confession time

Yes, it's confession time. I've been quietly posting away here for what feels like forever, and I have never revealed my love of op shopping.*  I know, I find it hard to believe too! No, I'm definitely not ashamed of my addiction, I just don't seem to have found the need to blog it. I've even taken photos of my op shop scores in the past, but never actually got around to sharing them. So in the absence of anything else to blog about I'm going to share "some" of my scores from the last week.

First up we have a 1974 Commonwealth Games calendar. Ooohh I love that logo - it's so styley, and makes the 2012 Olympic logo look amateur - even although it cost 400,000 pounds! The Commonwealth Games were held in Christchurch, and I was a bit young to actually remember the games! Next is a large Maltexo tin, which will be useful for putting stuff in my studio. I did have to laugh at all the ailments that are cured with a good old dose of the stuff. And a cute wee triangular pottery vase, which I have a use for (and will be duly revealed!), and two kitchen utensils. The yellow handled one is for gouging out the stones of peaches etc, and if my memory serves right the green one is for coring pears. My mother was a dedicated preserver of fruit, and had similar tools of the trade. Hopefully I will put them to use this summer.

The lino cutting set will be great for printmaking, although it only has 2 or it's original 5 heads. The tool next to it that looks a bit like an egg beater is actually a hand knitter (see the box!) I can't honestly say I will get around to using it, but for $1 I couldn't leave it behind! Next is a glass jar, yes but look closely at the lid - it used to hold "instant tea", which I can only shudder at the thought of what that might have tasted like!

From the free bin at the St Vinnie's I grabbed Issue 6 of a great wee mag that is no more - World Sweet World. They only ever made 9 issues but they are a real treasure. And lastly is the Talking Map of Australia, from 1970. I love all things to do with Captain Cook, and have a wee collection of things about him and his re-discovery of NZ. But this was the first time I've found anything about Australia, and I brought it with someone in mind! Yes it's for Kylie, a sweet Aussie girl who's sending me a Nelson tea towel. So I thought I'd send her something in return, and when I saw this I knew it might be just fit the bill (just hoping she'll love it!)  Let's take a look inside (Kylie close your eyes if you don't want the surprise ruined!)

Yes the "talking map" is a wee record! And there's a large wall map of Australia, which has allsorts of interesting facts on it.

Now isn't that amazing to see how large Australia is compared with Europe! If I remember right New Zealand is about the same size as England and Scotland (excluding Wales!)

Now that I've got that off my chest (so to speak), I think I'd better link up with Sophie's Flea Market Finds here (another first!)

* op shopping definition:  "op" is an abbreviation of  "opportunity" and seems to be a common name for charity/thrift shops in New Zealand and Australia, which used to be referred to as "opportunity shops".