Couldn't Resist it Twice...

Fitler Square is a park I usually walk through on my way to work. Today I was surprised to see that their Spring Festival had started, and there were white tents filled with flea market stuff all around and through the park.

Well, I managed not to buy anything on my first walk through (even though I saw a plastic Ewok I remember wanting in 1985).

But on the way back, I thought it would be okay to look because I didn't have much cash on me. Here's what I got before I went to the ATM:

Booth one
The Sailor's Return, A Christmas Letter by A.M. Hopkins. It doesn't have a date, but I'd say maybe 1915-1925. $2

The Tale of the Enchanted Bunnies, illustrated by Ruth Sawyer. First edition, 1923. $5
You're Entertaining: A Handbook on Party-Giving for the Young Hostess. 1963, $1

A painted nesting Easter egg, old-looking but I'm not sure how old. $2

Book Booth
Three books for two dollars each:
Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook, 1971 (spiral-bound)
Betty Crocker's Do-Ahead Cookbook, 1972 (spiral-bound)
Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham (I hope it will be a guilty pleasure at Christmas, and not just annoy me by being terrible. The hardcover is in great shape.)

Fitler Square benefit booth
This is where I was getting a little shopaholic-y, but I picked up a cross-stitched Christmas scene, very subtle and pretty in two blues, for fifty cents. I'm into collecting people's handmade knitting or stitching or quilting lately, as long as it's not too tacky.

Booth with friendly old couple
This was my undoing. First, there was a shoebox full of Viewmaster stuff. The guy went down from $55 to $40, and I know it's worth a lot more than that, if you want to bother to sell the pieces (or get a friend to, which I plan to do). Four Viewmasters, two of which are very old (1940s, I think) and in original boxes, plus a big stack of reels. I'm mostly interested in the landscape Viewmasters, so I will go through and pick out the ones I want (maybe keeping one of the Viewmasters, although we have a few at my parents' house) and get our friend Alex to sell the rest on Ebay. I bought a few reels for $3 each at the Chicken Barn last summer, so I think it should be pretty easy to make my money back on the things I don't want.

Small vintage suitcase! This is actually what hooked me. The tag says it sailed on Parthia, Cunard Line. It's brown with a red handle and red and white stripe, and the inside is a little water-damaged but mostly very good. There's a piece of the cruise ship sticker on the front that says Liverpool. It's awesome, and was only $15. The antique shops charge way more than that for pieces that are in worse shape.

I went to the Thriftway on South Street to get some money from the ATM. Meanwhile, I was thinking about one more thing from the friendly old people's booth: a small, square leather photo album with pictures from the 1880s. I have pictures taken by my great-grandparents from around the same era, but I was caught by these pictures -- young people who all look like they're having a blast at the shore (much like my great-grandparents did). "I think they were having a good summer," the woman said, slightly wistfully, and we agreed that the album was beautiful, with an etching of a woman's face in profile and army green ties on one side. It had been marked down from 40 to 30, and she said $25 was her rock bottom because that's what she had paid for it. She had enjoyed it and was ready to pass it on, and was pleased that I would appreciate it.

So, although I really don't need any more vintage photos -- my family's collection is a lot to handle on its own -- we put it into an inside pocket of the suitcase and I lugged the whole bunch home.

I wasn't planning to spend that much money, but I can justify it. I hardly ever buy stuff anymore, and none of it will take up much room in the apt. It was a fun afternoon.