Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The Pursuit of Passion . . . and Possibly Salt and Pepper Shakers.

Back in July, I read an interesting article by Maura Rhodes in Parade Magazine called "Robots, Gnomes and Beatniks - Oh My!" about people who collect things.  One person collects desk service bells. Another, exotic beads. An eight-year-old boy is really into garden gnomes. 

My Dad collected salt and pepper shakers. They were on shelves all over the house. He would buy them at garage sales. People would bring ones back from trips. Some were from my grandparents' time. My sister and I rolled our eyes and teased him, saying when he died we'd have a fistfight over who would get them. That didn't happen, of course. (Although I could take her. If I had to. Just saying.) But some came home with me, just as a keepsake. I don't think I'll start collecting them myself, but I guess you never know.

After all, my Dad didn't collect salt and pepper shakers until he was older. I don't know why he started when he did and why this particular thing. A lot of people in the article seemed to get started almost by accident. The person with the service bells originally bought one as a gift then ended up keeping it. The boy with the gnomes discovered them at an environmental center.

I don't really collect anything. Sure, I've got lots of books, tons of seashells, more beads and crafty things than I know what to do with, but none are true collections. I'm missing out! I want that passion, that drive, so many collectors have. I want to go on a hunt! 

Hmm, maybe I'll pull out those salt and pepper shakers, give them another look . . . .

*****

Do you collect anything? What do you collect? Why? Do you enjoy the hunt? How about your characters? Are they big collectors of anything? What do you think it says about them? 

40 comments:

  1. What?!? You have a collection of stories lodged in your brain. You collect stories, and ideas, and interactions from the world around you. I can't imagine a better thing to collect. (Because that's what I collect too.)

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    1. Oh, I love that, Crystal! Thank you!

      And the stuff in my brain doesn't collect dust...er, um.... :)

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  2. I collect dog figurines and paintings.

    My best friend collects salt and pepper shakers, but she had to stop. She ran out of room!

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    1. I notice my husband and I are receiving more turtle-related items - fun! - but I'm thinking that's really more the tortoises' collection than ours. :)

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  3. I'm not much of a collector. Do guitars count?

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  4. I come from a family of collectors. Seems everyone has their thing- all but me. I'm like you. I think all of our energy and devotion is to make-believe collections. We collect stories.

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    1. Crystal's comment from earlier totally made me feel better about my own "imaginary" collection, and I can see there are a lot of us out there. :)

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  5. I don't collect anything, but my sister accidentally ended up with a 'sheep' collection. She had a couple of ornaments that she liked, and for her birthday one year, a friend who'd seen the two sheep bought her another. Then my mum bought something else, and it grew - lots of different sheep related things. And then she told me she'd never wanted to collect them... Now I have to find other gifts :-(

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    1. Oh no! I can totally see how that would happen. Maybe she can sell the sheep collection to someone, like on eBay.

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  6. I used to collect nutcrackers, but they all broke from moving so many tines. I'm trying to rebuild it.

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  7. I accidentally have a collection of angels and bells. Not sure how that happened.

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    1. That seems to be the way a lot of these collections come about. :)

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  8. I used to collect horse statues, but fell out of that a long time ago. Nothing currently that I collect and I'm trying to keep it that way since my apartment isn't that big and I don't need to clutter it more.

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    1. Collections can equal clutter if we're not careful, but if displayed well then it's all good. :)

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  9. I collect clutter, seashells, and books, journals, and papers. I think that's enough most of the time, but like you, I wonder if a true passion for one specific thing might be interesting. A friend of my daughters collects the first Harry Potter book in the languages of countries she's visited - it's her ideal "take-home." I considered that as I gazed on an edition of The Hunger Games in the Amsterdam airport . . . but I didn't buy it. I have too many Christmas ornaments and magnets already so I hesitate to collect any more of those. So . . . pictures? I figure that if I'm going to collect anything, it's going to have to be tiny.

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    1. I love that Harry Potter idea!

      I start to wonder if in this day and age of digital and "the cloud" and all that, how much collecting is still going on? Will be going on in the future?

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  10. I collect glass bottles. I'm not sure what started me on the trend, but I think they're freaking beautiful so I keep which ones I like. I have a lot, so much that my husband made me throw out half of them once. Mostly because my shelves are overflowing. :)

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    1. I bet those are really pretty when the light hits them, shines through them. Especially if they're colored glass.

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  11. A few years ago, my dad gave me and my husband his collection of coins and some paper money from the 1800s. Very cool stuff. Since my husband already had started his own coin collection, I'm leaving it to him to organize my dad's collection to his liking.

    For a short time, I collected pewter figures (some holding crystals). That was fun, but kind of expensive to keep up. We have a big collection of Christmas decorations--the tiny village and animals type of thing. Had to stop that when we ran out of room. I'd like to start a cloisonne collection. That stuff is so pretty.

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    1. My Dad collected coins to an extent - he put together two collections/booklets, one each for my nephew and niece.

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  12. My grandma collected salt and pepper shakers! I loved them when I was a kid. I don't really collect anything though.

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    1. I was surprised to learn how many people do collect salt and pepper shakers. There are conventions and everything!

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  13. The desk service bells intrigues me. I wonder who different they could possibly be from each other. Hmm...

    I used to collect ninjas, thanks to a nickname. It's faded a bit with age, though. Now I just collect dust. LOL

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    1. There was a small photo with the article and the bells were more different than I thought they'd be, too.

      If only our dust bunny collections were worth actual money, a lot of us would be very rich. :)

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  14. Hmm...I never thought of having a character be a collector, but that's a great idea.

    I collected Monster High stuff for a while, but I had to stop. A girl only has so much room. I also used to collect salt & pepper shakers when I was a kid. A family friend had a huge collection, and as a little girl I was awed by all the animals, cartoon figures, whimsical designs. Some of those shakers can be worth a lot of money to collectors.

    As a hobby, it didn't last long for me, and as an adult, I prefer to grind my pepper so it's fresh, but I still love them. Do you have any favourites?

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    1. I really like the idea of having a character collect something. They have not introduced themselves to me yet, but I'm sure they will one of these days. :)

      I don't really have any favorites right now - they're more sentimental than anything else.

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  15. I don't collect anything. I had an aunt who collected salt and pepper shakers. I have another aunt who collects cookie jars. Is it a generational thing?

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    1. Good question, Susan. Especially in today's digital world.

      My mother-in-law collected cookie jars, too. :)

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  16. My Nana collected salt & pepper shakes too. She had hundreds. And mini spoons. I don't have any collections right now, but one day I'd love to collect books and have my own library!

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    1. I do have some signed books and a few special editions, but it's definitely not a collection or particularly valuable or anything like that.

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  17. I'm not a collector of anything in particular, but there are things I love, a few of which I pick up along the way, such as colorful beach stones and heart rocks.

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    1. I have so many, many shells. I try to limit how many I pick up on our beach walks, but it's so hard to do! :)

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  18. As a kid, I used to collect sea shells, but I haven't collected anything in a long while. This is a good reminder, since I write for kids, I need to give my characters more collections. Perhaps something about my son's bug collection will one day make it into a book. :)

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    1. You should so do that! How fun for your son and for readers. :)

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  19. I used to collect dragons. I had quite a few for a while. Recently I had to downsize them because of the big move. They were a huge hit at the garage sale which was gratifying. It was good to see them go to new homes.

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    1. That's such a nice way of looking at it - the dragons got new homes. :)

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  20. My mother said something about liking hummingbirds years back and now she's up to her armpits in purchasable example of hummingbirds on this green earth. Watch out. You may not have to start collecting. I may find you. hehehe

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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    1. Ha!

      Although, I guess it is kind of nice that people are paying attention to what you say, like, etc. :)

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