Forsaken Little Souls.

i collect dolls. little figures. tiny little things with happy faces. 

most of my collection are matryoshka dolls. i have an entire shelf of matryoshka dolls.

i love little wooden dolls.

i especially love wooden dolls that i find on the forsaken shelves of the thrift stores. they've been thrown out of their loving homes & forced to sit & wait for someone to come along & rescue them.

i love rescuing these little dolls. 

so the other day i was out and about hitting up my local thrift shops. they're pretty tiny & surprisingly don't replenish their shelves very often. i was disappointed by the lack of new choices. it was the same ol' blah blah blah. mostly plastic crap.

so on my way home i took a detour because i wanted to stop by the craft store for some yarn to cheer me up after a poor day of thrifting. that's when i saw the sign. it was a magical sign. it spoke to me.

it read:

rummage sale

elk lodge of Del Ray Oaks.

(or something along those lines.)

i was excited.

i love rummage sales! it's like a magical, outdoor thrift store.

so i high-tailed my way over to the elk lodge & there were tables stacked with beautiful items & boxes overflowing with used goodness. this is where all the forsaken souls end up.

the table items were kind of duds. there were great, vintage pieces, but the seller was kind of stingy & priced her items as if this were a high-end antique shop ($200 for a vase?! i think not!)

so my only hope was to rummage through the boxes. (duh! it's a rummage sale!!) so i rolled up my sleeves, knelt on the asphalt, and started digging. 

some of the stuff was crap. most of it dirty, broken, or both.

then i found a little box that had items wrapped in plastic. 

i was intrigued.

they felt like little people.

i found a trio of angels playing instruments.

look at this happy little band.

then there were these two. they make up a sweet little duo band.

turn them around and each one is missing a wing.

these poor creatures were in the bottom of a box surrounded by junk and wrapped in plastic. 

they were begging to be rescued.

the owner tried to squeeze a lot of money out of me for these because they're over 100 years old (according to her) but after i pointed out the broken wings & the condition of the rest of the figures i received an excellent deal. 

now these little lovelies are out of their cardboard tomb & happily displayed on my shelf.