All In A Day's Hunt and Gather

Today was one of those lovely winter days when there was not a thing to do but hunt and gather.  I had promised the woman running the antique shop  I would drop by to see if the old round tin with CAKES printed on the side, had sold.  Though worn and a bit scratched and bent, the red lid was still fastened to the white bottom.  It was round which is unusual and it was clean.  Barbara wanted $17.50 for it.  A customer had dibs on it, but had gone home to ask her daughter if the color was right.  I went back today just to see if the tin was still sitting on the counter.  It twas.  However Barbara did not feel it fair to sell the item to me until the previous customer had a fair chance to claim it.  How much time does a person need!?

The owner, who gave off an aroma of cigar and cold weather, brought in full boxes of treasure gathered from an old house.  There I found a silver chest full of beautiful sterling silver.  It was a full service for 8 in a gorgeous Westmoreland pattern.  I counted the pieces which included several serving pieces.  I asked "how much?"  The gentleman was sorry to tell me someone was coming to weigh the silver and it would probably be worth $500.  I waited as the little old man in the big coat weighed the lot.  While I waited I found a set of small canisters which you see above.  They are large, clean and charming.  You see them now perched on my kitchen stove.  Soon the owner located me to give me the bad news.  Bad news is actually an understatement.  The silver buyer weighed the sterling and offered $1,400 for the lot.  He will melt it down for the silver.  He's a survivalist who believes silver will buy him bread (or a ticket out of this country) when the world falls apart.  Maybe he sells it to terrorists to fund the take over of America.  I don't know, but I didn't like what I was hearing.  A grandmother's precious silver heirloom, over a hundred years old, was being melted into a bar?  That's our culture, our heritage!  I could never have afforded $1,400 but still.  ..............sigh*

To soothe my rather resentful broken (cracked) heart I bought a wonderful roasting pan just the right size to manage a roasted beef and potatoes for John and myself.  It measures 10"x8" and is just 7" high.  I did not own anything to make a good beef wellington.  The inside is clean as a whistle.  This find cost only $15.  Both women working in the shop coveted the thing but, being a paying customer, I claimed it.  Nobody is going to melt down my roaster, by jig!  Of course, I don't think there's much of a market for melted aluminum these days.