Yesterday I was in a cleaning frenzy, and I got the idea to host this contest:

What is the most incredibly wonderful, but basically, utterly useless vintage whatever that you found this year?

For me: 11 feet of wax paper, for Ranch House Enriched White Bread. I just had to have it (from ebay), even though I have no idea what to do with it.

So, everyone: Make me feel better by assuring that you, too, appreciate wonderful yet useless items from our past for their simple beauty. I read recently, in fact, that our culture identifies “art” by the fact that it is “purposeless.” That is, it is beautiful for beauty’s sake. My bread wrappers…with no contemporary purpose…are art, and you must have some, too!

Send me your jpegs and your story — and I will post as many as I can. The contest runs through Dec. 31. If the web guru and I can figure out how to install a “poll,” everyone can vote for the final winner. If not, I will be queen and choose.

Email your entries to: pam@retrorenovation.com

The prize: hmmmmm. I haven’t figured that out yet. It’ll be something good, most likely useless but wonderful.