A Journey's Trove

My dad was very handy.  Made furniture, kachinas and canes. Here is a toothy aardvark cane head he carved.

I lost a dear friend last year.  Found this while going through her things. Antler-flint-sinew knife

Mom had many collections.  Another one was mice.  BUT, they couldn’t look like real mice haha Here is a little bone netsuke mouse she got as a gift.

Family memento.  My dad picked this up some where during his travels.  Smooth ebony wood.  I always loved this thing.

Family memento My mom collected crabs.  This is a brass ashtray she found some where

Lost my dad recently. The family home is now empty and being prepped for sale :( This meant going through all the family items and taking memories home with me. This is a brass brazier my parents bought in Japan.  It as bas-reliefs of the Japanese astrological signs on the lid.  I remember dusting this thing every week. Some where along the line it lost a handle, but the memories are still there. Sorry for all the photos on this one.  Just wanted to get all the animals.

More gifts from co-workers.  X-mas gifts for the season

Gifts from co-workers. I collect salt & pepper shakers.  But I guess some people can’t tell the difference between boxes and shakers. Or, they were trying to incite a new collecting frenzy from me :)

My dad collected bears.  Here is a carved wooden bear, not sure where he picked it up.

Found this lovely while doing some cleaning. I had piled it full and missed it.  My parents bought this when we lived in Japan.  I remember dusting this thing weekly.  Lacquered tray with stylized fish

Another dog, who had lived a good, long life, passed last month.  He was a big dog, and made it to 16 1/2!  Stroke finally took him. I took a day trip down to the statuary place outside of Hempstead, Tx to look for a memorial and found this.  It reminds me of my Cholla Teddy Bear - a sweet and beautiful soul.

My sister got this for me one birthday.  It has 2 spinners and the whole thing rotates.  So no matter which direction the wind is coming from it spins.

LOVE this guy!  He’s supposed to be “Wind”.

I found this little darling at the local dump resale shop.  It’s an antique wheelbarrow. There is a small area in the front where it had rusted through, but I threw in a bag of dirt and no one can tell. Note:  the green leafy shrub next to it is a young bay tree.  Saw a full grown one at a local garden place and thought that was so cool, so I bought one.

Love me a bargain!

As I mentioned before, I was really broken up about having to put my dog Tuuli down suddenly (FYI, his name is Finnish for “wind”), so when I saw this windmill that same day while looking for a memento for his passing I brought it home and attached it to the porch railing.  Tuuli and I had an agreement, when he comes to visit it spins.

Small concrete tree stump, to rest pots or whatever on