THE SWISS MISS

So glad you posted Eric Gioia’s sculptures, Peggy — FYI to our readers, our daughters (Mara and Cassie) went to school with Eric Gioia’s precious twin girls, Emilie and Erica, members of the Class of 2000 at The Hockaday School. Let me tell you about that class… former headmistress Liza Lee once told me she wondered what all of us mum’s had taken when we were pregnant with these girls, as 2000 was one of the (how to put this nicely) “most spirited” classes the school had seen. I have seen Eric’s work at their home in Bluffview — he’s a talented neurosurgeon, and I cannot wait for the show!

Now I spent my afternoon at 4949 Swiss Ave., at the estate sale of Mary Ellen Bendtsen… admission was $8, which I am told is by order of the court — the fee is credited to anything you buy.

I read the posting on our brother blog, Frontburner, and I have my own take on the sale. The morning was a mob scene. 300-plus people in that house. The house is a mess. I now have 60 years worth of dust mites torturing my sinuses, but I so love homes I kind of wanted to wrap it up, take it home, and fix it all up. (Rumor: I heard the house is already under contract for — this is rumor now — $750,000. If you know otherwise, you know my e-mail address.) The stuff for sale — a few nice wood pieces in need of refinishing, overpriced silverplate, a few good upholstered pieces I would reupholster STAT, excellent rugs actually, except for the ones the rats ate, and a few nice pieces of crystal. Which I bought. (I love buying old crystal at Estate sales. Don’t tell my husband that I do not haggle price.) There’s a rocking chair and a prayer chair on the landing, and tons of great books. Gosh I saw an English grammar book, Nine and a Half Weeks (?) (!) and many Readers Digest condensed books…do they still publish those? Almost bought a blue and white commemorative plate depicting Fort Worth, Texas, for $2, but it was cracked. (I like blue and white, not necessarily Fort Worth.) There’s a grand piano — sold — there were two. I made friends with a man who knew Mrs. Bendtsen quite well, and he gave me as much of a tour as he could, telling me what had been where, and I wish I could have seen the ballroom on the third floor where a Caruth daughter made her debute.

I love the house. It is like a very sick patient right now, the walls are cracked and plaster has fallen off in some places on the ceiling exposing the floor boards. Built like a fortress, my guide told me the wallpaper, draperies, and cornices were all original — from 1917. The grand central staircase goes up to a landing and then sweeps around on both sides upstairs. He’d come over to visit and see the rats — Mrs. Bendtsen thought they were cats. Once he found and chased a raccoon from the house. Leaded glass windows, if only those walls could talk.

As for the sale, starting tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. everything will be 25 perdent off, then 50 percent off from 1-5 p.m. If anything is left on Sunday, at 11:00 a.m., everything will be 60 percent off.

According to my new friend, there was never really anything of value at the sale anyhow… it had all been carted off.

Oh yes, I’m sure you’ve heard that the man in charge of the Estate sale, appraiser/liquidator Art Rousseau, posted large blown-up copies of the great DMN piece by Lee Hancock on the front of the house. Estate sales can be a downer — hardest thing I have ever had to do was put my own beloved mother’s personal belongings out for sale. Watch strangers finger her trinkets and then try to whittle the price down. You keep telling yourself, this is just stuff. You think, what is it about people that makes them even want someone’s old pots and pans and then try to get you to sell them for 50 cents on the dollar? Maybe it’s just a greedy force we all possess because, after all, we are still here to fry an egg in those pans so we will keep on clawing till it’s our stuff out there on the card table.