Sunday, March 02, 2008

About a Wheel

The Friday before last I was on a hunt for Kumquat Pie to take with us for our weekly card night on Saturday (we're such party animals!). I parked my car on the edges of Hysterical Downtown Dade City (more antique shops than people) and headed for a shop that was rumoured to sell the creamy treats. It was about 20 minutes past five and as I approached I saw a woman collecting a sandwich board from the sidewalk. Since the board was in front of the store where I was going I assumed that the lady with the board would be able to assist me with my quest. Well, I was right . . . but not the way I'd thought. It turned out that the first store was actually closed and Penny, the sandwich board lady, was the proprietor of the antique shop next door. She told me where I could go for kumquat pie and, as I had to go past her store to get back to my car, I asked if, by any strange chance, she might have any spinning wheels in stock. Of course she did and I went in to take a look at it. The wheel was tucked away in a corner (evidently it's far too tempting for patrons children for it to be left in easy reach) and when I flipped the price tag I was shocked to see it was only $85. I guess my surprise showed because she hastily said "that price isn't firm". I smiled and said that I needed to think about it.
Upon my arrival home, I told Mathboy what I'd found, how much it was, that the price was negotiable, and made a point of saying how very crazy cheap it was even without bargaining. On Saturday, I mentioned it again and made Mathboy drive past the shop just so I could oh so very casually point it out. I'm sure I was about as subtle as a cast iron frying pan to the face.
Monday I was home sick (otherwise he would have been home before I finished work) and when Mathboy was on his way home he called and told me that he'd done some shopping and asked if I was feeling up to giving him a hand with his purchases. I was and when I heard him pull in I went outside. He popped the trunk on the car and went to grab the mail and when I lifted the trunk lid, there she was! He's a sneaky critter!
The wheel's going to need a fair amount of work before I can start spinning. At the very least I need to find a drive band and the whole wheel has got to be cleaned and oiled/polished. It's possible that the treadle requires replacing as there appears to be a crack or split along the length of the left side. There may or may not be other parts that I need to find as well so I think I'm going to wander down to Palm Harbor soonish and visit Uncommon Threads with the wheel and get some advice.