Summer.

“Summer, it turns me upside down

Summer, summer, summer

It's like a merry-go-round.”

A lot has changed since I was a kid; but some things have moved forward with the times. Recently, with the weather remaining somewhat consistent up here in the north, as in warm, we now see lawn clipping bags ready to be picked up, neighbors who we have not seen in several months, and newly formed businesses popping up all over town.

I am not a huge garage sale shopper but thanks to my sister and a woman named Vivian Maier, I do pay attention and occasionally stop. Very rarely, but still occasionally. My sister has been discussed in “Snap.Shot.” but I am not sure about Vivian Maier. If you are not familiar with her story, she was a nanny on the North Shore of Chicago who was also a “street photographer.” Few, if any, of her subjects knew their photo was being taken, and no one it seems knew she even took photos. She took hundreds of thousands of them and no one had any idea---yet if you saw them, which you can---they are incredible. They have published several books highlighting her photos.

The way Vivian Maier’s work was discovered occurred when her storage locker was purchased at an auction. She had passed away, no one had paid the bill, and the rest as they say is “her-story.” She captured emotion, the times, and best of all…snap shots that the normal photographer would not have been able to shoot because people would have known their picture was being taken. Big difference.

Now, as I see more and more garage and estate sales around, I do stop by because you never know when you are going to find that hidden gem. The one that countless people have walked past and you stop and say, “I don’t believe it.” I am still waiting for the, “I don’t believe it” moment as I usually walk out empty handed---but you never know.

The photo above was taken on our lawn. Two of my daughters and a friend decided to set up a smoothie stand. Forget lemonade, this is big business here. Although they didn’t have many customers, they found ways to occupy the downtime. My iphone and many of its apps. I can’t wait to see what their kids find one day when they are rummaging around in garage and estate sales---I doubt it will be photos from “Snap. Shot.” maybe a sign with words misspelled and memories of the times we live in.

Thanks for stopping by.