'Dead people's things'

A couple years ago we went to see Crystal Bowersox at Smokin’ Hot Chicks Barbecue in Fairport which has since closed.

Crystal, runner up on American Idol about a decade ago, serves as her own manager, selling tickets on Eventbrite, driving her own van and even working her own merch table.

Anyway, “Dead People’s Things” is a Bowersox song about living in a home filled with things she purchased at estate sales. My wife Beth and I shop at estate sales all the time. Our finds, over the years, have come to decorate every room in our house. I thought of that when Jay Burney recently reminisced about Gerry Rising, the late naturalist and Buffalo News columnist.

I loved Rising’s work, and his wit.

A few years ago, Beth and I went to a Williamsville estate sale on the 3rd day. I filled a bag with nature books, everyone with a label on the front "Richard J. Christensen, 9 Brookside Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221"

The first one I grabbed off the shelf just now, shelved next to Bruce Kershner's "Secret Places", was "Guide to Natural History of the Niagara Region" a 1991 book by J.C. Lewis. It contains a folded, undated Buffalo News clipping from Rising warning about the advance of swallow wort, and invasive species, as well as a few other clippings.

Christensen did that with his books. Everyone seemed to have interesting clippings saved inside, even more interesting than the book. He was Rising's counterpart from the Courier and I read his work as a teenager. At the back end of the home, overlooking Ellicott Creek, I picked up a worn pair of Swift binoculars.

I took them outside and looked at the trees and added them to our purchase. They were $4, (half off $8), no lens caps or case but obviously well-loved. No one had recognized how special they were. I like them better than the more expensive Celestron binoculars we bought a few years ago, especially because of the provenance.

We also spent $2 on a Linc Nutting photo of a puffin eating smelt. Nutting was a renowned wildlife photographer, since passed, who lived on Grand Island.

Guys like Art Klein, Christensen, Kershner and Rising deserve to be celebrated as does Jay Burney.

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