Tag Sale

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About the Story

"Tag sales are usually regarded as opportunities to get rid of stuff no longer considered useful in our lives. They often start this way.”

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Harriett says,” Harold, don’t you think it’s about time to clean out your workshop in the basement? You’ve hoarded so much junk down there, I can barely get to the washer and dryer anymore. How many, gonna fix-that-up-someday projects do you need? Just look at the inside and back of the garage.”

Harold responds, “Maybe if you thinned out the collection of holiday decorations, we’d reduce the fire hazard on the second floor. There are seventeen large plastic storage tubs jammed into the spare bedroom. We’ve got enough stuff to decorate the shopping mall..!

And so it goes. Essentially it’s not really about the stuff, it’s about our emotional reluctance to relinquish attachment to the items that once held important memories. Tag Sale represents the authors’ view that tag sales can be enjoyable whenever friends and families convene to host such an event.  Each participant brings their carload of crumbling cardboard boxes of stuff and tries to display the contents in a manner to attract the potential buyer. Their tables give us a new window into the life of our friends. A series of annual family and friends tag sales have proven there’s always humor, surprises and people stories every time.

“Hey, I never knew you were such a fan of Miles Davis and Polka Bands..! You really still play vinyl LP’s?”

“Never would have guessed you had such a fetish for bow ties.”

“ How did you ever start collecting salt and pepper shakers? You must have 200 sets here!” 

“Buy something and get something else for free!”

Tag Sale” helps to recapture the spirit of a most memorable event.

Excerpt

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“Isn’t this cute!”  remarks a perky middle-age lady who carefully inspects a boys bicycle. It’s a fat tire, three-speed with two rusty wire baskets straddling the back wheel. “I think this is so cute.” 

She’s an easy conversationalist and tells how she’s just started to learn golf in hopes of finding a husband.

“I’m going to stuff the baskets with Hostas and Impatiens. Don’t you think that will be so cute?”

We all vote her “Miss Congeniality” and wish her good luck with her husband hunting. As she carts off with her new old bike, someone says, “Come back next year, maybe we’ll put our spouses up for sale!”

About the Book

First edition of ten copies, composed on an early Mac laptop. The typeface is Book Antiqua. A second edition, composed on a Apple AIR laptop, followed with ten additional copies. Book size is: 7 ⅝ wide by 6” high. Soft cover, 31 pages.

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