South Roxana - Nancy [My mom requested we attribute each post in the title so she doesn't have to scroll down to see who wrote it.]

Bad news, Readers.

I am going on two vacations back-to-back. A quick look at the calendar caused my heart to sink; I will miss three complete pairs of Friday/Saturday yardsales while I am gone. Can any of us go that long without hearing of my wacky shopping adventures? Laura is going to have to step it up, carry the torch, and put her nose to the grindstone to keep all 26 of you followers intellectually satisfied.

As a last hurrah, I scoured Craig's list and found a Thursday sale worth the drive. Three kids and I drove north to South Roxana, IL.

If you have never been to South Roxana, which I am sure you have not, you would be surprised at the ratio of factories to humans - approximately 43:1.

Now, Readers, I gave my YSA card to the daughter of the proprietess of the sale I went to, so we are bound to get at least one South Roxanan reader today. Therefore, I will try to phrase my descriptions in the kindest ways possible. I should have warned her that half the fun of the YSA blog is joking about yardsales and making fun of myself and my weird yardsale habit. We don't need another Crock-Lady's-Daughter, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Having said that, I will report that South Roxana was quiet and gentle. I only saw one car up on blocks. Most of the ramshackle garages had complete tin roofs without any apparent gaping holes. The factories were probably not spewing nuclear waste. The yardsale on Ohio St. was, by far, the best thing happening in town today.

The quality and quantity of this sale blew me away. It was in a giant three car garage/barn tucked behind a normal, unassuming house. Was the garage was bigger then the house? Quite possibly.

This sale was better than most thrift shops. It was dense and well-displayed. The merchandise spanned history: from 1800s farm tools to blackberries picked just last night. Some stuff was silly, some collectible, some practical, some junk. Could this have been the "perfect sale"? You decide.

This was one of 3 displays of colored glass tableware. She had more green than anything else but a healthy portion of red glass as well.

This collection of pool memorabilia drew me in. Clocks, cues, balls, art, even multiple Magic Eight Balls. (It was "not in the cards" that I buy one.) We have a decent pool table in our basement which gets a fair amount of play time. Not surprisingly, given the quantity of preteen boys in my life, we break pool cues frequently. I bought two new cues and a floor rack to keep them vertical. Perhaps I will paint "Pool Cues are not Swords" on the side?

Not wanting to let the golfing YSA followers feel left out, here are some golf balls:

I think they are walnuts, painted white.

The display of antique tools was beautiful. And any tool collector worth a darn would have started to salivate at the sight.

The tool wall was twenty feet high and included sections for both vintage sleds and roller skates.

There were even TWO of these contraptions: mechanical bottle openers. I bought two of the vintage bottle caps, previously removed, for my collection.

I thought of Laura when I saw this thing. Is it a scooter/stool combo? I don't know for sure.

All she would need to know is that it is old and wooden and she would do one of these fancy tricks:

Truth be told, I feel the same way about old, metal storage, like this basket I bought today for $3:

Or these metal lockers which were not technically "for sale", but, as I often say, everything has a price.

By now you are planning your weekend around this sale in South Roxana. You have cancelled your Saturday plans (there will be other family reunions) and rescheduled your pedicure (trust me, the South Roxanans will not mind if your feet look less than perfect.) But I have to be truthful here, there was a large amount of knick-knackery at this sale. Statues, tiny houses, porcelain bells, and I don't know what-all. If these things float your boat then you should get up off your duff right now and speed up I-255 to exit #5 because this sale is the one you have been yearning for.

They had furniture too. Some of it was the usual honey-oak side table variety. I saw a few antique sewing machine cabinets. There was a black-lacquered, mirrored, lighted headboard unit from 1982. But below is the furniture that gave me pause. It came with 8 chairs and a leaf to make the extra wide table even longer.

You know generations of South Roxanans have played poker around this gem. Seriously, if I go back and buy this set I could put it in the basement as the official game table. We could have a party for all of our YSA followers! We would have to dress in 1960s costume! Uh-oh! Here goes Laura again!

(heh heh heh.)

Finally, with a wink to today's proprietress, a moxie granny who somehow has kept her husband's whites gleaming brightly after all these years, I offer our readership this photo:

Thank you Ohio Street in South Roxana! I desperately needed a sale today and yours was worth the drive. Readers, add this one to your itinerary this weekend. You won't be disappointed.

If you do go to South Roxana, buy me that table and chairs and I'll pay you back!

Nancy