The backpack
is getting dusty and it’s been far too long since my last post so I figured I
just better put something up. I am now down in Texas and have been for about 3
weeks or so, however, I will be heading back up to Colorado soon.
Under more
normal circumstances you would have found me traveling this winter and posting
regularly but until my mother finishes chemo I would not feel good about
wandering off too far. It has not been easy for her. As long as she survives
chemo I think she will be all right for a while. If all goes well I hope to do
something interesting this summer and feel like late summer/fall is a real
possibility for travel.
I continue
to feel caught in-between chapters of the great book of life as I steadily
maintain an even attitude in a holding pattern of circumstance. In general life
feels a bit flat right now but I spice it up by running around digging up old
stuff to buy and sell. As usual I pick up vintage vinyl records, old
advertising, an interesting violin etc.,. It’s a game of hit and miss with good
'ol dumb luck coming through in the end. Somehow I make a deposit, pay a bill,
and save a little. At the beginning of the day it’s really kind of a mystery
how it all works out in the end. Somehow I manage to pull it off.
It’s been
nice catching up with familiar faces in Houston. I haven’t been too motivated
to run buy I make it out for a 12 mile run with the club every Sunday. I usually
run with an Irishman by the name of Joe and we move along pretty good.
Afterwards it’s generally coffee with a good sized group which is kind of nice.
It’s
important to find some kind of social balance in life. For me it’s the running
club and a community of pickers like myself looking for old stuff, antiques,
etc. The running club is mostly comprised of professionals with steady jobs and
a regular routine. The picking crowd is a colorful mixed bag caught up in the
hunt for the next big hit. Usually it’s kind of like wholesale retail but every
once and awhile you make an exciting find. That’s what keeps everyone going. In
Houston the regular pickers comprise a relatively small group. I really don’t mind
standing in line for an hour waiting for a sale to open because the whole time
I’m talking and joking with people I know. When the door opens its all business
as everyone first searches out their specialty or expertise before running
through a property multiple times and darting off to the next sale. Wednesday
through Saturday tend to be the best days. Some pickers are strictly collectors
while most are like me and buy, sell, collect, and trade.
As usual one
my favorite areas in the realm of old stuff are private label records of bands
no one has ever heard of. Recently I picked up the 45 shown below. It now sits
in the hands of a collector in Connecticut. It’s a rare Texas Garage Psych 45. Box
Car by The Glass Kans. Enjoy!
