Little treasures! (My entry for #treasurefinds)

This is my description of some little treasures that my older daughter found for the rest of her family on a recent trip to Australia, when she was shopping at a Salvation Army op-shop with one of her aunts. This is for the #treasurefinds tag and contest being hosted by Hive account@riverflows.

In the Netherlands, there is a very strong culture of second-hand stores (kringloop)... and if you drop by the kringlopen in the more affluent suburbs, you can find some some pretty damn nice stuff! Plus, there is also a large expat community in the Den Haag area, so every year, you have families relocating to a new work location (apparently, they need to do this every five years or they are considered resident and they lose huge work perks...)... which also contributes to a large turnover of second hand furniture and other things that would be scrap for the cream of the global elite, but is quite nice for bottom grubbers like us!

In addition, there is also the yearly Koningsdag, where the whole of Netherlands comes out to celebrate the Kings/Queens birthday by turning the whole country in to a gigantic flea market! Anyway, my children have grown up in this sort of culture of reuse... adn they really want to set up their own little stall next Koningsdag to sell their old toys to get some money to spend at the older kid's stalls for new second hand toys!

Okay... now I'm a little off track at the moment... I was writing to show off a few little treasures that my oldest girl found when she visited a Salvation Army op-shop in Australia (we were there in August visiting family...) with one of her aunts. Interestingly enough, she didn't buy anything for herself but she did get something for each of her other family members!

First up, she got a little poesje (pussy-cat) for her little sister... because she knew that our little one was missing the neighbourhood cat! Well, I wasn't missing the neighbourhood cat quite so much... as we often find him running through our house and up and down the stairs when we leave the back door open... he really is the king of the local neighbourhood... but our girls really like playing with him, and so there was a little soft toy for the little one!

Second up, a nice (but a touch tacky....) ceramic dish for my wife! My wife is always looking for nice crockery to flesh out our collection.... and I guess the two of them have been out "shopping" the second hand stores often enough together for my daughter to realise that crockery would be the best treasure find for my wife! I guess in the end, it is kind of nice... definitely it will see some use when visitors come around.. or when I just need to put out an afternoon snack for the kids!

Last up, a 2018 Star Wars year book for me! Now, there is no gentle way to say this... I'm a complete nerd... and I love my Sci-fi ... and of course, I'm a Star Wars tragic! Now, I liked it much better before Disney got it's grubby hands on it, as they decided to wipe out the previous extended universe and canon of the games and books... so, I've had more than a bit of trouble adapting to the new Star Wars Universe that is now the official canon. Still, I'm warming to it... but I do prefer the older grittier version... but that time is past, and this is now the way of the future. The book is great though... unfortunately, the previous owner has done some of the puzzles and quizzes in the book... and did it in pen... poop!

So, these were the treasures that my daughter found at the op-shop... they aren't treasures in the market sense of the word, but they are valuable and appreciated by the people that they were found for... and so, they are perhaps a more real treasure than gold and jewels! (but I wouldn't turn those down either!).