Sparkles!

Just picked up this notepad holder at the local Goodwill. My grandma would have loved this. I think she had a cigarette case made out of some similar sparkly vinyl. Sparkles, in fact, informed her entire interior design sensibility, especially in the bathroom. Now I remember why this reminds me of her: this sparkle plenty laminate was the vanity countertop! Pink tiles, rose red towels, china poodles on the shelves opposite the toilet, and gilded everthing else. Liberace would have felt right at home in there. Oh, and a red velour toilet lid cover. And a vase full of plastic roses tucked amongst the poodles. She was the best grandmother ever, but her tastes were totally Vegas. Here's what she read: Photoplay (where I first learned that Rock Hudson and Jim Nabors were more than "just friends"), The Poodle Gazette, and The National Enquirer. She had a bunch of Reader's Digest condensed books, but those were just for show. Her hobbies were sewing, smoking, drinking Fresca out of a sparkly insulated cup, and Bingo. I miss her and my grandpa most in the summer, especially around the time first tomatoes appear. Like right now. The tomatoes sandwiches at their house were always better than anywhere else. The tomatoes were grown in their own back yard, and they would often ripen on the windowsill, soaking up flavorful Raleigh smoke. From sparkly notepad to long ago tomatoes — I buy junk for the nostalgic stream-of-consciouness it evokes, not because I actually want to do anything with it. Thrift shopping is therefore free of pressure compared to other forms of shopping. Yarn always needs to become something else, food has to be cooked, and clothes must not only fit, but look good. Hooray for junk!