Trade Days

Jeff and I spent our last pleasant Sunday (for awhile at least) outside. The weather was forecast to turn cold and rainy after the weekend, so we wanted to make the most of the balmy day. We decided that a venture to the famous Lacon Trade Days was finally in order.

We had heard about the flea market quite a few times, and I even purchased the clawfoot tub for the bathroom from one of the vendors, but it was through Craigslist. The market is open every weekend and is just the old-time flea market you might remember from your youth. There are booths and buildings with more permanent wares, but most people just pull in with whatever miscellaneous they want to sell, pay their $2-3 for a spot, and unload their merchandise. There are guns and clothes and goats and housewares and chickens and antiques and toys and jewelry and concessions and doors and shoes and crafts and on and on. As their lovely colloquial slogan goes, "If it ain't been here, it don't exist".

The place doesn't look like much, but as it turns out, we found many things we were interested in. There was an 18" prehung door that looks just the right size for our little attic access door, a neat cast iron handpump for water that would make a fabulous water garden feature, a darling bantam rooster who would look so cute running with our big hens, and an upright balance scale from a doctor's office which I have always wanted for the bathroom. We were just planning on looking, so we didn't purchase any of those things. But it was neat to know they could be found there!

And we did end up coming home with one item. It's a fascinating antique adding machine, probably from the teens or twenties. It's in good condition and it really works! You click the tabs up to the desired number in each decimal place, pull the lever, and then select the next set of numbers. Every time you pull the lever, it adds to the tally. When you're done, you push the keys to zero and pull the handle to zero it out. There is even a little lever to clear out a mistake if you accidentally set the wrong number without deleting all the previous input. Jeff and I kept playing with it and found it irresistible. And the 20% offer clinched it, so we came home with this adorable unit. It will eventually sit in Jeff's study on the big partner's desk I bought last month. What a productive day!