My Mum is a collector … sometimes it is not obvious as she doesn’t keep her collections together necessarily.  She mixes them up around her house.  But if she has one of something, it is likely that she has 2, or 3 or 4 … or even more.

Take posters and prints of sayings/inspirational poems for example.

When we were little, I can always remember the poem If, by Rudyard Kipling hanging on the back of the toilet door.  It was just a poster, nothing special.

It was my Dad’s.  I guess when the females in our house were going crazy in our teenage years Dad may have retreated to the loo and counted to 10 and read this inspirational poem to give him some strength?  He did have the patience of a saint. He probably had a back up copy in his shed as well (I remember him going out there a lot).

Anyway, I don’t know where that original poster has gone, but more recently Mum has bought another version of this poem.  This time it is pretty kitsch and cute, printed on tin that is quite old and getting a bit rusty, and … it hangs in the toilet.

But perhaps she thought it was lonely, so she added another poem, The Winding Road.

Oh, and then in the family room she has hung The Joy of Gardens, and Smile.

 

And in the kitchen House Blessing.

And in the hall a quote by His Majesty the King in an Empire Breakfast (this one came from my Mum’s nanna I believe).

And then there’s Here’s Luck To You in her bedroom.

And finally, The Best, which hangs in the other bathroom.  Which Mum says always makes her laugh and reminds her of a friend who is of the ‘half cup empty’ school of thought.

They may be distributed around the house, but they are still, most definitely, a collection!