Well the weather these past few weekends has been absolutely parfait.
Last week we took a quick trip to Montreal where we relaxed amid the daytime calm, sans the student protests that have been occurring most evenings.
We drove up early and went to the impressive Biodome. We had been there six years ago but wanted to go again so both boys could enjoy it. It really is quite a spot. To us Edmontonians, it is a bit like the Muttart Conservatory, only much bigger, and it contains hundreds of different species from the animal kingdom.
Afterwards we relaxed with a leisurely lunch along St. Denis street before heading for some late afternoon play-time up at the top of the beautiful Mont Royal Park – (Lac au Castor).
THE GREAT GLEBE GARAGE SALE
This Saturday we stayed put in our neighbourhood and partook in the “Great Glebe Garage Sale”. I never thought I would say this, but “garage saleing” is totally fun, especially one like this.
The Glebe event is an annual affair that has been going and growing since the 80s. It’s now a solid fund-raiser for the food bank and other charities as people come from all over to shop for, and sell, their second-hand goodies.
As an indication of the great community spirit and the excellent organization – there are literally several hundreds of vendors and several thousands of buyers at this fun event. There is a massively wide array of goods amid the sprawling affair that combines hundreds of individual front-yard sales with merchant sidewalk sales as well as collective school yards and other public spaces.
Sure there is a bunch-o-junk, but there is a surprising amount of tempting items. Our goal was to lighten our load before our expected move west later this summer; I think we did a little, however, our little guys made sure we scooped up more than a few toys today. Somehow we almost brought in as much as got rid of. (oops!)
We set up two tables outside our condo and sold some old items as well as cookies, squares, iced-tea and lemonade. On account on the large crowd, the perfect conditions, (and some great salesmanship by MF and the boys) we made a little over $200 and we are glad to donate part of this money to the Ottawa food bank, which is the intended beneficiary of this excellent community event.
As one friend mentioned, it is quite possible to furnish your entire home at this sale; and it is certainly a great place to find great cheap books, music of all kinds, (especially vintage records) and even the odd item of cool clothing.
The one word of advice I would share is to come early. The best big-ticket items seem to go before 8:00am, as the neighborhood was already busy by 7:30. I had my eye out for a guitar and although I saw a few purchasers walking away with them, I saw very few instruments after 8:30.
I didn’t really do it justice with any of my photos, but below are a couple shots from the day. The last one is from one of the front yards on Second Ave where the home owner said they raised almost $3,000 which will actually build a few basic homes for people in rural Cambodia.
