Collecting...For A Contest

Sarah, over at Life With... , is having a contest! Yippee! We loves contests! Her contest is dedicated to special collections and I got to thinking about mine. I, ahem, have a few. It seems I’ve accidentally become a collector, at least if the quantity of my ‘stuff’ is anything to go by. Here’s a start. I have a hefty collection of unfinished wood pieces to tole paint; a collection of European folk art (Hindeloopener, Bauernmalerei and Rosemaling to name a few); a collection of cross stitch kits to stitch, a collection of quilting fabric to sew into beautiful quilts, a hand-made (some by me, some by others) teddy bear collection, yarn… You get the picture.

However, I decided to post pictures of one of my most favouritist collections as it’s one I believe I started from birth and have continued adding to: my children’s book collection. You can assume that I had some help at the start of this particular collection. After all, no one was handing me a credit card at the tender age of 5 days old. That was probably a good thing. I’m a menace in the children’s book section. Prior to having Iain, I’d surprised many a parent when they brought up their child’s favourite book and I’d exclaim "Oh yes! I love that one! And, have you tried…?" I really missed my calling as a librarian or a book seller.

I know I’ve mentioned the fact that I LOVE children’s books on this blog before. Pictures books, board books, fairy tales, novels and on and on. I decided that I wanted to be buried with C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia books when I was young. Yes, I realise that that is a weird thing for a young child to decide. However, my father is an Anglican minister. We heard about death a lot. We also had very quiet neighbours as the rectories we lived in were usually parked next to the town cemeteries. Interestingly enough for a child with a very vivid imagination, I was never scared of cemeteries. My best friend in high school once told me that she had no idea how I walked home from her place at night because I had to walk past the cemetery, next to our house, first. Sad to say, I was always a bit more concerned about the living…But, I digress.

Here is my entry for Sarah’s contest – enjoy! If you look closely, you will likely see some classics. Anyone else every heard of Noddy? I love/d Noddy. I also have a First edition of Mary Mapes Dodge’s Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates (found it in a used bookstore called The Bookery in the same building as The Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY. I love that town and I love that restaurant even more!). I have books about border collies written and illustrated by Kim Lewis (Floss is a great one). I have Mister Got To Go about a cat that just moved into the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver and never left.

I could go on but it’s Friday night, DH just got home this afternoon and Iain is being readied for bed as I type. Ah, life is good.

Thanks for hosting us a contest, Sarah! I’m almost over your midnight deadline but I think I made it!