The hoarding collecting instinct is easy to spot. You know it if you have it. You probably walk with your head bent down, scouring the ground for rocks...shells...shiny objects...pretty fall leaves...
You swerve for yard sales. You haunt thrift shops. You have collections stashed all over your house or apartment. You live on ebay.
Don't feel bad about it, it's a highly evolved survival skill. I go in and out of various collections. There's something innately satisfying about amassing things of a similar nature. A true collector will find collecting potential in just about anything. When I was young I used to collect the chestnuts that fell in our neighbor's yard. I can still remember how each beautifully polished shell had a unique swirling pattern of browns and black.
These days there is a constant thwacking of falling acorns hitting the ground,
the deck, or god knows what as they plummet down from the old oak trees
in our yard.
The squirrels and chipmunks around our house are going crazy. You can't look out the window or step out the door without coming face to face with an army of them scampering in all directions, each with an oversized chunk of something in its mouth. It's very entertaining, but a little unsettling, too. I mean, there's a constant parade of work going on just outside my window...I don't want to end up like that unfortunate fiddling grasshopper.
Which reminds me...I have to get to the farmer's market before they're all out of tomatoes. Last week they had those little teeny tiny ones for the first time all summer. And I have to get back to Blueberry Bay Farm to pick the last of the blackberries. I've only got a few bags in the freezer.
Oh, and look at the cute vintage nut bowl I found at the thrift store.
I had to fill it with something, didn't I?
Hello Sue:
ReplyDeleteYes, just what is it about collecting? Human instinct?
Your nut bowl is most attractive. We could start a collection with it!!
For YEARS I collected many books. Having worked in the library through university, I developed a dust allergy... It became so serious at some point that I had to strip all the carpets in the house and vacuum a couple of times a week.
ReplyDeleteAs far as clothes goes, a few years back I de-cluttered my closets and gave away almost all my clothes. Now I love the look of my closet or drawers. There is nothing out of sight.
I love your bowl, and I do love acorns.
ReplyDeleteYes we are collectors by nature, and it is (or was) a survival skill!
When I lived in Gloucester, Mass., I spent hours looking down at the beach trying to find sea glass.
ReplyDeleteJ & L---of course I looked up my bowl on ebay and there were lots of them, I think people have beat us to it.
ReplyDeleteRose---Isn't that frustrating about the allergies? When I was just out of college I started up a vintage clothing store and I developed an allergy to all the dust and musty old fabrics I was exposed to. I guess the upside for you is a cleaner house!
DaniBP---I'm literally compelled to pick up those acorns...maybe humans once ate them and I'm just following those ancient instincts. At least that's what I tell myself. But I also collect pine cones :\
Linda---We do that too, at least it's a step up from those metal detector things you see people with.