saturday we went to des moines as a getaway.
we were going to see joanne shaw taylor, a brilliant blues guitarist,
so we decided to spend the day hanging out and then stay over.
the first place we stopped was the east village area,
which we’ve liked for a few years.
it’s fun to stop by and see what’s new.
we always go to eden, the beautiful “soap” store–
but this time when i left,
i headed up the street and found a place i’d never been.
ironically, it’s called found things!
all the things i found there
i found i loved.
marsha steele is the finder of the wonderful things.
check it out:
moo
if i put this on my bookshelf, my dust could then become part of the scene,
the dusty trail.
she sorts and displays with mucho creativity and wit.
the building itself is as gorgeous as the contents.
i just want them all.
love the wheels.
we used to call those whitewalls back in the days of 24 hr service.
it’s perfect in every way.
or people who do scrapbooking art etc–
marsha has a collection of old photos sorted into albums.
you can look through the albums and buy as many photos as you want.
they’re catalogued in volumes with labels like “hats”–all the subjects
are wearing great old hats–
or “autos” –and you find shots of proud owners in front of their new cars,
all vintage now of course.
hours worth of great stuff.
just to hang it up and know no one would ever have to use it again would be comforting.
and he was sure this was
his grandpa’s trash can.
seriously, how many people would paint their trash can blue?
and why?
although upon seeing it, i must admit it’s a great idea.
maybe it matches the shutters.
a small sampling of what we found at found things.
it was fantastic.
we had a wonderful chat with marsha–she talked with us,
greeted customers coming in,
and took care of others in line all at once,
very impressive.
visit marsha’s website here for more photos and info.
seriously, i know you didn’t think such coolness was to be found in iowa.
Kitty Sheehan 
hi k
great post. I know it's bad blog etiquette to say 'great post' but i did it anyway. it's probably even worse to editorialize my own comment but i did that too. anyway, you're funny. you know that, right?
p.s. I'm going through blog block right now. any suggestions? – alixe
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I wish I had either your luck or your eye. all the “cute” little places I go in are just not like the ones you come across. Maybe it's because I don't have the attention to detail like you do. I love how you think things like, “just to hang it up and know no one would ever have to use it again would be comforting.”
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