POLL: what did/do you collect?

Jeff & I went to Caledonia for ScottM's birthday party.
The doll in this photo is from his girlfriend Karen's collection.
(click on image for larger version)



When I was much younger, I use to collect spoons; the often tacky tourist kind you can usually find for about ten bucks. At the time I was collecting them, of course, each one was precious to me. I can still clearly remember the tiny bear on top of my Yellowstone National Park spoon, the miniature buildings, animals, symbols. I remember being immensely pleased whenever my mother used some of my spoons when company came over for tea.

A few years, I came across my old spoon collection while going through some old boxes. They looked so junky, jangling inside the worn plastic storage bag, and I decided to throw them out. It was tough, though; part of me felt like I was throwing out an important part of my childhood. The other part argued that if I kept every "important" childhood memory, our apartment would be so jam-packed with memorabilia that Jeff and I would barely have room to breathe.

As a child, I also used to collect stamps, but lost interest. As an adult, I collect:

- Bookmarks (Allison does too!). This is my favourite collectible item because they're small, relatively inexpensive, and I use them all the time.

- Weird food items (non-perishable). One of these days I'll post pictures of my collection online. Examples: Musk life savers (Kathleen Interfilk donation), small can of Meat Product (purchased at a small food store in Buffalo).

- Rubber stamps. Don't use these as often anymore because I don't write much personal snailmail these days.

- Small percussion instruments. I'm starting to run out of space, however, so have had to put some of these in storage.

- Soaps. I admit it - I'm a sucker for soaps of all kinds, but especially weird, food-related, nice-smelling or miniature ones. I don't actually USE most of them, but just like taking them out and smelling them, and/or looking at them if the packaging is especially nice. For soaps I actually use, textured soaps are my favourite (soap with gritty bits, like ground-up herbs or oatmeal or other interesting exfoliants). I keep a wrapped Scottish "Evening Primrose Bath Brick Moisturising Vegetable Soap" in my office, a gift from Beckett Gladney, just because I love the faint fragrance that permeates the room while I work. Plus the name is so cool. Just substitute "soup" instead of "soap", and it becomes even more interesting.

Poll: collections, past and present

What did you collect, as a child? Do you still have those collections?

What do you collect now?

Feel free to answer in your own Livejournal, but please do post the URL so I can find it (and others who may not be in Livejournal).

Apr/2003 comments: Read | Post | Livejournal

(please note that some people are opting to post comments in my Livejournal feed instead of in Blatherchat, so don't forget to check that page for poll responses)



Went for a walk along Front St. yesterday,
discovered that the St. Lawrence Market hosts a flea market
every Sunday (!). Easy walking distance from Torcon.
(click on image for larger version)