Yard sales

I go to yard sales almost every Saturday. I go for specific items and sometimes I find them, other times I don't. What I also find, without fail, is a person or three selling their sewing machine and their sewing "stuff."
This year alone, I've purchased a Featherweight (Singer) and an Elna at yard sales. Combined, I spent less than $50 on those two machines. I had the Featherweight serviced and it's running like new. The Elna came running like a top. Both were machines of the person having the sale's mothers. It makes me wonder where mom is, why isn't she sewing anymore, and why the daughters didn't want to keep the machines and do some sewing of their own. Are people too busy now? Do they see sewing as a chore? Was it something they saw their moms do that seemed like work and not pleasure?
That's our secret - sewing is very much a pleasure. It's the thing *I* do - and I love the time I spend with my machine. Nancy, of Nancy's Notions and Sewing with Nancy, said to sew something every day. I believe it was suggested that even if it was only 5 minutes, try to sew something every day. I do try, but some days, I just don't make it.
Back to the yard sales! Today, like every other Saturday, I rummaged through a box of this and that - rick-rack, snaps, old threads, snips, hooks and eyes, ribbons, laces, and untold other treasures. There were two more sewing baskets next to this box, but I didn't go through those. I just knew I would end up buying it all and trying to figure out what to do with it, and my budget today didn't include sewing items. But as I handled the items in the box, I wondered what project this and that were from. I wondered who bought them and how they saved the money to do so. I wondered why the daughter of that someone was now selling these items and didn't she see the value? I'd say that she didn't. She probably didn't sew a stitch herself, and there are more people like that than I'll ever know.
I guess the bottom line is, sewing just isn't everyone's thing! Go figure.
My license plate says I <3 SEWING (the <3 is really an upright heart that I painted with borrowed fingernail polish!). I get comments all the time from people and today, an older woman got a kick out of it. She was at the same yard sale. When I left, she was going through the very same box of sewing supplies.
Yard sales are a treasure trove of notions and fabrics, and sewing machines. It's a truly frugal outing and sometimes, just sometimes, you can pick up a piece of sewing history and make something new and beautiful with it.
P.S. I've never bought rick-rack new. I've been fortunate enough to pick up a box full here and there at yard sales!