Volume 17 - Day 130/235, 2025 - Saturday

It was a good morning for a walk, even though I hardly slept at all last night. I need to quit watching the news and then trying to go to sleep. Overnights are pleasant at the Curious House, I have been able to leave the windows open and get some cool, fresh air in the house, and that is wonderful. After tonight, there will be two more days of cool mornings, and then it will be summer. After the walk and a couple bagels for breakfast, we hit three-and-a-half estate sales. The half estate sale ended up really being a garage sale, but we stopped anyway. When I was a kid, I did a lot of flea markets and estate sales and just collected a bunch of stuff. I even set up a booth pretty frequently at a flea market, and that was fun. I went through a period then of collecting little figurines that were marked 'Made in Occupied Japan.' I wasn't the only person collecting those, they were very much sought after, but I think the popularity waned about 45 years ago. 'Occupied Japan' (if you have never heard of that), refers to goods produced during the post-war occupation of that country. Occupied by Allied Troops, and most of those goods were made especially for export. At the garage/estate sale, I bought this little piece for a dollar. There is nothing very special about it, but it reminds me of a time long ago when I had a life that was full of hope and doubt. Aspiration and stupidity. Wonder and fear. But, I made it this far, so that is something.