Tie a Yellow Ribbon

A friend (I'll call him W)  asked me to find a suitable gimcrack for him. He tells me he has two holes in the front of his mailbox where the rain comes in. Rather than patch the holes, he wants to hang a gimcrack on the front door of his mailbox. He called what he's looking for an objet d'art which is French for gimcrack.

Some describe a gimcrack as a cheap and showy object; a knickknack. Others call it a gewgaw, a trinket, a trifle. I see it as an ornament, and the right ornament in the right setting: that would be Mailbox Beautiful.

My friend W knows that Teresa and I are collectors of beautiful ornaments. We are willing to pay for beauty but prefer to find it cheap in a thrift store. We used to haunt garage and rummage sales, but that was inefficient. A thrift store is a condensation of a thousand garage sales, with most of the trash filtered out. The worst thing about garage sales is that I would see something interesting there and it would be, "No, that's my husband's M-16 from 'Nam. It's not for sale.”

 When I got W's request, I took a brief survey of my home museum and found one item that might have worked, but I didn't have time to thoroughly check my archives. We were packing for our first out-of-town trip since the lockdown began in March. We would be spending a couple of nights at our son's cabin in Lindström, an hour northeast of the Twin Cities. We had our masks and we know how to social distance.

The trip would be a chance to get away from home for a bit without tempting fate. It would also be a chance to look for gimcracks. While in Lindström, I planned to run across the river to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, home of Vintage 136. If you've seen one antique mall you've seen them all, but what's special about Vintage 136 is Karen Nelson's display of note cards.

I send a lot of notes in a year. If you give me anything or do me a favor no matter how small, you'll get a thank you note from me. What struck me about Karen's cards was their uniqueness. They appear to be illustrated with pictures taken from children's books. There's lots of Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh, Lewis Carrol, lots of gnomes, nature drawings, b&w photos of iconic musicians and movie stars. Nothing modern, though this time there was a drawing of a "Social Distance Hero," a backpacker heading for the hills, flashing the V sign.

I figured that when I finished picking out my new selection of note cards, I could check out the antique mall for a gimcrack for W's mailbox. Matt and his wife Heather and their two boys had lived in Lindström a few years ago. When we would come down to visit, we'd often hit some of the wineries in the surrounding area. The St. Croix Valley is beautiful. So on Sunday, Teresa and I visited Wild Mountain, a funky winery a few miles north of the cabin.

After Wild Mountain we planned to visit Dancing Dragonfly a more elegant winery near St. Croix Falls. How does a funky winery differ from an elegant one? A funky winery fills your glass to just under the brim while an elegant one quits at just under the half-way point in their admittedly larger glass. The plan was to stop at Vintage 136 between the wineries.

I was delighted to see that Karen had a whole new selection of cards. They cost between $1.00-$2.50. I gave myself a $50 limit so it took awhile to sift through the cards, each in it's own plastic sleeve. I especially like that there's no logo on the back, so I can add one more amusing comment.

I was about to start on the gimcrack hunt when I noticed Teresa sitting on a bench out front. There was no AC in the building and it was a humid day, so I checked out and we headed to the winery. The next morning we started for home. Family Thrift sits on the corner as you leave Lindström. We pulled in. Family Thrift is well organized with a dedicated Objet d'Art section. It didn't take me long to find a likely candidate.

For the price of a notecard, I purchased a small horseshoe from St. Croix Forge. It had been painted yellow and had been twisted into a ribbon shape. The yellow ribbon was originally created for awareness of our troops back in the Vietnam era, but it's meaning has been extended to POW/MIA, suicide prevention and several types of cancer. It also signifies a welcome to refugees. I knew that would appeal to W.

But if W doesn't want it, that's fine. I'll keep looking. It's what I do. The horseshoe will go in my private collection  where it will remind me of my dear mother. Once many years ago when I was home on leave from the Navy, my mother handed me a Reader's Digest. She wanted me to read a short story in the "Life in These United States" section. The writer of the story was riding a bus when it stopped at a prison gate. A newly-released prisoner sat next to the writer and they struck up a conversation. He was going home after several years in prison. His wife had remained faithful, but he wasn't sure what kind of reception he'd get after his long absence. The writer was a little anxious for his new acquaintance, but as the bus turned onto his street, they could see that every tree in his yard was covered in yellow ribbons. That's the kind of story my mother liked.

Wt. 11 oz. Ht. 5" W. 4"