I am ugly and broken -- take me home!

That was the come on for a sidewalk sale today at one of my favorite stores in San Francisco, Paxton Gate. It's a wonderfully weird mix of bed and bath boutique, high end rustic garden ware store, taxidermist and wacko entomologist lab. They are best known for their aligator skeletons in velvet Victorian gowns and stuffed mice (as in ones that were once running around with a heartbeat) in nurse uniforms. You'll also see stuffed bobcats peering over displays of $8 - $15 soap. And it's one of the few places where you'll discover the hard to find but ever so handy mink penis bones. I've bought mainly pots and vases there as well as a few plants. I've long admired many of the knobs and pulls they sell (or knobs and knockers as I prefer to call them.) But I've never been able to justify shelling out $18 - 25 for just one drawer pull. So when I stopped in the other day for a bar of Morrocan mint soap and saw the little flier for their sidewalk sale, I was thrilled and got there reasonably early and came home with this bounty for just around $17. Any individual item could have easily gone for that by itself.

Much of their stuff is rusted iron that I really like -- instant patina without any of the pain of actually watching it age. I have never been one of those fags that likes "antiquing" or buying things because of their historical value, but I will admit to succoming to the gay cliche of embrassing the discarded and obsolete before the mainstream takes it up again. Sort of like thinking ABBA was cool in 1991 when I lived in Manhattan and even fags in the Midwest had yet to think it was outre chic to enjoy them. But, of course now, I despise them after being forced to that dreadful Mama Mia! musical.

Anywhat...I was pleased to come home with such a sack of tarnished jewels and immediately replaced the "knockers" on my cabinet that holds my enermous collection of vinyl (speaking of outre chic, but don't get me started on that one. Yep, I do have my vinyl in the closet.)