Then, on Friday, Bobby and I drove up north to spend the weekend with his dad. On Saturday, after having lunch, we decided to scour some antique shops, a gift shop and a flea market in a nearby community, some 20 minutes away from his dad's house. Before meeting Bobby I was already collecting cat figurines, salt and pepper shakers, and small collectible boxes . . . however, some months ago—when Bobby and I started "raiding" Salvation Army thrift stores—we decided to start our own collection together: green bottles, old clocks and fish motif items (for the bathroom). Little by little, we have been adding things to our respective collections, to the point that I've started leaving my new pieces at his house because I ran out of space at my apartment! lol
That Saturday we found lovely things—like antique German clocks (in perfect working order!) and one cloisonné box (circa late 1700)—that were a steal! But little did we know about the surprise awaiting us at the flea market! We got there almost an hour before closing time, around 5 p.m., so we decided to make the most of our time there and check out things rather fast. Got some good bargains and, while walking around the place, we stumbled upon a shelf full of old books. I didn't have my glasses with me—had left them in the car—so Bobby was the one checking them out and, all of a sudden, he grabbed two books and showed them to me: The Art of Mastering French Cooking and From Julia Child's Kitchen! I was ecstatic, to say the least! Like I said, I didn't have my glasses with me, so wasn't really able to take a close look at them, but decided to buy them. So we approched the lady that owned the stand, showed her the books and asked about the price. She asked $2 for the books (one dollar for each one)! We silently paid, asked for a plastic bag to put the books in, and started walking away! As we walked away, we were giggling and looking at each other with complicity. OMG!—I said to Bobby—This woman doesn't have a clue of what she just sold us! We managed to walk around the whole flea market, bought a couple more things and then left. Once in the car, though, I noticed that we had Volume 2 of The Art of Mastering French Cooking and were a little bit disappointed that we hadn't seen whether Volume 1 was also for sale. Since the market was already closing, we decided we would go back another time.
We left up north the next day around 11 a.m.—with the car packed to the rim with all our stuff—and got home before 3 p.m. After eating a light lunch, we eagerly started unpacking and rejoicing our eyes with all our collectibles! At some point, Bobby got to the books and started leafing through them . . . all of a sudden he started yelling at me, showed me the books, and we looked at each other speechless . . . they were both signed by Julia Child and her husband, Paul Child!!!
Both books were dedicated to the same person, Joann, and date back to 1981. Like I mentioned before, the only thing that was a little bit disappointing, was not having been able to get Volume 1 of The Art of Mastering French Cooking. But, since I'm coming back to MI in two more weeks, Bobby and I can't wait to go back to that flea market and see if we get lucky enough and find the missing volume . . . or some other surprises! :)
And . . . oh yes . . . Happy Mother's Day to all my mom friends and family!!! :)
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