Sometimes being a collector is about more than 'things'. The things, items, objects or whatever, I collect are my way of filling my environment with reminders of what I value. Not material value in this case but what I consider success - being happy, loving, and enjoying living. Looking at beautiful reminders of the lives others have enjoyed makes me feel I am perpetuating past happiness. An old chipped teacup has been kept for 100 or more years for a reason. Happy or emotional memories are linked to every old bit in my home..why else weren't these things discarded long ago?
Besides 'things', I enjoy pets. I love creating an environment where they are happy and free to express their natural behaviours. Silkie hens are driven to breed and mother...I let them do that to their hearts content and our little family reaps the cute benefits.
Most, probably 70%, of the furniture I own is secondhand or found as giveaways during the Brisbane city council roadside clean-up weeks. I love that I can find beauty in the discarded. It might be cheap or free but it is in my mind definitely not without value.
Some are old family pieces. Nothing of intrinsic value but all treasure to me. I wish furniture and homewares could tell their stories. Recently my house gave me a couple of clues to its past. We removed a wall between the lounge and dining. Wedged under the skirting boards were these scraps of the past. A Xmas gift tag to uncle Bill, and a cigarette card featuring an Australian cricketer from the 1920s. Makes me want to rip all the skirting boards out! I want more of that little thrill.
Even my plants are found items! Most everything is from cuttings I find in neglected yards. Anything which thrives on being ignored for the most part is the plant for me.
Here is my lovely ivy (grown from a sprig in a found pot) on an old garden chair collected on the footpath....one man's trash...
These plants are all grown from cuttings. I use random containers, far more interesting than regular pots.
I even get adrenaline rushes for free. I found the creep in the last pic in the kitchen recently. Screee!
I took a video of this guy once I'd caught him. He's bigger than he looks in the photo. He lives behind the shed now. I hope!
