My Good Fortune

Red silk pants - $1 op-shop

Souvenir t-shirt - $1 op-shop

Grey patent Mollini maryjanes - $20 (new) op-shop

The default shoes to go with the default pants

These red pants are my default op-shopping uniform - I seem to wear them every time I'm in the mood for a rummage. No idea why, but I often op-shop when I need a pick-me-up, so maybe I choose my happy pants when I'm feeling flat, a kind of personal feng-shui?

Exotic view of our blender reflected in the mirror!

I haven't bought anything for myself for an age, just little dude stuff, but I went out today (29 degrees) with strict intent to find summer clothes for me, me, me. Of course since I went op-shopping with something specific in mind, I failed miserably and the red pants brought me only the tiniest smidge of good fortune. The first commandment of op-shopping (and parenting for that matter) is "Thou shalt keep an open mind and have ZERO expectations."

Please note strategically placed mini-hand.

The little dude has a fine array of souvenir t-shirts, I only have this one but I do feel like a bit of a fraud walking around in a shirt from somewhere I've never been - this shirt commemorating a trip to Southport Lifeline rather than the gorges of China. Then again, I've never been to the 1960s either, but it didn't stop me buying this souvenir silk scarf ($3) from that bygone era - a time when airline souvenirs were obviously a cut above the tube socks and eye masks my husband brings home from his LA jaunts these days.

Waratah & bottlebrush.

Sturt's Desert Pea

Even in watercolour silk scarf form Australian wildflowers are spiky and bold, with their vivid reds, purples and yellows. A far cry from soft pink full blown peonies, but lovely in their own prehistoric martian sort of way. I think this scarf is probably destined to be a cushion cover, because I don't wear a lot of red, but I always have little touches of really intense reds around the house. Some of my favourite things are cushions and table runners in this distinctive chinese peony print:

If you know where the peonies grow, please let me know.

I already have three or four cushion covers in this print (seen most recently here) and when we got our new dining table a couple of weeks ago my husband commented that we needed a few more to put on the bench seats. I sadly informed him that I'd looked everywhere (including online) and had failed to find even a hint, not even the fabric itself. He just looked at me and said "Ah well, it will turn up." with supreme confidence. I'm not sure what message he sent out to the universe, but what do you know, these three cushion covers showed up in an op-shop for fifty cents each. Another one of those spooky op-shop moments!

Where there is red there must be gold, in this instance these leather eighties flatties - continuing my slightly nana-ish slip-on loafer theme ($3). I really need some sandals now (that sounds slightly insane, but really summer is here), but I think I can still eke some wear out of these shiny little critters before the heat gets to full surface-of-the-sun levels!

We can never have too many Dr Doo (tm little dude) books, especially for fifty cents.

I think those two pages sum up exactly what I love about my op-shop treasure hunting missions - I never know what oddities I'll turn up, and how those odd and bods will fit into the nooks and crannies of my house and life. The little dude loves to come on my rummaging travels too ("Can we go to the toy shop mummy?!", one day I suppose he'll find out that there are actual toy shops where the toys aren't mostly missing wheels or heads and come in nice shiny boxes), I wonder if he'll grow up with the op-shopping urge and be one of those blokes you see at garage sales carefully examining old sprinkler systems and vinyl records and half built airfix model planes? Is op-shopping genetic, are you first generation (like me) or do you come from a long line of scavengers and treasure hunters?

xx

Skye

PS. How cool is Clark?!