Oh, I do love a theme, a motif, a color scheme, and a focal point. Each one makes everything so much easier. They also lead to Collecting. Here are three of
My Collections
1. Cows: As my veteran Readers know, I am almost preternaturally fond of Cows. I have been all of my life. It gives me great joy to be able to surround myself with them in my kitchen, which is cow-themed. What I am showing you is approximately one-tenth of my current Cow Collection. As many of you with Object Fondnesses know, once you express that Fondness, people start giving you tons of tchochkes in that realm. I have garage-saled dozens and dozens of Cow Items, and I still have more not on display. Here are a couple of photos of my Cowful Kitchen.
2. Books and Special Wine Bottles: I have some very, very old books. Some were my husband's grandparents' from school. Others were from an insurance restoration job that Rick was the project manager for ages ago. He saw they were being discarded and brought them home for me. They are nineteenth century primers and sermonettes, among others. One is a leather-bound collection of Tennyson with a handpainted cover.
We also save the bottles from wines that we especially loved and found to be incredibly excellent. If it knocks one out of the collection, then that bottle is retired. We have the bottles on the dining room table amongst some of the old books and some candlesticks and other objects of significance. Other bottles are on our mantel among still more old books, and a few more decorate a breakfront in the living room and bookshelves there where even more books reside. Here's a photo of my dining room table.
3. High Heels: I had a terrific (and extensive) professional shoe wardrobe during my teaching career. My students always checked out my shoes every day, and I loved my high heels. There was simply not an outfit for which I did not have a perfect pair of shoes. Sadly, they now live upstairs in the back of my husband's big closet, like the wing of a Nance Museum. I know I should donate them or, in some cases, just toss them, but I can't bring myself to do it. Here's a sample of my Teacher Shoes.
I had to stop with those few. The cats were starting to climb around back there and at one point, I pulled out yet another work boot of Rick's. How many old pairs of work boots can one person have? (Yes, I'm hearing the irony in that remark, but really, it's not the same thing at all.)
What are some things you collect or have collected? Or, how do you feel about Collections?
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I love your collections Nance. Your cow kitchen is adorable, of course I love the book and wine bottle collection, and your shoe collection is amazing! I collect vintage Pyrex from the 50s and 60s, and vintage Florida salt and pepper shakers. I also have a nice collection of beach finds. That's about it these days.
ReplyDeleteMartha--Thank you. I have a galley-style kitchen, and there is more, but you're seeing my garden window above my sink and my little breakfast nook.
DeleteThe big drawback of having my dining table full like that is having to take all that stuff off whenever we have to use it! The table is from my grandmother, and it opens to accommodate three leaves in addition to the drop sides, which are folded down.
I bet your salt and pepper shaker collection is a lot of fun. Florida has always been such a tourist mecca, and S&P shakers were great souvenirs. I hope you share some over at your site one day soon.
I seem o collect real live cats. :)
ReplyDeleteyarn too
Are any of those shoes Pappagallos? my mom loved them and now my daughter finds them on line on eBay .
kathy b--No, no Pappagallos. I wore some back when I was in high school. My graduation shoes were Pappagallos.
DeleteI have a yarn stash, like all knitters do, but I don't consider that a Collection, for some reason. I guess because I don't look at it all the time and it will be put to use to be something else.
I love your collections, and would really enjoy hanging out in your kitchen! I collect a lot of animal themed things, and have collections of decorations (from a few to A LOT) for various holidays. As a subset, I have a collection that is very special to me of things related to the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer show.
ReplyDeleteBridget--Thank you! You are welcome anytime, and I think we'd have a lovely day together.
DeleteI always loved that particular Christmas special as a child. As I got older, I appreciated it in a different way, and my sister and I always used to yell "Ready, Santa!" in the same way that Rudolph did whenever we got in the car to go anyplace.
And just last night, Rick and I were commenting about how the Santa in that show wasn't very nice. Rick said, "If I was Rudolph, I'd tell Santa 'forget it.' That Santa was a dick."
(I had no idea he felt so strongly. We won't discuss it again. LOL)
That Santa WAS a dick. He only accepted Rudolph when he needed him. That’s some serious B.S. right there. I love that Christmas special, we have it on DVD, and every time we watch it I am struck anew at Santa’s selfishness.
DeleteJ--LOL LOL! This is why I LOVE MY COMMENT SECTION!
DeleteDee--Those red plaid shoes are ones I miss wearing the most. They are show-stoppers. I'm so glad you love them, too.
ReplyDeletePez dispensers! How fun. And there are so many of them! I'm glad your collection is making someone else happy.
I have a stash of yarn, too, (like every knitter), but I didn't even think of it when writing this post. I guess I made that distinction in my head.
Books. I collect books the way forest trees collect moss. Your shoes are amazing. I admire women who can and do wear heels and walk with confidence in them, looking splendid. As I am sure you did and do.
ReplyDeleteMary--You and me both, as they say. I keep buying books, and when I run out of room, I load up a box and donate them to the library's huge twice yearly sale. And still, my shelves are stacked two deep, spines out, and some lying horizontally in front of those!
DeleteThank you for the compliments on my shoes and my supposed appearance in them. Heels or no, I walked with confidence and still do. Luckily, I was raised that way.
My feet hurt just looking at your shoes!!! Love your dining table - displayed with books and wine bottles (two of my favorite things, though I prefer bottles WITH wine in them - lol). We have a number of vintage books as well - books that were my Grandfather's. I think/hope that Colin wants them.
ReplyDeleteVera--Oh gosh, you'd have died wearing those Franco Sartos. The heels are about 3.5 inches. But I loved wearing them. They were honestly very comfortable.
DeleteThanks for appreciating my dining table display. It's a pain to put back together when we've used the table for actual dining, but I love the look.
I prefer full bottles as well, and our cellar is so diminished because of this pandemic. It did not take long to drink it down this year!
I try not to collect anything. Our house is too small and there is no room for anything. We have a couple of cool old books that we bought at used bookstores, I have some things that I inherited from my mom and grandma and Great Aunt...people sometimes give me Smokey Bear things, but I resist because I love MY Smokey and do not want a collection.
ReplyDeleteI love your cows, your books and wine bottles, and your shoes. Oh gosh, I miss wearing shoes like those, too. And I love how far screw top wines have come, that I spied a couple of bottles in your collection of keepers!
J--That's where I am right now. We have a small house as it is. My collections are at a standstill; I'm not adding to any of them. And, it won't hurt my feelings too terribly much to downsize them in the not too far future. (Okay, the shoes, but I WILL STAY STRONG.)
DeleteI had no idea of your attachment to Smokey Bear. I feel another blogpost from you is in order to address that. ;-)
Thank you for appreciating my Collections. And for sharing my loss with my shoe wardrobe. Sigh.
I'm a fan of screw tops for wines, especially those that aren't meant to age. Yes, there is that wonderful ritual of uncorking the bottle and all, but screw tops are a more reliable preserver of wine. Whites especially do really well with screw tops, I think.
One of my keepers was a grenache from Selby, a winery I visited in Sonoma when I was in Cali with Mikey. Owned and operated entirely by women. I love women winemakers. They always pay attention to the nose in wine, which I really appreciate.
I am not a shoe person, but I adore your shoes! I could never wear the pointy-toed shoes as much as I wanted to because my feet are just too wide at the top for them to feel comfortable. (At least in my size, which is 5 1/2, and very difficult to find any kind of variety in any case.)
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Spain, I fell in love with ceramics, especially Talavera. I collected them from various cities, but my favorite place where I always took visitors to Madrid was this jewel of a store: https://tinyurl.com/y2hjfr8w
I collected very special plates mostly. When I had to move back to the States, I very carefully wrapped them in bubble wrap and hand carried them in two bags onto the plane. The cabin crew was very sympathetic and let me put one in the overhead and another under my seat. Everything thankfully made the two-flight journey back with no breakage. They now adorn the walls and various corners of the house. Mr. O. likes super modern deco, but he puts up with it because he knows how much I love them. I have a full set of dinner plates that are actually meant to be hung on a wall, but I keep those in a cupboard and use them on special occasions for dining.
Ortizzle--You have dainty feet. I wear an 8.5 or 9. Both your feet would fit in my shoes! You know, I'm not sure if the really pointy toes are even in style anymore. I wouldn't care; I'd wear my now-vintage shoe wardrobe anyway.
DeleteThanks for the link to the pottery store. Wow! It's a feast for the eyes. So many beautiful and intricate designs. But how does anyone walk in there without being terrified of breaking things? I can see why you'd personally oversee your plates in transit. The ceramics from that store are spectacular.
And I love that you use your plates. I think we should make the most of our lifetime treasures IN our lifetime.
My husband collects hourglasses. I collect wooden boxes. That being said, we both stopped adding to our collections years ago. At a certain point, for us, enough was enough. We also have a large collection of jigsaw puzzles, but that's more by accident than by design.
ReplyDeleteAlly Bean--Those are interesting collections. I have some very small wooden chests/trunks, and I have one hourglass.
DeleteI've stopped adding to my old book, high heel, and cow collections too. As you said, enough is enough. I never tire of seeing real cows, ever. But I don't want any more cow doodads.
I know so many people who love putting together puzzles. I'm not one of them, even the digital app kind. That leaves more for you!
I have a collection of over 200 Santa's. Over 100 witches. Shoes, clothes, nail polish, holiday cups for every holiday, stuffed animals and one more...everything GWTW (from books to biographies of all the characters except for Ashley...haven't found one...ornaments, portraits, china figurines, music box and more). Oh and Ruby glass.
ReplyDeleteAnni--Wow! Where the heck do you put all this stuff?
DeleteI fell in love with GWTW in my teens. I used to read the book every summer for the longest time, and it started my fixation with Clark Gable. My mother is a huge GWTW fan, too. She quotes Scarlett all the time.
My Romantic poetry professor had his foyer remodeled to look exactly like Tara's. Needless to say, he was a huge fan as well.
I always thought Leslie Howard was a terrible choice for Ashley. Why would Scarlett ever fall for *him*?
I think at this point my yarn IS a collection because instead of using any of it I buy new yarn for new projects. Ha!
ReplyDeleteBug--In that case, your yarn isn't a collection, it's an ADDICTION!
ReplyDeleteI collect penguins, although mostly I don't get new ones anymore. I think I might need this Opus though - ha! My mother used to buy me Thomas Clark gnomes, so I have a collection of those.
ReplyDeleteI could probably actually use the middle pair of shoes in your bottom picture. But could I walk in them? Anyway - don't need those actual shoes because I wear a 7 currently. Thirty years ago I wore a 6. Sigh.
Bug--Those are the highest heels I own. Very teetery. But no, you couldn't wear them due to your small feet.
DeleteIt sounds like most of us have stopped feeding our Collections. After a while, I think the Thrill Of The Hunt leaves us, you know?
You certainly DO love cows; so very cute. I've never thought about saving wine bottles; but that does make sense and I like to reminisce about a particular wine and how it was shared with friends on a special occasion.
ReplyDeleteSHOES!! I love them and wish I could wear pretty heels like yours here; so lovely.
I've been gifted all things bees over the years, and more recently all things butterflies. I still haven't figured out how people know I enjoy both of those. ;)
Suz--Just last night, Rick and I shared a particularly terrific bottle of petit verdot that we didn't even know we had left in the cellar. We were overjoyed, and it paired beautifully with the dinner I had prepared. It definitely knocked a bottle off the table in our collection.
DeleteThanks for appreciating my shoes. I miss wearing them so much.
I do like little bumblebees. Not enough to start a new collection,but they are so charming. Your collection would certainly make me smile.