My Collections

I've asked to hear about your collections for The Write-Away Contest this month and maybe I'm kidding myself but I thought this was rather a fun topic--people always like to talk about their hobbies and collections and things like that so I'm going to subject you to some of my collections.

1. Pens. Yes, I'm a pen collector. Not just any pens though--they've got to either a rollerball or a really cool retractable ballpoint. I prefer thicker, blue lines but if the design is good enough I'll make do with black. But no matter how many pens I collect in my kitchen drawer somehow they seem to disappear so that when I'm taking down a message I can never find a pen when I need one. Andrew says he's not the one making off with them--I wonder who it could be?

2. Kids. The Mystery of the Disappearing Pens brings me to item number two on the list of things I collect: children. So far I've got four--though if you count the neighborhood children that can be found here at any given time during the summer hours my collection seems much larger. I guess you'd say I get most of my collection on loan.

3. Pots. Each year at Northern Lights Elementary the children make pots as gifts. Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day--each holiday the children make a clay pot for Mom and Dad and bring it home wrapped in colored tissue paper tied with a yarn bow. When Grace brought her first one home I was thrilled but three holidays a year multiplied by three children makes a total of 376 clay pots--what's a Mom to do with all that pottery? I have pots coming out my ears and there are only so many ear ring dishes a woman needs. I have pots for gold ear rings, pots for silver ear rings, pots for pearl ear rings, pots for books of matches, pots for dust.. I ought to open up my own Etsy store if I could only part with one of them.

4. Bracelets. Speaking of jewelry, I'm partial to bracelets and have a few. A silver one my mother brought home from a trip to Mexico, a silver charm bracelet, a pearl bracelet from Andrew, a bracelet made from the beads of my great-grandmother's necklace, a sproingy pearl bracelet my children bought me one year for Mother's Day that I'll still wear when I'm feeling motherly.

5. Soundtracks. I like background music while I'm typing or working on a project and movie soundtracks are great for this. My favorites? Well you can read about those here if you want a detailed list, if you want the basics I'm listening to random selections from Lord of the Rings, Master and Commander, Out of Africa and Lewis and Clark and others. Anyone heard any good ones lately that I can add?

6. Pillows. My husband accuses me of trying to drown our bed in pillows. I'm not sure what that means but he doesn't seem to hold the same opinion that more is better when it comes to pillows. I want to recline in comfort, with pillows at my beck and call, and as I'm the one changing the sheets around here I don't see that he has any reason to complain. How many do I have right now? Oh, hard to say, but let's just say if I decided to open a bed and breakfast I wouldn't have to buy any pillows, I'd be fully stocked. Any problems with that? Good.

7. Vases. I kind of like vases--it started with my husband's very first gift to me. I should make this a separate post and maybe I still will later but it's a great story . . . it used to be if I ever told it to anyone (well, any woman) they'd actually get teary from the effects. Of course now I've built it up so you're probably thinking, "Yea, go ahead, try me. I won't cry--it can't possibly be that good--" but here goes:

Christmas 1991 was our first Christmas together as a couple and we'd been dating seriously for a month or so and as I was getting ready to leave for the airport to go home for the holidays Andrew gave me my Christmas gift. It was a small long box and when I opened it it was a Lennox porcelain vase with tiny rosebuds on it, really a beautiful little thing and I was impressed with how pretty and delicate it was and that he'd been thoughtful enough to find something so feminine. He told me how he'd been combing the stores for days trying to come up with just the perfect Christmas gift and that he'd thought and thought and thought and finally when he walked by a shop window and saw the vase he knew what he wanted to get me for Christmas. He wanted to get me that vase. . . and then he pulled out a red rose and said that the vase was for the rose and that he wanted to tell me that he loved me.

Yea, it was good. Of course, he's grumbled since then that he struck gold the first time and that ever since then he's been up against the Perfect Gift and that he'll never be able to top it. There's a certain amount of truth in what he says, but regardless, it was a great gift and he's wonderful.

And I've got a few more vases since then--a Chinese enameled vase on a pedestal, a silver Turkish ewer, a Waterford vase from Ireland--my mother has traveled and brings back wonderful additions for my collection.

8. Herbs. Inside there's myrtle and cinnamon basil, in the garden there's chives, woolly thyme and achillea, on the deck in pots are marjoram, oregano, lemon balm, lemon grass, hyssop, dill, anise, cilantro, rosemary, parsley, thyme, curry, tarragon, pineapple sage, English lavender and French lavender and sage. I'm ready for any and all culinary eventualities.

9. Bruises. I'm afraid I have rather pale skin. Well, rather white skin. Okay, really white--as in "I could blend into a snow storm white"--and as such I bruise easily. Don't even look at my legs because at any given time I'll have one or two. Bruises that is, not legs. Well, yes I'll have two legs too but I meant bruises. Whew! One little vague pronoun reference and I'm toast.

10. Coins. It's not as if I collect coins seriously, cataloging and recording each specimen but I have a large wooden box that I made in junior high wood shop class where I keep coins from around the world. If my parents or friends go to another country they'll bring back coins from their travels. Mostly from Europe and Asia, I don't have any from Africa, Australia or Indonesia/Malaysia and only a couple from South America. The ones that are the most unusual are the two I have from China that are thousands of years old and the one I have from the Caribbean that was dredged from the wreck of a sunken 19th century ship. I think what makes coins so interesting is that they go from person to person, carried in pockets and bags and piggy banks and hold so much culture in such a tiny package.

11. Home improvement projects. Our house was built in the late 1970s and has plenty of things that need updating or repairing. In general it's in good working order and now that we've remodeled the kitchen and living room things look pretty modern but I've always got a list of things to do in the future. Next? To enlarge the kids' rooms and redo the outside of the house, with some modern siding and glass decking then new bathrooms (there are three) and remodeling the family room. Yes, it never ends but it's very satisfying to feel as if the house looks better than when we purchased it six years ago. We've put in new landscaping, converted the gigantor shed in the backyard into a playhouse for the kids, painted, replaced the garage door, replaced the windows (including two sliding glass doors), replaced the light fixtures and replaced the flooring everywhere but the bedrooms. Pretty soon it'll be like the bionic man--very cool and nothing left of the original.

12. Purses. I won't say too much more of this for fear of wearing your patience out on the subject but here is one I made from a crocheted paper placemat and one made from weaving pink ribbons together. I really need to open my own Etsy shop.

13. Used hardback books. I only buy used hardbacks, and the older the better, there's something about reading a book that someone else has owned and marked that pleases me. I'll often find things like, "To Jim from Mom and Dad, Christmas 1935" written in the front or notes scribbled in the margins. In one book I found an old black and white photo, once used as a bookmark but left for me to find 50 years later.

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