Incredible luck!

We all have our secret little foibles, our shameful secrets. Well...I confess mine is that I like to check out Thrifts....especially now that I'm an old codger and can get a senior discount sometimes. Every week or so Jan and I drop in this or that Goodwill, and often as not we walk out with nothing (amazing how much stuff in the world we really don't need. It makes you feel awful righteous). And then again, we can run across treasures: for years I admired the brass platter above the kitchen table in my parent's home. Then one day I ran across one very much like it selling for just a few dollars at a Thrift (and Thrift fever was on!)...actually, if you look beneath that platter, you will see some of its dozens of peers who have joined it from various Thrifts since that first discovery three or four years ago. Word must have gotten out that these were worth something because I've hardly found any recently (do let me know if you run across one: I love these shiny, Oriental things...)

But what I am REALLY getting to is the picture at the top of this blog. I spotted it across the length of the ARC and thought "If that's a real painting, I want it!". It was. I pulled it down off the wall and couldn't believe my eyes: it was marvellous. I called Jan over, and for once she didn't scoff at my choice of treasures (she has awfully good taste). Instead she said "That must be by Nathan Solano!" And it was. Nathan is one of Colorado's best known and highly regarded artists. If you don't believe me, check out http://www.nathansolano.com/. This may be an early piece, or a study. Certainly not one of his elaborate, labored pieces shown on the website...but it looks to be his signature, and it certainly suits me just fine. I love it. It has pride of place in my guest room right now.

It's one of those magic things that we dream about happening in our quest of Thrifts (and I have to confess, aside from my brass Oriental platters, this is likely to be as good as it gets for me and Thrifts!)...Like winning the lottery or gambling, you should quit while you're ahead.