We spent the weekend checking out the Michigan Yard Sale Trail. The event is a string of cities along the Michigan thumb area. We had never been and were impressed at the experience. Starting in Port Austin, we spent the night on Lake Huron and got ready for the day. Up early, we started our drive down M25. There were the occasional sales just of the highway with concentrations within each city. We found some goodies at yard sales and some at local antique stores. The best part was spending time with Lish and friends; Shelli & Jeff.

It’s so rare that I find myself just enjoying driving and not using it as a tool to get somewhere. I found myself often getting passed on the highway and not freaking out. I even drove under the speed limit. It was very relaxing.

Here are a couple of goodies I found at a St. Clair antique store. It is a 1956 can of powdered Tom & Jerry Mix. It’s even full. I probably won’t be trying this but it’s such a cool find. A few companies still make a mix and one is even carried at Holiday Market.

The other good find at that store was a small bottle of Chartreuse. I can’t find the age but I’ll keep doing research.

I’ve started a little collection of drink stirrers and picked up 11 at sales and stores. The ones I am most excited about are from the Detroit Boat Club and Quebec Air.

More pictures on Flickr including the no booze related finds. This includes a half working Concertina. Full Garage Sale Flickr Set

Budmo!

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In addition to the stirrers and skewers, I picked up 6 cocktail books from the Vintage Garage Sale.

• Professional Mixing Guide by The Angostura-Wuppermann  Corporation (1950)
• Be the Drink Expert by Bacardi (~1960)
• How to Make the 32 Drinks Guests most Often Ask for by Redbook (1958)
• Carstairs Party Book by Carstairs Distilling (~1950)
• Okolemalunai by South Sea Sales Limited (~1960)
• Booze by June Dutton and Edith Vanocur (1967)

All these books have some great art, tips and recipes. Booze specifically has some great art.

I’m going to research if I can legally scan some of these and post the PDFs. Stay tuned on that.

Budmo!

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There are two sisters that are super collectors of all things vintage. Every so often they open up their house and have a sale to the public. Their basement is a makeshift showroom with 30 tables or so and thousands of items. Lish and I try to go every chance we get and were added to their email list last time.

There were a number of goodies we picked up. The first set is some vintage stirrers of street signs and some faux chrome garnish swords. Both sets are in great condition and I am looking forward to using them.

The house is located at 12 mile & Crooks. If people are interested, I’ll post the details of the next sale when they send it to us.

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The weather is getting colder and garage sales are starting to get less frequent. It’s sad because it means winter is coming. That being said, I got my fill this weekend. I went to four garage sales this weekend and besides some vinyl and craft supplies for Lish, I picked up this number and for only $2.

Glass swizzle sticks are hard to find. It seems that companies are moving more to plastic for its durability and cost. I think glass has a great throw back feel and looks much more classy than plastic.

So where did the name swizzle come from? The best account is that it come from the drink Rum Swizzle. It’s the national drink of Bermuda and is a great cocktail.

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The above five glasses were found at a Birmingham estate sale. I really like them because they are pretty small. The smallest one might not even hold one ounce. Not sure how practical that is but it’s cute. Ha!

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