Completed 3-D wooden puzzle of the Eiffel Tower. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2023)
CONSTRUCTION OF THE EIFFEL TOWER in Paris took two years, two months and five days and a whole lot of engineers and factory and construction workers.
Construction of the Eiffel Tower in Faribault, built by one man, took 30 minutes.
Clearly there’s a difference in what, exactly, was constructed. My supposed-to-be-retired automotive machinist husband assembled a 3D wooden puzzle of the Eiffel Tower by B.C. Bones in a half hour. Information on the puzzle box estimates construction time at 1 to 2 hours. I am not one bit surprised that Randy fit the 32 pieces into a tower in much less time. His mind works that way. He sees a bunch of parts and he immediately envisions how they all work together.
Me? I would still be struggling to build the Eiffel Tower, especially given the missing architectural blueprint in the puzzle box. That and a missing fact file were likely the reasons this 2003 puzzle was in the freebie pile at a Northfield garage sale.
That Randy managed to construct the tower in such a short time and without a cheat sheet blueprint impresses me. But then I am not one who likes puzzles or has the ability to figure out how stuff connects. We each have our talents. Puzzling puzzles is not one of mine.
Now this two foot high tower sits on a vintage chest of drawers in our living room, displayed not as a completed puzzle project, but rather as a work of art. Just like the real tower in Paris, a tourist draw for 7 million annual visitors who appreciate its architectural and artistic beauty.
Only slots hold the tight-fitting wooden puzzle together. But it’s amazingly strong and can be carried without falling apart. That gives me some insight into just how strong the real Eiffel Tower was engineered to be.
This garage sale freebie proved an interesting and engaging find. I learned something about architecture and engineering and facts about the Eiffel Tower unknown to me, mostly because I’ve never researched this architectural icon. And for Randy, this puzzle proved easy. For a garage sale freebie, I’d say we got our money’s worth.
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TELL ME: How would you do assembling this 3D puzzle without a blueprint? Do you do puzzles? Have you visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris?
Vintage glasses found in a Northfield thrift store, Used-A-Bit Shoppe. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
VIA UPBRINGING AND FINANCIAL NECESSITY, I am a thrifter. I believe in recycling, reusing, repurposing, upcycling, whatever term you peg to using that which has already been used.
Thrifting is a great way to find affordable art. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
As a child, I occasionally wore clothes stitched from feed sacks. Or maybe they were flour sacks. Doesn’t matter. The point is that farm women like my mom were innovative in crafting clothing for their children. Clothes were passed down from oldest to youngest (ask my sister how much she “hated” my hand-me-downs), from cousins to cousins. Store-bought clothes were always selected from the sales rack.
Furniture crams a space at Used-A-Bit Shoppe in Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
Throughout my entire life I’ve held that perspective of passing along, of not needing new. My first furniture—a worn green arm chair and sofa from the 1950s—in my first apartment came from my parents’ living room. My waterfall desk and kitchen table and chairs came from my maternal Grandpa, chest of drawers from my childhood bedroom. My coffee table was a wooden crate that once held newsprint or some print-related part from Crow River Press, the Hutchinson press that printed The Gaylord Hub, my first place of employment out of college.
These colorful plates caught my eye. Dinnerware is always in stock at thrift shops and garage sales. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
Into marriage and child-rearing, I purchased used. Baby equipment and kids’ clothes came from garage sales. Likewise I’ve amassed a vast collection of original art from thrift shops, rummage sales and recycled art sales. Furniture passed down from family or acquired at garage sales or auctions defines most of the furniture in my house. Even today. My dishes are the indestructible Spring Blossom Green Corelle dinnerware, once my mom’s company dishes, now my everyday dinnerware.
An overview of used merchandise in the households section of Used-A-Bit Shoppe, Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
I’m pleased that items made decades ago continue to function in my home. I feel no need to update. Old is often constructed better than new. Old often holds memories, too. That matters.
A sandwich board outside Used-A-Bit Shoppe, River Park Mall, Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
Even though I’m at that age when I no longer want more stuff, that doesn’t keep me from occasional thrift shopping. That differs from thrift purchasing. If I notice a garage sale while out and about, I’ll stop. The same goes for thrift stores like Used-A-Bit Shoppe in Northfield. Recently I popped into the shoppe in the River Park Mall. Housed in two separate spaces, one area features furniture and the other a mix of glassware, dinnerware, home décor, collectibles, puzzles, books, linens, toys and much much more. Proceeds from the volunteer-run nonprofit benefit FiftyNorth, a gathering place for older adults (and a whole lot more).
Smiley faces were popular when I was a teen in the 1970s. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
Each time I meander through a thrift store, I find goods that draw me close. Something will trigger a memory, evoke a feeling, catch my eye. On this visit, a smiley face bowl took me back to the 1970s when sunny yellow smiling faces were everywhere. I even had a smiley face bulletin board in my lime green bedroom.
One of several quilt blocks, some finished, others not. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo September 2022)
I delight, too, in art and vintage glassware. When a Used-A-Bit volunteer showed me a stash of finished and unfinished quilt blocks, I paused to appreciate the handiwork and consider the woman who stitched them. I wondered why anyone would give up this connection to a loved one. We all have our reasons for letting go.
A colorful beverage cart from Costa Rica. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
The furniture side of the shoppe, where I last purchased a framed vintage print of University Hall at Purdue for my son, a graduate student there, presented the most unusual finds of the day. A colorful ox cart/beverage cart from Costa Rica is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I could envision this reused in some utilitarian, fun way. On a patio. At a restaurant. In another shop.
This image shows the size of the 1968 world wall map. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
But the show-stopper of my Northfield thrift shopping was a pull-down 1968 world map. That massive map took me straight back to Vesta Elementary School, to the maps teachers unfurled to open our minds to places beyond the farm fields of southwestern Minnesota. Priced at only $75, I considered the vintage map a work of art, a piece of history, a memory-keeper.
Interesting artsy vessels at Used-A-Bit Shoppe. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
Colorful kids’ chairs just waiting for the right buyer at Used-A-Bit. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
An artsy vase… (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
There’s so much to be found when thrifting. Art. History. Enough to furnish a home. Entertainment. Memories. And in the all of it, this recycling of goods benefits our planet by keeping stuff out of landfills.
The 1968 world wall map up close. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2022)
TELL ME: Are you a thrifter? If yes, where do you thrift and what are some of your most treasured finds?
FOR YEARS, I SHOPPED garage and rummage sales primarily out of necessity. These sales provided an inexpensive way to clothe my children and decorate and furnish my house.
They also proved a great source for books. I would buy gently-used books for my kids and for the library at the Christian day school they attended.
Sometime during those years, I also began buying vintage tablecloths, trays, bowls, glassware, pictures and mirrors. I like old stuff, especially usable old stuff.
These days, with the attitude that I really don’t need more things, I’ve become selective about bargain purchases. On Saturday, for example, I passed up a $5 mirror.
Even though I’m adhering to that stricter policy of buying only what I really, really like, and/or what may be valuable, I do not apply this rule to others. I tried convincing my friend Lois, whom I saw at a garage sale on Saturday, to make an impulse purchase. She made the mistake of telling me that her father-in-law likes John Wayne. That’s all it took for me to pitch a $35 near-life-size stand-up cardboard cut-out of John Wayne as a birthday gift for Herman.
Lois is to be commended for not giving in to my peer pressure. She settled on an 8 x 10-inch photo of the star that cost her only a few dollars.
A silver-plated mirror purchased for 50 cents.
While Lois had her John Wayne, my morning of garage-saling had proven fruitless until I picked up a round, silver-plated, mirrored tray for 50 cents. I have no idea how I will use it, but I like the piece and think it may have value.
I love the colors in this vintage tablecloth, added to my collection.
Then, later in the day, I scored my big finds. My husband and I just happened to see the yard sale while en route to Walmart. In other words, this was not a planned stop. Here I found a vintage tablecloth for $5. It was the colors—vivid lemon citrus mingled with blood-red and blue-gray—that drew me to the floral print fabric. Those hues are rare and I was happy to add this to my collection. And, yes, I use my tablecloths.
A vintage TV tray becomes a work of art.
Then, my husband discovered two TV trays in the most beautiful orange, yellow and deep rose florals. Each cost $1. I collect vintage metal trays too, with or without the folding legs. I removed the legs from one of my new trays and propped it atop my entertainment center as a piece of art. I often re-purpose my finds. If I need the tray for its real purpose—dining—I’ll pop the legs back onto it.
A leaf-shaped, three-legged dish from the FREE box.
I nearly left my final treasure behind in a cardboard box. It’s an odd-shaped melamine scooped serving plate that rests on three legs. Imprinted on the bottom are the words: “UNION PRODUCTS INC. LEOMINSTER.MASS. CAT.#2729″
I had picked the curved dish up and then placed it back in the box because it was a bit grimy. I figured I really didn’t need it. But then, when I learned that everything in the box was free, I snapped up the dish. With some scrubbing, the dirt washed away.
Now I have this lovely green plate that, I suppose, could hold raw vegetables or any assortment of food. But when I study the gentle curves, I see simply a fine piece of art.
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I WOULD LOVE to hear your garage/rummage sale stories. Why do you shop these sales? What treasures have you found? Did you find a valuable item dirt cheap? Share your stories in a comment to Minnesota Prairie Roots.
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