The Fixer's Offering

When I lived in Hilton, New York each year we had a spring and a fall Bulky Pickup Day. Because you never knew exactly which day the truck would come around, everyone would put out at the curb for weeks ahead any items they no longer wanted, anything from old appliances to broken furniture to just plain junk.

Those of us with a fascination for other people's stuff would cruise slowly past these piles and sometimes stop to snatch off the pile an item we simply couldn't believe they would throw away. I have a dainty little chair, for example, that I rescued one year and reupholstered. One person's junk is clearly another one's treasure.

Anyway, back then there was also a handyman who cruised the Bulky Pickup piles and reclaimed broken appliances, refurbishing them and selling them in his little store, The Fixer's Offerings. This lovely little shop was the epitome of the recycling ethic. Both my favorite waffle iron and this juicer came from The Fixer's Offerings, relics of an age where anything that could be electrified was.

I don't haul the juicer out for every juicing job - it's easy enough to squeeze the occasional lemon by hand - but when I have all these oranges and I'm having so much fun trying new ways to use them, the juicer has pride of place on my counter. It's noisy and quirky but it has a certain homely charm and I love that it continues to work uncomplainingly despite its venerable age. Whoever threw this one out jettisoned a treasure. Thank you, Mr. Fixer, wherever you are!