The Grapes of Craft...

I just returned from the annual 3,500 mile check-up of my car. On the way home is this wonderful thrift store that I generally hit about once a month...this month being the exception, for this is my third stop. But, with 11 extra minutes in my schedule, one little drive-by was in order.


As a veteran "thrifter" you know what areas of the store could possibly hold the perfect finds. I immediately went to the far right corner of "miscellaneous", just next to the remnants of kitchen appliances...and to the left of piles of plastic hair curlers...and there they were...gleaming in all their unnatural splendor the classic cluster of "clacker" style, ocean blue grapes. I had to wait my turn and inch over to unobstructed reaching...only for two people to pick them up, reminisce about their own former cluster of grapes, cut tacky jokes, and eventually set them down. FINALLY...they were in my hands!


I looked for obvious "yuckiness", realized they were missing any form of foliage that might have earlier defined them as a cluster of grapes; and with further observation realized this was nothing more than hard plastic balls strung on to wire and attached to a 1" diameter stick. They were stunning...and they were mine for the primo price of one dollar.


"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."

--John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 25


"In the souls of the junker the grapes of craft are delightful and laying beautifully, gathering dust for the vintage."

--Alexa Lett's "The Grapes of Craft", last sentence