THE BOOK

There are not a lot of words to describe this scrap book we bought at auction Monday. It was on table 11, the last table to be aucitoned, and judging by the thinning crowd it could have gone for $5 ... or for a lot more. Either way I felt I had to have it.

The disconcerting thing about auctions is that when you really want something - someone else may want it more than you do. Like that Toucan needlepoint in September. It's always a gamble, and sometimes you lose.

So anyway around 10 pm on monday night, with a heart racing and weak knees, I started bidding against a stranger on this scrapbook. Afterwards, loading out loot out to the car, I passed him on the stairs explaining the bidding war to his wife. She had wanted it and was upset. He referred to me as 'this lady' and I felt sort of bad. Well, not really that bad. It's a treasure, and I love it.