How can you beat the beat of the clutter drum?

On my walk today I decided to head to Savers. I passed a trash barrel with a drum in it. The clutterer in me wanted to save it, to give it a new home. Its skin was perfectly in tact. But it gave me the words for today's blog posting. I hadn't realized that the holiday, and especially the unique date of 11/11/11 would spark such a glut of sales everywhere.

Savers promotional advertising worked and brought in crowds of folks.

  Twenty percent off in one antique store—Kalembar Dune—and 50 percent off on many items at Savers, the former site of a super size me Stop and Shop. The economy may be choking us but thrift stores like Savers, do-it-yourself auto repair supply shops like Autozone, and used book stores are all thriving and giving us the shopping buzz without the huge debt. Plus, recycling gives you a good feeling. You donate decent stuff that no longer serves you, and it gets a new home with someone who wants it more than you do.

This 11" high pitcher was only $11 on 11/11/11 from Kalembar Dune.

These rotating globe book ends—totally unnecessary objects—seduced me for $12 at Kalembar Dune.

Savers was swarmed. Nothing I picked out was in the 50% off category but I got some great stuff cheap.

Red is the color of my true love's . . .

Autumn has always been my favorite season. Today I had an appointment outside of Boston at 10 a.m. The folks I was meeting were tied up in traffic so rather than stew about it, I took out my trusty digital and captured a bit of nature's fire.

Fall back, spring forward . . .

What a whacky time of year. Snow so bad my friends lost power and stayed with me for three nights; and then a day like today...that bright October weather . . . in—November? Car trouble today found me walking home from the mechanic's. They offered me a ride, but with the sun out and me perspiring because of too many layers, I decided to say no to the walk that would have brought me back to my computer screen way too soon. I needed to ramble, amble, dawdle, look. Plus I had my "granny" walking shoes on, too, so there was no excuse. Everywhere I see aesthetics of decay. The leaves, the weeds, the grasses all cracking and drooping not unlike this writer's fading body parts. I like to find beauty in last chapters so how appropriate it was to be walking by a cemetery today. Here are some of the scenes that struck me hard enough to take off my back pack and pull out the old digital. Enjoy. And remember, if you click on each photo you'll see a lot more detail.

It was that deep rust married to the peeling paint that got the camera moving from my purse to my hands.

The gate to the long sleep. Inviting to some insomniacs.

This looked like the kind of rabbit hole any imaginative person could slip down.

I brought these dried beauties home and put them in a vase. I had just bought some fake greens for a vase at home but seeing the real thing, I knew I preferred nature's paint brush to sprayed plastic.

I was sure all the snow was gone a week later, but there was a huge pile of it sitting in a Walgreen's parking lot.