A few Thursdays ago I visited Lachine on a whim. It’s a neighbourhood I don’t go to often because it’s pretty far away, and because there are plenty of equally good neighbourhoods closer to home. I’ve only gone once before and didn’t find anything worth mentioning.
Still, Lachine is a nice place with lots of garbage potential, particularly the western section which is lined with charming 1950s suburban homes. The name Lachine has an funny story behind it. Way back in the late 1600s the area was owned by an explorer named Lasalle. He attempted to find a westward passage to China through the Great Lakes and failed miserably. He returned home only to be mocked by the locals who began referring to his land as “la chine” (China). The name stuck, at least according to lore. Don’t feel too bad for Lasalle though – there are plenty of other things named after him.
My whim paid off in a small way, as this one house produced some decent stuff that made the detour worthwhile.
The bags produced plenty of kitschy decorations and kitchenwares. I kept the old 60s Montreal mug at top left, but left the rest in a free box on the curb. Most was quickly taken by others.
Here’s more of that kitschy stuff, including a few old ashtrays and a ship in a bottle.
My favourite kitchenwares were a nice metal teapot and a Pyrex coffee pot / drink holder. They’ll make for good yard sale material.
I also found a few smaller items, including an old St Christopher medallion …
… and some scrap gold. Finding this is really what made my trip profitable – 3.2 grams of 10k gold adds up to an easy 55$.
I returned to that spot every Thursday night for the next few weeks but never saw anything on the curb. This pile, which I came across on my last trip contained a couple cool items.
This striking crucifix was inside one of the bags. It was a bit dirty but cleaned up nicely.
I also found this Catholic piece. I’m not sure what you’d call it, but it’s around 5″ tall and seems to made for the blessing of homes. The middle part says “Je benirai les maisons ou l’image de mon coeur sera exposée et honorée” (I will bless the homes where the image of my heart is exposed and honored).
These finds were interesting enough to make me consider going back to Lachine again this week. It’ll all depend on how I feel that night.
My Thursday night run also (at least for now) includes stops in Westmount, NDG, and Montreal West. It’s currently my most expansive route, and just goes to show how many different trash days I can visit at any given time. (And that’s not even the beginning – I can name a laundry list of other neighbourhoods that put their trash out at the same time).
I came across this radio in Montreal West, an affluent community west of NDG. I expect the previous owner was hoping someone would take it home.
The radio is actually pretty sweet. It’s a beautiful old Grundig Satellit 6000 that picks up AM, FM, long wave and short wave. It’s in pretty good shape and sounds terrific. The only issue is that the FM tuner doesn’t seem to work, which might be an easy enough fix. If so, I should be able to sell it for a decent amount. This one
I have two other spots on that route that have been producing great stuff of late. I’ll share that with you sometime in the near future.