Collecting Dust?

[jamsmu]

What do you collect in your home that is meaningful, odd, eclectic, it doesn't matter!!

DH and I have saved every cork from every bottle of wine we've ever shared. (okay, we may have missed one or two) We write the date on each and, if there is one, the occasion. DS and I counted today: 97 corks in our collection!! (since I am certain we missed a few, what does that say... hmmmm...)

[jec2]

oh, that's sweet. DH collects movie stubs. that collection hasn't grown much in the past 12 months! I collect beach glass. I have beach glass from Washington, California and probably a few pieces from the East Coast (Delmarva, NC, and Maine).

[jamsmu]

Do you display your beach glass? Thats a different idea and a great way to remember vacations for cheap!

[bunnisa]

My husband is very sentimental, too, and has saved lots of things from our courting days, wedding & honeymoon: the label from a bottle of champagne, brochures for B & Bs we stayed in, a menu from our first date, etc. He bought me a beautiful italian leather scrapbook as part of my first anniversary gift, but I have yet to put anything into it! I'm hoping to get started after we move into our new house.

Julie, you should make a cork board or trivets out of your collection. My uncle(the wine connoisseur) has one or two in his wine cellar, and they're really cool! I think they'd be cute in a kitchen:

http://tinyurl.com/4v84j


Bethany
It's a Boy!
William Eric
6/03

[rrosen]

My husband collects corks too. We clearly drink more than you do since I would say he has easily collected more than 1000. They may cause me to leave him someday, lol, since they drive me CRAZY!!!!!
We come home from a large family event (I have a HUGE extended family) and his pockets will be full of corks. I am going to bury him in them someday.

I collect teapots. I have them in all sorts of crazy shapes and colors. I have asked that my family suspend the giving of teapots for a while since they are not a very *baby friendly* collection. Truth be told, my collection drives my DH as crazy as his does me. He hates the teapots.

[jbowman]

I've always collected scarab jewelry. I love it! When DH and I were dating, he gave me a pair of gold/diamond scarab earrings for my 27th birthday (designed by one of my best friends, who is a jewelry designer). She also designed my wedding ring, which features scarabs on it as well. I always wear *scarabs* for good luck!

Ellie loves playing with jewelry...(un)fortunately I think that she has inherited my obsession with bling-bling, LOL!

[redhookmom]

I saw this at http://www.femailcreations.com/shopping/search.html
It made me wish I had some beachy stuff to display.



http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/14826.jpg

[Marisa6826]

We kind of collect Ganeshas.

Ganesha (sometimes called Ganesh) is a Hindu god that is half man, half elephant. He is the God of Obstacles, taking them away and placing them as he feels they are necessary for you. He is kind of the unofficial God of writers (Jonathan's a copywriter by trade), in that he uses one of his tusks to write his story. Rashmi - forgive me if I've butchered the concept of Ganesha - maybe you can better explain!

Here- I've found this explanation:

Ganesha's head symbolizes the Atman or the soul, which is the ultimate supreme reality of human existence, and his human body signifies Maya or the earthly existence of human beings. The elephant head denotes wisdom and its trunk represents Om, the sound symbol of cosmic reality. In his upper right hand Ganesha holds a goad, which helps him propel mankind forward on the eternal path and remove obstacles from the way. The noose in Ganesha's left hand is a gentle implement to capture all difficulties.

The broken tusk that Ganesha holds like a pen in his lower right hand is a symbol of sacrifice, which he broke for writing the Mahabharata. The rosary in his other hand suggests that the pursuit of knowledge should be continuous. The laddoo (sweet) he holds in his trunk indicates that one must discover the sweetness of the Atman. His fan-like ears convey that he is all ears to our petition. The snake that runs round his waist represents energy in all forms. And he is humble enough to ride the lowest of creatures, a mouse.


We have several of them throughout the house. One big beautiful one from Bali that is made entirely of one piece of Hibiscus wood, another sandstone one in the kitchen and several smaller pocket sized ones.

It's kind of odd in that neither one of us is Indian, we just love him!

-m

[jec2]

For the most part, it is displayed. I just dump it into a big, vintage apothocary jar that sits in our living room. I absolutely love the art & science of hunting for beach glass. it really is a fun way to remember vacations. Funny thing is too that for some reason most of my blue glass, which I find to be the rarest color, is from Washington.

[papal]

LOL. I think your explanation was very good Marisa.. it educated me as well. We love Ganesha as well... or Ganu as we call him at home. He is so sweet and cuddly looking and I relate to his little pot-belly...heehee.
You know, if you ever get the opportunity, you should visit India during Ganesh Chaturthi. We buy a clay model of Ganesha (some as big as 25 feet or more!)..for 10 days we celebrate Lord Ganesha (which means lots of good food usually!) and on the 11th day we immerse him in a river or the sea which symbolizes his return to his home (Kailash) and he takes with him all our sadness, sorrow and misfortune. Usually every city has this HUGE procession..everybody brings their Ganeshas and puts them into the sea/river together... VERY colourful, noisy and very India. Brings everyone together and when I was growing up, you could be of any religion, we all celebrated! I think Jonathan might enjoy it. :)
Truth be told, we were afraid of large crowds so we usually immersed our Ganesh in our well or the local lake.. but we did see the procession on TV... kinda like Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. :P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/923426.stm

[JMS]

Julie.. Dust and all, I think you collection is extremely romantic :)

Myself, I am in the process of de-knick-knacking (did I spell that right?), especially as toys multiply in every room. But I do collect porcelain hunting dogs. I know that sounds bizarre but that's my thing... since they are fragile, they are all up high and out of the reach of little hands.

[newbelly2002]

DH collects matchbooks. And, no, neither of us are smokers. He started the collection even before we started dating over, eek, 16 years ago. We went through the collection together when we moved a few years back. It was amazing to take a visceral ride down memory lane together remembering the places we'd been to, dishes we had eaten, etc. It has become cosiderably more difficult in recent years as smoking has gone out of style.

But I do have to say that I know the word for "matchbook" in most major languages as I am usually the one who draws the short straw and ends up having to ask in foreign countries!

the collection used to drive me nuts, but I have to admit that I have grown rather fond of it over time.

[Marisa6826]

Wow. That sounds very cool. I'll have to tell Jonathan about the festival!

-m

[Marisa6826]

My Grandmother and I used to walk the beaches of Long Beach Island and then Sanibel Island looking for beach glass when I was little.

It seems that it's not nearly as available as it used to be. Chalk it up to recycling, I guess?

I have many, many fond memories.

My favourite was finding red pieces - the cobalt ones too. Very rare, indeed!

-m

[jbowman]

So excited that I haven't read your entire post (or Rashmi's reply), but I have to say that I LOVE GANESHA! I was a docent at the IU Art Museum and I used to love lecturing about Ganesha to the school children (the museum had two wonderful sculptures)! I have a small statue in my office that one of my best friends got me when she was in India.

[Marisa6826]

I KNEW I liked you for some reason ;) :P

hugs

-m