Lostings and Findings ~ New House Design

Remember what it is like to get lost?
In this age of Mapquest directions and GPS devices in our cars
(our GPS is nicknamed Merlin), we may have lost
the fine art of getting lost.

On Thursday, I headed northwest from That Old House, to the Sussex County seat of Newton.

I was on the trail of a Craigslist bargain -- two old twin headboards for $5.00.

They looked decent in the Craigslist pictures, and they spoke to me. As in: "Hey, crazy lady!

Add us to your growing pile of Things Cass Has To Paint One Of These Days!"

The Craigslist picture of the headboards. Would you have bought them? I think they have great lines, and I see them painted in antique gray or white, or ... this is what I'd really like to do ... paint the frame and then pad and upholster the center. Linen? Toile? Ticking? Decoupaged plastic Wonder Bread bags or Twinkies wrappers? The possibilities are endless.

Normally I don't go alone on Craigslist pickups; I take Howard as my muscle. But he's a busy boy this coming weekend, and also he'd probably tell me that I really didn't need to add to the pile of Things Cass Has To Paint One Of These Days. I'm not saying he wouldn't be right in this, but I'm also not saying I'd have listened to him.

Ah, Howard. Now that he's got a regular paycheck again, I'm getting flowers on weekends. Sweet!

Reality check: there's a supermarket paper label on one of the lemons. :-P

But back to my Craigslist trip . . . .

On the telephone, the lady selling the headboards seemed pretty much sane and not homicidally inclined,

so off I went, all by my lonesome, tolerably sure I would not end the day stuffed in a chest freezer.

I decided I didn't need to check the seller's sketchy directions against Mapquest,

and didn't need to use Merlin the GPS. This decision proved . . . interesting.

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Yes, I got lost.

Well, maybe not lost per se. I found myself in places unknown, places I'd never heard of,

places perilously close to a state other than New Jersey . . . well, okay, I was lost.

But by dint of putting several thousand miles on the minivan and filling the tank at an

overpriced country gas station (15-cents more per gallon than I normally pay) I found the right road,

and even eventually the right narrow, hidden, overgrown oh-no-don't-go-there teen horror movie driveway.

Which went straight up a mountain.

When I got up there, no one was home.

Except the headboards.

They were leaning against a garage door, with a note:

I had to go out.

If you like them take them

and leave the money under the squirrel.

Under the squirrel? Wow, I thought, what helpful and well-behaved squirrels they have

out in the country. And then I saw it. A big chipped ceramic squirrel squatting on the driveway. Oh. Duh.

I wrote a short note back to the absent seller, put the money under the squirrel,

wrestled the headboards into the back of the minivan, past the dog crate and the bargain

pumpkins I'd found at a roadside stand (which made up for the overpriced gasoline),

and -- before I headed back down the harum-scarum driveway --

I turned on the GPS.

And took the long way home, blissfully paying absolutely no attention to the

directions Merlin was giving me in his best BBC English, which in turn gave Merlin fits.

I swear, after the fifth "recalculating" he really does begin to sound distinctly testy.

I love the headboards' curves. Very . . . curvy.

Manufactured by White Furniture of North Carolina. I think they are maple, but not sure.

As for Howard, I keep forgetting that he can read.

Meaning, he can read my blog.

I haven't wrestled the headboards out of the minivan yet, but by now he knows they are in there.

But I know he'll like the funky pumpkins.


No stem. This pumpkin may need a hat.

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The best part of Thursday was . . . getting lost.

Discovering new towns and byways to explore again, when I'm not worried about ending up in a chest freezer, or getting home in time to start dinner. I found so many wonderful places to go back to, and visit -- hamlets loaded with country stores and vintage shops, roadside stands with flowers, pumpkins, fruits and pies, and hundreds of dear old houses, each sweeter than the next.

I'll be back to the towns of Sussex County. Me, Howard, and yes, Merlin. And this time, I'll bring a camera.

Remember those heirloom tomatoes from Wednesday's post? Mmmm... lunch today.

No special care, no fertilizer, no watering except by rain, just sunshine and heat, benign neglect, and no chipmunks!

I hope it's a grand weekend you have! -- Cass

Courtney at French Country Cottage has begun a new linky party:
Feathered Nest Friday. Go visit and join in!

At My Romantic Home, Cindy (who has a milestone birthday today) is hosting Show and Tell Friday. Click!