The Eliza-Senoufou's village-wide yard sale sounds like the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale in Ottawa, which attracts punters from miles around and always seemed to coincide with the day we took the cats to the Glebe Pet Hospital for their annual jabs.

The last time this happened, I and two yowling cats found ourselves in hot competition for the last parking space within spitting distance of Bank Street between the Rideau Canal and the Queensway. In sheer desperation, I beat out two minivans for a wedge of asphalt between a delivery van and a pick-up truck full of fifth-hand (at least) furniture. In retrospect, the mob of bargain-hunters picking over the leavings of prosperous middle-class Canadian life did not make a pretty picture -- but at least the bits and bobs were headed a new life with new people, and not the dump.

Our current abode has rather less storage space than the place we had in Ottawa, where the entire cellar was given over to shelving, plastic bins, Himself's barrack boxes, and the wine.

We still have the wine (well, not the *same* wine, but at least the same clay-pipe storage arrangement), but not nearly so much shelving, so I have to exercise far more discipline with respect to stowing stuff.

Yesterday, I went out to Canadian Tire, that great Horn of Plenty, and purchased a Kitchen-Aid standing mixer, the first such item I have ever owned -- or, indeed, used. (After more than fifty years of cooking, I have taken up sourdough baking, and the recipes I have assume the use of a power mixer.) Before I could embark on this errand, I had to find out precisely how wide and how tall the appliance is, and identify a storage spot for it. Fortunately, it fits on the pantry shelf; half an inch taller, and I would have been (reluctantly) taking it back.

Incidentally, I got a screaming deal; the mixer I bought is baby-blue, a discontinued colour, which brought the price down by Cdn$250.00. The red one cost Cdn$549.00. Riddle me that.

When my parents were young, people made their own bread to save money. As I drove away from Canadian Tire with my $300 bargain, I rationalized like crazy, thinking, "Well, I could be a golf fanatic, blowing the family fortune on membership in the Stratford Country Club!" (As if.) At least we eat the bread.