I’m faffing with a sample but I’m not quite there yet – and I did perfume last week (yes, I know this is Perfume Posse) so we’re going elsewhere today.
I am back to the orthodontist today. Early, yes. Next appt was supposed to be in November. But, a couple of front teeth are doing weird stuff and he’s going to tighten everything up a load (which I expect will not be fun) and I’ll get seen every few weeks until he’s happy he’s got this under control. I am pleased to say I don’t pay for this piecemeal (ie, each appointment). Rather a fee was set at the outset and that’s that.
But on to objects.
It is mid-October-ish and I have started thinking about a birthday gift for a friend whose special day is in mid-January. As time has moved along in our relationship, the point when I start to think about what to buy her has moved exponentially farther away from the actual day. Because: she is very comfortably off and not averse to buying things for herself. You get the picture. She has everything she needs and more so what might slot into that which is appreciated and causes joy?
This year I started off thinking ceramics of some sort. But what sort?
I looked at a lifestyle shop that does sea prints – fish, starfish, etc – on its plates and bowls. I have a couple of their items and I like them, but it didn’t feel right.
Then, a Merimekko ad popped up on Facebook, so I looked at their stuff. A nice bowl would maybe fit the bill, but it wasn’t quite right.
I looked at a potter that Nigel Slater, a cookery author I love, mentioned, but way out of budget, of course. I mean, Nigel publishes books and has a beautiful house in North London.
So, I gave up for a bit and looked for tea, as I’m getting low. I have a number of places I buy from around the UK. I get hojicha, a green tea that is lower in caffeine. Most places only stock one or two ‘brands’, so it sells out frequently. Thus, the different suppliers.
There’s a very good tea shop in town and they appear to have it. But, I also looked at their tea wares this time, which I tend not to do because I made my own lovely tea cup when I did that wheel throwing course a while ago.
Still, the vessel was a gorgeous sort of celadon blue and they listed the ceramicist who made it. I’m trying very hard not to think about buying it – because really I have no need.
Anyway, had a look at his website and he does some gorgeous stuff. So, I shot off an email saying can you do X bowl on your Home page, what size is it and cost?
He’s got until the middle of the week to reply (do potters not look at their emails?) and then I’ll try again.
But anyway, every year when I start on the process of finding her gift I get taken away by thinking of objects and why we love them. Mostly I felt we attach meanings to the things we keep, that don’t end up being given to a charity shop.
A vase that is loved or that came down through the family; a ceramic or glass object that reminds us of a time or place we were happy; a purchase made on a holiday that somehow has more meaning than it just being something nice from somewhere nice.
Do you have any of those sitting around your house? Are you an inveterate collector of things besides perfume?
Pics: pexels, The House of Hope and Tea in the Jungle
I love giving gifts but have a horrible time selecting Just The Right Thing, so my tendency is to over gift. Bad for the wallet…
Collecting. For a long time it was tea. Pu’erh, white, black, green, yellow, red, herbal et cetera. It got out of hand, teas were getting old/stale, rarely or never used. I did an enormous clean out, throw out, give away and stopped collecting them.
I currently have a very large tea pot collection. Purely decorative but looking at them (95% are displayed through out the house) gives me daily pleasure. I no longer collect them. More than enough. Too many!
Years ago, I began collecting vintage flow blue ware. Most of it is English. Cups and saucers, bowls, butter pats (tiny, dinner like plates for a individual serving of butter), dinner plates, gravy boats, salad plates, serving trays, meat platters. I use pieces every day and some are on display. Like the tea pots, I no longer collect.
Unusual earrings. A friend had a business making jewelry (Future Heirlooms) and selling at juried craft shows. Collected her work for decades. I wore pieces she’d made nearly every day. When I switched to remote work, I stopped. Just started wearing some of the earrings and other pieces again but no longer collect.
Like Tom, I had to stop myself from all the collecting.
At my age, the worry is about drafting a will and deciding who gets what. Silly, in a way, as I’ll be gone and I don’t have family. Nevertheless, I am very attached to and fond of my “Preciouses.”
Wow, that is some collecting! But, there’s a huge pleasure in having beautiful items to look at and use.
I actually have to stop myself from “collecting” (accumulating) what I call “stuff.” Far a while it was old Telephones. I have several ranging from the 40’s to the 70’s. Which was massive overkill in a 1 bedroom apartment, but at least then they worked. Now our local phone company is doing everything it can to kill off land lines so they’re merely decorative. I also have some old Bakelite radios that I love but never really use. I have not joined the Spotify or even the Sirius generation, but I at least listen to FM, and all of these are AM.
I just like design I guess. It doesn’t have to be functional as long as it looks cool. Like that Alessi citrus juicer that looks like something from “War of the Worlds”. Yes, it juices, but so does a $5 hand reamer, But the Alessi is so darned cool..
Alessi stuff is so quirky and fascinating. Not necessarily to use but beautiful objects.
Agreed, Alessi is soo darned cool. Just had a conversation with hubby about our very old, noir looking phone that is solely decorative. He’s pretty determined to keep it!
DH & I have way too much STUFF. Stuff he inherited from parents, stuff I have from mum, stuff we’ve bought over the last 40 years together. Even stuff the boys left here when they flew the nest or on visits back home. I daren’t even think about the loft. Toys from both our childhoods & our children’s.
We tend to buy preloved furniture so our home is “eclectic”.
I do have a yearning for apprentice pieces & a French Empire armoire at present. Hoping just looking will assuage the longing
I think family groupings engender stuff. My husband both collected things (books) and amassed stuff. When we split I realised I too had amassed stuff and slowly it got divested — because I discovered I wasn’t that attached to a lot of what I owned. Very eye opening.
Hey Cinnamon,
Presents are hard. I always have a broad selection of soaps and shower gels on hand, candles, jewellery and random odd bobs. We always add a few Korean junk food boxes/packs and love to buy people food on their special day.
Today we took our girlfriend TinaG to the Sydney Fish Markets for lunch. Surprisingly it was her first time eating on site. It has waterfront tables and chairs. You just have to be a bit careful of the rabid seagulls who are smarter than the average bear.
Portia xx
We have seagull issues here. But the animal food memory that is strongest for me is returning to London after a trip away, unpacking the car and leaving things in front of the house door only to return with the last items to find a fox dragging away a large bag of bread rolls.
We got seagulls at the shore, but the main food-stealing memory I have was visiting a local zoo on a hot day and having a raccoon in the petting zoo reach out and snag the ice cream right off my cone
So funny!!! I can see it in my mind’s eye. That raccoon was nobody’s fool.
OMG! Were you inconsolable?
Speaking of Zoos Tom. Once while Jin and I were having sandwiches at Taronga Zoo a Kookaburra swooped in and stole my sandwich from my hand.
I was so angry I could have made him into a coonskin cap on the spot.
Lucky fox.
Oh, yes! My really special things (non-necessities that got lugged across the US when I was paying by the pound) all have memories attached to them. My house is full of mini tableaux and I like to rearrange. I loved my dollhouse as a child and now it’s full-size 😀 My friends who don’t “need” anything (I have more than one like that) tend to receive some fancy edible item that I think they’d like. Also, I had 3 kids in braces (not all at the same time, thank g-d) and every one had something unexpected that needed tweaking and their teeth came out great, eventually!
I’ve now got a couple of light blue blobs of orthodontic glue in my mouth. This gets more interesting as time goes on.
Yup, I’ve done fancy chocolate for her and plants. But I can’t repeat — just doesn’t feel right.
What a nice friend you are to put so much thought into the gifts you buy. I have a beastie that I do that for, too. It can be difficult to find just the right thing. As for collections, I have a fair amount of sterling silver jewelry that I’ve accumulated over the years. My husband likes to buy it for me since it’s always the right size. That’s my only other collection other than perfume.
It is difficult to, you’re right. But there’s also the pleasure of figuring out something really right for that person.
I adore sterling silver jewelry (mainly Taxco and Navajo). There is a photograph of Millicent Rogers wearing an amazing grouping of silver and turquoise bracelets. I’ve always thought that was an amazing look!