My Mum started collecting souvenir teaspoons when I was in high school. Then she started collecting key rings. That must have come some time later but I am not sure when. I must have left home and joined the Air Force by then. I used to buy any good ones where ever I went. Then my handsome hubby came along and as he traveled all sorts of places for work, he added significantly to the collection.
My father built Mum the first key ring board - a nice piece of wood with L shaped hooks on it for the key rings to hang on. It used to hang on the wall in their kitchen. When Mum passed away, long after Dad was gone, I inherited the key ring collection and we took the original board off the wall and brought it home with us. As well as the key rings on the board we found a container of more of them put away in a cupboard. Mum had long outgrown the one board that she had.
I asked a friend of mine to make me a new key ring board but because he couldn't find one to match the original one he made two new ones. I wanted to hang them on opposite sides of the opening from the Kitchen in to our conservatory so they had to match. You would think two key ring boards would have been enough to take all the ones my Mum had.
Hmmm, maybe ...and by the way - see these cute pink things?
They are my cute pink feather lights - just too much fun!
Anyway, I digress. Once the two new key ring boards were up I pulled out all the keyrings and added them to the boards. So many memories came back of places Mum and Dad or David and I had been. Holidays that other people had been on - gifts from friends. But then i realised that the two boards were full!!
Back came my friend and up went the original (now the third) board.
You can see there are bigger spaces at the bottom for the wider key rings.
Would you believe still not enough room!
There was only one space left on the wall where I wanted to hang one last board so that got filled too and now there are 4 boards in the Kitchen/family/conservatory area.
And what started me telling you this was the fact that the lovely fellow who came yesterday brought me back two key rings - the only key ring he could find was one from the PX on base - there are no keyrings in Afghanistan - they don't have doors with locks apparently! So he brought me the United States Navy Key Ring and check out the cute cute cute Camel! from Dubai! Love that face!
And while I am at it, I will show you a couple of other favourites. This one from Iran...
This one given to me by Celia after a trip to South Africa
A tiny Viewmaster - with a real slide in it that you can turn with the handle to view the pictures.
Rememeber when mobile phones looked like this - bricks that they were - and this one rings if you push the button.
And finally Lincoln Logs - Aussies don't really know what these are but inside the (dusty) container (yes, the lid actually comes off) are some little logs that you can build a log cabin with. These ones are only plastic but when we lived in the States our boys had little wooden Lincoln Logs to play with! Super cute!
This has reminded me that those key rings all need to come down to be dusted. Hope there is something good on TV to watch while I do it! Blah!
Till next time..........................happy sewing!
I do the "collections" merit badge with Scouts and have seen some fine key ring collections. Other than stamps and coins, it is amazing what young boys collect. I love the stories that come with them and often the passion a kid has for his collection.
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful way to remember... so many things xx
ReplyDeleteWow isn't it funny you don't think something like a keyring would be so strange in a foreign country but if they don't have locks they don't need keyrings!
ReplyDeleteThat tiny viewfinder is the shizzle!!
I felt like I read the fondness of your mother come shining through, thanks for sharing :)
Wonderful collection with lots of memories. The only thing I seem to collect is fabric and dust!
ReplyDeletewhat a fun collection... I seem to have started a SMALL collection of pin cushios ns, I have the ones I use regularly and then I just have 3 on a shelf, which I won at different times :-) I should have a pin cushion swap... hmm
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful collection! Anything that brings sweet memories to mind is nice. My boys had Lincoln Logs too! In fact, I had Lincoln Logs when I was little! They've been around a very long time!
ReplyDeleteA hair dryer will get a lot of the dust off and you don't have to take them down! Of course, that dust has to go some place!
I have never seen such a large collection. Nice to carry on what your mum started. I loved ViewMaster, even though my kids were never crazy about them, I brought them anyway-----for me. Wonder what a kid would think now of a ViewMaster------"how antique."
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful collection and the memories that have to come back when you look at the different key rings! How sweet to receive the little camel and Navy key ring!
ReplyDeletememories. i miss my mom too
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat collection and what wonderful memories of your mom.
ReplyDeleteHugs
donna
I would love to know the name of the Farm pattern. That is adorable and so are all your other collections.
ReplyDelete