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A lovely gesture (get Kleenex handy)
May. 13th, 2007 08:33 pmI'll do a longer post at some point, but wanted to get this out here before I forget it/get bogged down in the regular day.
Our UU church had a Talent and Treasure Auction last night as a fundraiser. (No, for those of you who remember my asking what I should have as a minimum bid, NOBODY bid on my rototiller/composted horse manure service!)
There was a really lovely floor lamp with Arts & Crafts style glass shades, five in all, which could be arranged at different levels -- and even with a dimmer switch! -- that someone had offered. I was interested in it, and so was Alison, my minister. We joked about our competition, but looking at it, I realized that it was too big for my smallish living room, but would be perfect for hers, especially with its cathedral ceiling. So I decided not to bid.
The bidding began, and Alison had the first bid. Another person, M, an elderly, rather curmudgeonly widow who is a longtime member of the church, bid against her. The bidding war kept going. I was surprised, because I have been in M's house and the lamp didn't seem to match her decor, but then, she has moved into a new place and may just want to redecorate.
I watched Alison and her husband confer about the price of the lamp as the bidding went up. She finally dropped out. The price was more than she could afford.
Edit: We're not talking small change, here. The value of the lamp was $179, the minimum bid was $75.
Guess what? At the end of the evening, without any fanfare (I may be the only one who knows this -- sssshhh! -- M *gave the lamp to Alison.* She'd been bidding with this purpose all along. I think the final bid was around $110.
Our UU church had a Talent and Treasure Auction last night as a fundraiser. (No, for those of you who remember my asking what I should have as a minimum bid, NOBODY bid on my rototiller/composted horse manure service!)
There was a really lovely floor lamp with Arts & Crafts style glass shades, five in all, which could be arranged at different levels -- and even with a dimmer switch! -- that someone had offered. I was interested in it, and so was Alison, my minister. We joked about our competition, but looking at it, I realized that it was too big for my smallish living room, but would be perfect for hers, especially with its cathedral ceiling. So I decided not to bid.
The bidding began, and Alison had the first bid. Another person, M, an elderly, rather curmudgeonly widow who is a longtime member of the church, bid against her. The bidding war kept going. I was surprised, because I have been in M's house and the lamp didn't seem to match her decor, but then, she has moved into a new place and may just want to redecorate.
I watched Alison and her husband confer about the price of the lamp as the bidding went up. She finally dropped out. The price was more than she could afford.
Edit: We're not talking small change, here. The value of the lamp was $179, the minimum bid was $75.
Guess what? At the end of the evening, without any fanfare (I may be the only one who knows this -- sssshhh! -- M *gave the lamp to Alison.* She'd been bidding with this purpose all along. I think the final bid was around $110.
