old things

i like old things. i guess i could say "vintage" as opposed to old, but i always thought that word sounded too sophisticated for me. but, "vintage" does have such a nice beautiful tune to it. i'll use it anyway, just to bemuse myself. that was off subject....

i like old things. most styles of dresses or fabrics, 40's to early 60's era suit me just fine. i like old books. they smell musty and make me sniffle, but quite nice. i like old people. wrinkles and wisdom. i have always wanted to be older. even now, i turn 30 this year, and i anticipate it. i've wanted to be 30 since i was 20. perhaps my sentiment may change when the 4-0 comes, but not right now. i eagerly await gray hair, wrinkles, and the old sage things that i am sure i will be saying. like, "get yer hair cut".

but most specifically i collect something old. vintage aprons. i turn into a squealing little wide eyed school girl when i land upon one. usually i don't have the money to get it, and i have to piously place it back under a pile of applique bed sheets at an antique store. but i have managed to amass a little treasure trove of dainty, food speckled old beauties.

collections are intriguing to me. why do people collect things? it's like we are a bunch of hoarders. my son collects rocks. every place we go, he will pick up the most unassuming rock and place it in his drawer (and he has a special big drawer now, chocked full of them). and, by golly, he remembers each and every place he got the rock. i've quizzed him several times. he is spot on.

but, why? what is it about rocks? i speculate it was because he always did like to hold and carry things around with him in his hands. i guess he feels naked without something in them. he would travel home with a rock in his hand, and then, i suppose he just didn't want to get rid of it. but why do other people collect things? why do i collect the aprons? is it just simply a "like" factor? do we just "like" these things, so now we hoard them in boxes, or on shelves, on walls, or in closets?

i have no idea. i just know that i LOVE my collection.

last night, at my book club meeting, my friend Leia, who is a vintage Etsy seller, gave me a huge box full of vintage aprons (for free, mind you!). i think i about passed out. literally. those you see in the above picture are what she gave me. i was proverbially happy. and still am.

obviously....i just wrote a stinkin' blog about 'em.

you think, perhaps in some other time, i would have collected something else? like, say, if i were me, in the year 2130...what would i collect? still the aprons, still the style? or, perhaps something cooler would have come along to collect. perhaps "vintage" auxiliary cable cords, or those dreamcatchers i saw at an Indian Festival one year made of Mariah Carey CD's.....
now THAT would be cool.