Garbage, more garbage and a few treasures
So now it all belongs to us - the good, the bad and the really bad. The man we bought the property from was in his early 80’s and had lost his wife (the “collector”) a few years ago. He was noticeably sad and overwhelmed with moving from a property with 60 plus years of history for his family. We tried to be as accommodating as we could be to make the transition easier on him. Anyone could clearly see the chances of this property being broom cleaned when it was handed to us was a long shot at best so we played nice, too nice.
His wife had been an antique dealer at some point in her life and there were some pretty interesting pieces buried in all of the “stuff” when we first saw it. The man had little interest in any of it, just reminded him of his wife which added to his sadness. We had been willing to deal with all of it, I could envision some pretty epic vintage sales in the barn (I will get to the barn in my next post), which we knew meant we were taking on the garbage but maybe the treasures would be worth it? NOT! What we were left with was the garbage, piles and piles of it and a refrigerator and freezer that were still full.
To be fair, I can’t say he didn’t leave any treasures. There were 2 portraits in the house that I had commented on when we first saw the property - one was “Blanche Edna Oyster” pictured in the post thumbnail. I’ve always liked the old 1950 to 1970’s portaits and really loved the dog in this one. This is the other one -
When I first saw it, I thought it must have been his wife, hanging prominently in the living room, a reminder of a more beautiful time in his life. Later to find out both portraits where just part of her collection, this one from an estate sale in Port Townsend and “Blanche” was purchased from a gallery in the 1980’s for $483, receipt still attached - he had figured both would go to the dump. So, I was happy to see them still there when we were handed the rest of the mess. There were a few other things left, some by mistake I’m sure, mostly outdoor concrete pots buried in the over grown yard, a box of vintage Christmas ornaments and some old 1960’s horse trophies (which I love) but most not of any value. To date we have removed at least 15 dump trailer loads of garbage off of the property and there are a few more to go, that doesn’t include green waste. It’s a 6 cubic yard trailer …