Thrifting Fun!

There was a brief half hour or so today when the teeming rain slackened off to a drizzle. Seizing the opportunity for some fresh air, we bundled the children up and ventured out to the shops. We are so blessed to have a high street that is not only interesting to look around but useful in terms of the practical everyday sort of shops it offers. And charity shops, six of them incredibly enough. One has recently opened opposite the supermarket we visit, making trips there much more fun and today we scooped up these treasures:

The Jungle Book and Other Stories by Rudyard Kipling (unabridged too!)
Mr Little's Noisy Train by Richard Fowler
The Valley Palate & Second Helpings From The Valley Palate by The Long Valley Area Junior Women's Club

The recipe books are a wonderful find. How did recipe books from Hackettstown and Mt Olive New Jersey come to be in a charity shop in Kent? I want to know the story! They are beautifully bound and presented with old photographs and little articles about the history of the local area too. I googled the Long Valley Women's Club and they certainly seem a very active group of ladies.

Isaac picked up the train book and it really is a delight. It is a 'lift the flap' book with, miraculously all the flaps intact! It has wonderful illustrations of the inside of the engine and train with all the details labelled, to the great joy of my train obsessed little boy (Rob was pretty impressed too!). The back cover gives you an idea:

We couldn't leave without this addition to our family:

Elisha picked him up and could not be parted from him. We rarely find beautiful vintage treasures in our local charity shops but we have picked up some wonderful, useful, moneysaving items. Our wardrobes would be much the emptier without them. And thrifting is such fun. I do like that word 'thrifting' although sadly, as we call them 'charity' and not 'thrift' shops the use of it is usually met with a blank stare!