>My Place & Yours….

>

….‘My Collection’.

a) Isn’t that just the best theme?!

b) How great is Kate for choosing it?

c) Are you playing along, with Pip?

d) Does “junk” in general count as a collection….?!

I love stuff.

We have an agreement, do stuff & I. It “is” & I collect it. All of it. I could fill this blog, day after day, post after post, with things I “collect”. I could bore – uh… entertain you, for hours, regaling you with stories of things I’ve “collected” in the past.

“Hoard” is perhaps a more…. fitting word. And I don’t rightly know why I do it. My Mother does it. My Gran does it. I don’t know fo’ sho’ but I’d bet my Great Grandmother did it.

Probably about the only time I’m grateful that we’ve moved so much these last few years is when I am trying to make a dent in the “clutter”. Each move saw me jettison various odds & ends that I thought I’d never be able to live without. Some of those things I don’t regret – like VHS tapes I couldn’t play, other things I do (I really, really do….) like my complete set of Frankie issues 1 – 14.

My collections seem to just creep up on me. I get a little something here, a little something there, and then, suddenly, there are too many somethings for it to be a coincidence any more.

Atari games.

Toys.

Handbags.

Hats.

Teapots.

Converse Sneakers.

Cookbooks.

Children’s Books.

Viewmasters.

Records.

Pyrex.

Pin Up Girls.

Board Games.

Anything Really.

I have always felt I was born too late. I feel I should have been living it up in the 50s, the 60s or the 70s at the very latest. As such I am drawn to anything old, anything vintage, anything “retro”. That is why I have rusting tins that used to contain sticky tape sitting around the house. That is why I have boxed opera binoculars sitting on my counter top and that is why I am going to die, without a doubt, under a pile of Australasian Post magazines that fall on my head when I’m 83.

Having said that – about being born too late – I do have a great love for a lot of things from my childhood & I have been squirreling so much of it away that one could perhaps stage an episode of ALF or Punky Brewster in my house without having to bring in many props.

I don’t think I could ever channel my energies into properly collecting anything, let alone one thing only. I can’t see me keeping anything in “mint” condition – I love to use everything I have & enjoy it (or now, in the case of the books & toys, let Punky enjoy them). Nor can I see me on an endless quest to find the perfect green Bakelite radio (although if I happened upon it, I wouldn’t say no…), or parting with too many dollars for it. I just LOVE going to an antiques & collectibles store & seeing half my house in there with price tags up to a hundred times more than I paid. I love seeing things that are (apparently) worth a small fortune that I picked up for $1 because I liked the look of it.

I just wouldn’t be able to commit to a one obsession obsession. There are too many gorgeous things, cute things, nostalgic things, NECESSARY things out there, to stick with just one….!

(………and don’t even get me started on RED things….)