OBSESSION....PERHAPS....

I have a small..the word obsession is too strong....shall we call it liking to 'bling'.

Not that I can't walk past a jewellery store, I can and do, without the need to buy, purchase, to have. However if some piece calls, I'm all eager to listen.

This has resulted over the past decades in a lot of earrings.

I could wear a different pair of earrings each day for a month. Make that two. Okay, hard to admit but lets put it at two and half months....ninety six days.

These are not just bits of plastic or silver or gold or gem (whatever the case may be ...I do not discriminate)...these are memories of times and places and people.

The amber means Moscow. Not that I've been there, but he did for work. The amber means those weeks of just me and the kids. Meals became less organised, scrambled eggs on toast became a regular, but it also meant those long nights when the bed was empty. When I would star fish, revelling in having the space to myself. When I would end up curled on his side, looking for his warmth.


These came on a visit to see my Dad. We had a lovely leisurely lunch, a sampling plate at a small winery, and wandered into one of the small galleries nearby. The lovely K, who knows me so well (and my love of anything blue- perhaps I was a bower bird in another life) bought these for me.

I remember the heat of the day as we sought sparse shade under a tree to eat our lunch. The sound of ducks in a nearby pond, their overly loud quacks and the splashing as they ducked and dived.  But what I remember most was the laughter.

These came from my first trip to Amsterdam. one of those small stores along the Kalverstraat. Love, love Amsterdam. That trip we were there in late summer and we walked everywhere. Past the museumplein...down to Dam square, ambling through Vondelpark...over the many bridges over the many canals.  Sipping koffie, in a 'real' coffee house while watching the people ride by in their multitude of bicycles.  The dutch were some of the most fashionable and well put together people I have ever seen. Riding a bicycle in a business suit, high heels and hair just perfect, never fazed them. Amazing.


  I do admit to having a 'thing' for marcasite. These came from a shopping expedition with my girl. I love our days out together. We've always been close but when your children become adults, with very full and demanding lives of their own, it's hard sometimes to make time to spend with each other. We do make the time, and have such fun. It usually means a good lunch out, chocolate is somehow involved and many shops seen and admired.


And these came from our latest adventure. India. It brings back the heat, the dust, the red sun rising on those early morning starts, the smiles of so many people. Bed bugs and overhead fans that clinked as they whirled.

So my collection means a lot to me. Not in cost as many were very cheap, but the memories associated with them. The people involved...the times...the events....

Everything has a story. Sometimes you just have to stop for awhile, and listen.

See you

Vicki



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