Connections, collections and celebrations

One of the delights of blogging for me is the opportunity it gives for seeing connections and making links, as a way of celebrating what interests or pleases me. Let me tell you what has been going on while I drank a cup of tea in bed after breakfast:

I was thinking about a wonderful blog I found recently which has reanimated my interest in antiques and bric-a-brac. I recommend a visit to Corey's website if you share this interest. She has a wonderful eye for the visual impact of detail, and brings imagination to her pictures to create a story behind them. Looking through her section on French Antiques, I thought what a fabulous coffee table book it would make; or equally, in paperback, one to take into hospital and dip into, during those short-attention hours spent recovering from major surgery.

Inspired, I got up and began searching for some old photos which I knew I had taken of my collection of cows. This is only some of a collection I began in my 20s, starting with Staffordshire pottery cow creamers, but moving on to any cow figure (not bulls!) in any material. The collection includes cows in pottery, brass, pewter, silver, clay, wood, soapstone, animal skin, papier mache, and even candle wax. But I have never been able to find either a gold or a glass one.




In the same album was a picture taken by my brother at my aunt's house in 1981, after she died, just before we began to clear the house. This brought me full circle back to Corey's website and one of her entries in her French Antiques section - collections of small items gathered safely together in large glass apothecary's jars. My aunt's collection was housed in an old dentist's instrument cabinet, which gave a marvellous all-round view of her items, like the big jars do. If you visit Corey's jars you will see the similarities in their display. My aunt's collection inspired me to make a similar one, about which I have written here before.

And so, after a day of musing, remembering, searching, scanning, editing, writing, composing and uploading, here is my celebration: of my own continuing interest in antiques; of my beloved aunt’s artistic eye and her love of small and beautiful items both collected and 'found'; and of Corey’s website with which I have fallen in love. What a day of blessings, not the least of which is, that I have the time to do all this when the spirit moves me!