least a couple of mine. It seems to go with the territory. They are just so darn fragile!
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Love the title…can just hear Sue saying that too! Good finds for sure!
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LOL, for sure 🙂
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Love those birds! If you ever want to replace the missing tails D Blumchen sells spun glass tails in their ornament repair section. The tails are currently on sale-but cost more than your entire ornament. https://www.blumchen.com/christmas_shop_sgt004whz.html
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It’s more for one replacement tail than for all three birds put together 😉
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