Blue and White Strike Again...with a Dash of Coral

The temps this week have bounced up and down in a fifty degree range. Yesterday was darn nippy, but in the afternoon I ran to the square for a new meat thermometer and some milk at Braum’s. Leaving the hardware store, I just sneaked a peek in the flea market windows.  There was a slight spitting of snow from the leaden skies and the cold felt, well, crisp. I saw all the Valentine reds through the plate glass windows and was a goner.

I put my purse and thermometer in the car, and dashed in for a quick look. I had only ventured down the first aisle a short ways, when I spotted a deal. A Blue Willow platter and dish, sporting dark cobalt blues made in Japan, were marked at a ridiculously low price. Need was not the question but cheap price was the answer.

Then I looked across the aisle and there was a “head”!  Oh, she was a beauty wrapped in a coral headscarf. I took her up to the counter with the dishes and told the clerk, “Check me out fast, I am not even going down another aisle!”

When I got outside, the snow was pelting my face heavily and I felt invigorated. I realized I had missed January snow while everyone else was cheering those near 70 degree days. I knew the snow would not last, but I was euphoric in it for the short while it made its appearance. I hugged my finds and headed home.

I had found my first head while flea marketing in Cape Girardeau years ago. We were leaving a flea market when I noticed a pair of heads behind the register. They were a man and woman pair and the owner was going to repair a small chip in the man before placing him in a booth. I had the clerk call him, and I begged to buy the woman only. Finally he relented and separated the pair. No one knows why I wanted this head; my family was full of ridicule.  I didn’t know why either but I have loved her. Something about her feels peaceful.

So when I saw the wide-eyed beauty in coral, I had to bring her home too.  I think I have found a place for her, three rooms away from the brown beauty. She was pretty cheap herself so she can be enjoyed and then passed on to someone else for company someday. But this morning, it meant some digging around here on a ten degree morning.

The rule here is One In, Two Out. No problem as the front closet was a wreck. So I dug and dug this morning, cleaned out taking out two BOXES of things. I put away the last of Christmas, urged a couple of rabbits out, and changed the red poinsettias to yellow and pink silk tulips. I put away cedar and pine candle rings and got out the yellow spring ones. The Christmas tea pots went into hiding for another year; the pots in pastel shades came out again.

It is a long way from spring cleaning, but I do feel like on the first day of February I am headed in the right direction…and with Coral Girl for company!