Dog and Hydrant

Miniature Blown Glass Dog with Red Clay Fire Hydrant

One of the first things I started collecting when I was a kid, along with comic books, was blown glass figures. I'd get one or two on each of our family trips. Many broke over the years, during moves, but I still have a few, including this sad-eyed dog.

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9-11

World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan as Seen from the Staten Island Ferry, early-1990s

Today's photo should need no explanation.

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Air Supply

Air Supply Performing at the Theater at Westbury

Air Supply has been around for 42 years and Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell are still going strong. They put on a great show. My husband and I have seen them perform so many times I've lost count.

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Whirligig

Bottom of Top Stenciled with Instructions

Top of Top Stenciled with Swirly Line

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Like a Rock

Striated Rock

I don't have much to say about this rock, other than to say I've had it so long that I don't recall when I found it or where. It caught my eye years and years ago and I clearly thought it was worth taking home with me.

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Happy Together

Taking a Bow

Hubby and I love oldies concerts and the groups in the Happy Together tour, headlined by the Turtles, always bring back happy memories from the 1960s. On stage, taking a bow, are The Cowsills, Ron Dante (the voice of the Archies), The Boxtops, The Association, Chuck Negron (of Three Dog Night), The Turtles, and the backup musicians. One of the nicest things about this concert is how, after the last set, by The Turtles, the other bands come back onstage for an encore together, then thank the audience as one group.

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To Write

4 Pens 2 Pencils

I wouldn't say I collect pens and pencils; more like I just keep ones I like. Some are souvenirs, like the pencils, one from the Smithsonian Institution and one from the San Diego Zoo, and some are commemorative, like the two pens celebrating the New York Islanders hockey team during their championship years in the 1980s. But my favorite is the Bic Banana, that yellow stick pen with the black cap. All the ink in the pens dried up years ago, alas.

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Take Your Pick

Guitar Picks for America and Air Supply

Two of my favorite groups to see doing "oldies" concerts.

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Lucky Horseshoe

Horseshoe with My Name on it

This horseshoe was never on a horse. On one of our family car trips when I was a kid -- I don't recall where -- there was a blacksmith and you could buy a horseshoe with anything pounded into the metal. So I bought one with SHELLY on it. I still have it, hanging on a wall.

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Just My Type

SHELLY in Wood Type Blocks

SHELLY with Star in Metal Type

We took a car trip for a week each summer, starting when I was 12 or so, continuing until I was around 16 or 17. More than once, we drove up to Vermont. My father had an eye for historical markers, so we stopped often at the side of the road, and there were plenty of covered bridges to see in Vermont. But one of my favorite things to do was to shop in the gift shops and general stores, not to mention, local food places. In one large general store/gift shop, I was thrilled to find printers' boxes and old type. I put together my name in different fonts from the wood type and then for the metal type, and they remain my favorite souvenirs of all the trips I've taken. These days, you can get a similar effect with rubber stamp letters.

I love type. I once had a job typing bills for a typography company and spent time talking to the typesetters. Things were automated by then, and these days, I collect fonts on my computer. My fascination for type hasn't wavered.

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Bookmarks

Eight Metal Bookmarks

I've collected bookmarks for a long time. Most are paper, one is beaded, and one is made of ribbon. These are made of metal and the first one I got was a gift: the one with the comedy and drama faces in the top row.

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Mess Kit

World War II Navy Mess Kit

I've had this for years. My father served as a ship's electrician during World War II, and this mess kit was his. I was fascinated with it when I was a kid, and after I reached adulthood, he gave it to me, along with a few other items he had from his military service. My sister got other items. The design of the mess kit was rather brilliant in how everything fit together and folded together, with the folding handle on the frying pan holding the kit together when not in use. One of these days, I'll take a better photo of it.

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Mets Baseball

American Flag and 1986 World Champions Pennant at Shea Stadium

It's Opening Day for the Mets! This is a scanned photo from 1987. Lets Go Mets!

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Yarn Doll

Yarn Doll

At some point, either in school or camp, I learned how to make simple dolls from yarn. This is the only one I kept. There's a pipe cleaner that runs up her back and allows me to manipulate her like a puppet. Her arms are rather thick. I guess I didn't notice that when I made her.

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Tea Service

Red and Ivory China Tea Set with Gold Trim

My parents got this tea set either as an engagement gift or wedding gift. I was enamored of it when I was growing up, so after I got married, my parents gave it to me. I can't explain why I love it so much, but looking at it is rather comforting to me. It's something I've always had to look at and familiar things can be most comforting.

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Pink Pearl

Closeup of Pink Pearl Eraser

Back when I got my library science degree, I started a job as an indexer at a company that no longer exists. Tools of the trade were pencils and lots of erasers. A new colleague handed me a Pink Pearl, telling me I'd need it. I got a lot of use out of it and left the remains behind when I moved on to a library job, but Pink Pearls remain my eraser of choice.

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Musical Memory

Wood Recorder 

When I was in elementary school (grades K through 6), my 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes included lessons in playing a black plastic, flute-like musical instrument called the tonette. I was far from musically skilled, but that didn't stop me from asking my parents to buy me the next step up, musically speaking: a recorder. In junior high, we actually did have to learn to play the recorder and the ones handed out by the school weren't nearly as nice as the one I already had. I never got all that skilled in playing it, but I do love having it.

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Bride and Groom

Cake Topper from My Wedding Cake

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Presidential

It's Presidents' Day, so here are a couple of photos taken in 1980 of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. They're film photos that I scanned a while back.

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

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Perfume

Five Small Perfume Bottles in a Dollhouse

When I was in my teens, my uncle went on vacation -- I don't recall where -- and brought me back these small perfume bottles. I never used the perfume, but kept the bottles in my clothing drawers. Over the years, some evaporated a lot more than others did. I never did figure out why, but for a long time, my clothes did smell nice.

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