The auction on Sunday for the Hospice Shop was very enjoyable. I arrived around 9:30am, as requested, but they didn't really have anything for me to do until the auction started. Eileen had texted Saturday night that she wasn't sure if she was going to make it, she was feeling a bit under the weather. But shortly after I arrived Val and Rita showed up! I've met Rita at Val's various parties (she had an afternoon tea for her neighbor's birthday the other week and oh my goodness, she never does anything half-way; the foods were delicious), a few times now so it was fun to walk around the tables and check out the items up for auction with them.
There were some very cool things for sale and I could certainly have bought some things myself, but I don't have a lot of room in my suitcase so I didn't even get a number. Some things went for just $10 and would have been cool mementos of my time here, but who needs more stuff? In the end I was busy the whole time anyway.
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| The lot of Maori Portraits by Lindauer (prints of his works, not originals) were the highest bid items of the day, going for over $500. I had thought before the auction start that one of them might be a nice souvenir. My Mom always said I have expensive tastes.... |
During the auction they had me on the "Vanna White" team, at least that's what I nicknamed us. All the items were numbered and as each item went up for bid we were to hold it up so everyone could see the item currently on auction. There were actually quite a few of us on the team, and although it didn't work out the way they explained beforehand that it should work out, we finally managed to get a system going. Standing in front of a bunch of strangers holding up random items isn't exactly my environment to thrive, but the ladies kept me laughing through it all. We would each get assigned lot numbers, and we just kept rotating through the line. The ladies behind me got a kick of commenting that they were younger than me when we started getting assigned to the 70's and 80's numbers. The event started at 11:30 and we got through the last item around 1:30. We had such a large team because they didn't want anyone's arms to get tired, but most items weren't that large and were auctioned rather quickly. Granted, that's the 29-year-old talking, not the opinion of the 78-year-old ladies with which I was working. It was just nice to be part of a little community event, to be able to meet people that you can one day run into at the grocery store. Yes, that may sound odd, but that's one of the ways I start to feel at home. I still remember the first person I ran into at the grocery store while living in Cairns and feeling like I belonged, simply because I could have a quick chat with someone while shopping for eggs.
In other news, I got the car back today - looking good as new! I'm quite thankful it was done in just 6 working days as the "courtesy car" they gave me didn't quite have enough room for Sam. I had to be careful to make sure his tail was tucked in and he had his head over the seat before I closed the trunk. Since he couldn't really move around in the back I had to leave him home when I would go out to craft, Monday discussion group, or volunteering at the shop - he was NOT appreciative. Plus, I didn't have to pay the excess - just a $35 fee for the use of the courtesy car. God is good.
P.S. I did pass my Psychology class and did manage to keep my grade-point average.
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