Return to Crumpton!

We just got back from a mini vacation in Delaware and Maryland. It was great- we spent time with my family, went to Rehoboth Beach for a day, caught up with some old friends, drank some National Bohemian Beer. And of course since  we were in the area I HAD to check out my old treasure trove: the Crumpton auction.

I've mentioned this place before on this blog, but basically, it's a weekly auction of anything you can imagine. I've seen everything from furniture to jewelry to firearms to a boat be auctioned off. Most of the lots were assortments of smaller items, and everything was laid out in rows through the fields. After the auctioneers were done, and the winners had taken everything they wanted, the field would be littered with stuff left behind. Old electronics, musty smelling boxes of books, abandoned dolls and stuffed animals, photos and pictures in frames with cracked glass- the list could go on forever.

This place is what really fueled my thirst for picking, and I can't even name all the things in my home that came from the deserted lots at Crumpton.

We had limited space in our vehicle, and I also had to consider my toddler, and the intense heat of the day, but I still managed to come away with a few good finds:

a miniature Chinese lantern- perfect size for a dollhouse!

This Thomas the Train blanket is the perfect picnic blanket for my little boy

Someone did a nice wood burning design of a train on this wooden plaque- it's shame that it's not signed, but it should still be seen and appreciated

I loved this print, and it was framed, but the glass was all cracked. When I got it home, I removed all the glass so that I can re-frame it at some point.

Of course I had to rescue some stuffed animals

A 1929 biology textbook. I had to laugh when I read about the excretory system, and the author writes that thyroid dysfunctions are often referred to as "cretinism", and that 'cretins' are physically and mentally under-developed. It makes me very grateful for Synthroid, or synthetic thyroid hormone, is the drug used to treat hypothyroidism, and has been available since 1955. If not for those little pills, people with hypothyroidism would still be saturating our foods and drink with iodine. If anyone is interested in the history of thyroid dysfunctions, and how they've been studied, written about and treated, the American Thyroid Association has a really great timeline to look at. It probably seems like a pretty weird thing to be interested in, but ever since I took a History of American Medicine course in undergraduate, I look for stuff like that. Looking at the ways we have come to understand our health and sicknesses is a lens to each time period: its beliefs and priorities and biases are illuminated by the popular recommendations about diet, hygiene, birthing and child-rearing.

Anyways, back to Crumpton talk-

There were a few other things we picked up, but these were the highlights. I miss that place so much, and I hope I'm able to make another, longer, trip to Delaware/Maryland next summer, so I can make a whole day there and really get my 'picking' fix.