Junklandia

As I mentioned earlier, one of the best things about Diane von Austin-berg visiting here is hitting the thrift stores with her. I have no idea whether it's skill or karma that allows the little devil to find such treasures at every junk hole we visit, but she does. Case in point: the Out of the Closet on Folsom wear she snagged a brown brocade sport coat (okay it sounds peculiar, but it's sweet. Truly.) that fits like it was cut just for me. The down side? A big old faded stripe down the sleeve where some inattentive queen let it hang in his closet with the sun blasting on it. We're trying to fix it by dying the fade with tea. I'll be reporting results as they occur.

Just to show off, she also found a lady's silk and cashmere sweater for herself that had somehow wandered off into the men's wear section and where it was marked down to ONE DOLLAR. That is just egregious.

We were also struck by the many authors one only sees at cheap used bookstores (Belva Plain, I'm talking to you.) Much like movies that are straight to video, these books seem to be straight to thrift stores. It's a concept, but one that seems to be tough for the agents to explain to these writers.