More Collection Jars

I like the idea of a blessings list or gratitude notebook. I often reflect on my blessings, but it seems like listing them day after day would be very repetitive. After reading Gretchen Rubin’s blog The Happiness Project, it occurred to me that I could modify the concept into a “happiness notebook”. I would try to be present in the now of my life by making notations of what made me feel happy that day. It has not been daily as some days I did not succeed in living in the moment and got dragged down by hassles or was too tired after a busy day to reflect.
I have a little rose-colored silk-covered book a friend who had lived in Japan gave me long ago. It is about the size of a small diary or address book. It has been perfect for my listing. Sometimes, there are only 2-3 notations per entry; other times over half the page is filled. This small bound book is handy to leave sitting next to my chair where I can jot down items while resting a few minutes throughout the day.
What has astonished me is how much happiness I have re-reading the entries. It brings back good memories of outings, an especially beautiful sunset, even news events like the Chilean miners being rescued. These things would have faded from memory without being written down. It makes me realize how rich life is.
It wasn’t until I thought about the idea of  “collection jars”, that I saw another way we capture good times: our miniature box (printer’s drawer) full of mementos from trips. The “storyteller” figurine in Santa Fe was exactly what I wanted, but the fishing fly from a sporting goods store only popped into my mind as a representative choice of Montana when I spied it. The slots in the drawer limit what can fit, but there are many options. I have seashells, tourist spoons, blown glass figures, carved wooden trinkets, a leather hiking boot from atop a box of Swiss chocolates.

Let’s see that makes 5 collection jars: this blog, my journal, my gratitude book, the printer’s drawer, my folders of decorating and fashion style photos. That doesn’t include my scrapbooks and photo albums, the more conventional ways to capture memories.

What kind of collection jars do you have?

In a Sea of Books

“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” could be “Volumes, volumes everywhere, but not a book to read.”
3500 books to be cataloged in a project in the library in our retirement complex, but no time to read them. That is the predicament for me. Some very tantalizing titles have passed thru my hands, too.
I suppose it is natural that retired librarians would be recruited to serve on a library committee. Not strange that the person overseeing the library and wanting to step down would suggest those two people as replacements. So now my husband and I find ourselves with a library collection in need of some TLC and a means to identify the contents.
Some internet research to find a computerized cataloging program led to something more than a catalog: Library Thing. This web-based program not only helps us create a searchable data base, it has author information, reviews, and an interactive community for discussing books. Our library users live in apartments in the complex where the library is housed, but also a few blocks away in condos. Many of the condo dwellers  have computers and thus can peruse the collection without making a special trek over to the main campus.
After cataloging for 20 years in academic libraries, I admit this is not perfect, but it serves us well. I miss most a controlled vocabulary with cross references, but the majority of the cataloging records we utilize have Library of Congress Subject Headings so there is some consistency. Key word searching and the option to add subject words in a searchable comments section also help users find items.
For arthritic knees and bad backs, the option to sit at a keyboard to search in shelf order is a big help. Let the fingers do the “stooping”. Lists of hard-to-read print can be changed to colorful book cover browsing. Since the focus is on tracking and searching book collections, there is no circulation module, but the alert system for duplicate titles has already helped us weed out over a hundred books cataloged in different spots.  Shelf space is at a premium so aid in identifying duplicates is valuable. Cost for using Library Thing: $25 life-time membership fee.
What programs have you used to organize and make your book data searchable? Give Library Thing a try. It can serve as a reading list tracker besides the cataloging functions.
Too bad we don’t have space to set up a book domino trail like this  with the withdrawn books. But then, I never would get any cataloging done if I was making elaborate patterns of books.

Another Collection Jar

Some of us are late bloomers when it comes to really understanding our tastes and what makes us happy. I only truly identified my decorating preferences in the past 10 years. Oh, I knew there were things I disliked, but really what were the elements that I loved and wanted to incorporate into my home? That wasn’t clear to me.
I had heard the advice to tear out magazine pictures, gather paint chips, collect fabric swatches, etc. to show to an interior decorator. I just hadn’t admitted that I was the decorator, intentional or not. The housekeeper, the purchaser of goods, but a decorator? My expenditures were focused on affordability, comfort, ease of care and meeting needs, not so much on beautifying or personal expression.
That changed one spring when my husband went off with his woodworking buddies on their annual retreat to a south Texas ranch, and having unscheduled time I went shopping for something to hang on the walls. We are talking places like Hobby Lobby, not fine art galleries. I wasn’t likely to let go of the sway of frugality after being under its rule most of my life, but I felt a longing to change my rather non-descript home into a reflection of me. Other than liking the color blue, not being drawn to sleek and modern furniture and abstract images, and an inkling that what was labeled “country” had appeal, I hadn’t really thought about style. I did heed the advice to buy what you love and love at first sight it was. A gorgeous framed print of irises.
The next major breakthrough came about 4 years ago. Following the suggestion of Sarah Ban Breathnach in her Simple Abundance book, I decided it was time to create  some coherence to my random purchases. What did my decorative items have in common? What should I keep in mind when making future purchases?  This time I seriously took up the suggestion to gather samples. I started at the paint departments of home improvement and hardware stores like Lowe's or Ace Hardware picking out chips but also the “post cards” and brochures with colors and styles in room settings. These cost nothing.  After seeing a $50 book about blue and white decorating in a Barnes and Noble bookstore, I decided to see if there were similar older books for sale on the internet. Yes! I snipped apart the $3 but perfectly-focused book , critically looking at what elements besides color I liked. Then on to other inexpensive books and magazines from Half Price Books or library sales.
Now I have several folders of printed images to peruse. Not only have I discovered what I love so I can be watchful when shopping, but I have found a source of happiness. If I feel bored or a little down after a hard day, I pull out my “collection jar” of  pictures and drink in the elements of my personal taste. I know who I am as a decorator.
And in the spirit of Simple Abundance,  I ask God to make me aware of the opportunities He presents to flesh out those decorating tastes in an affordable way. He fills up my bowl of expectation in surprising ways at times. He understands me and now I understand myself.

Why Blog?

Blogging has beckoned to me but I have to ask myself why enter that realm. I have kept a journal for about 8 years. Why not just continue with that mode of expression? Writing helps me to clarify my thoughts and to process ideas. The journals are also a good tool for looking back at my feelings and what I deemed important at the time. A record of God’s working in my life or perhaps more honestly how I have been slow to recognize or even resisted His efforts.

One benefit of blog writing might be a sharpening of my writing skills. My journal ramblings are unedited. They are written for an audience of one. What audience would want to read my blog entries? That’s the key question I suppose.

I have a handful of blogs that I have followed the past few years. They appeal to me on different levels: one for its nature photography; another for simple living and financial advice; one for its suggestions to live a happier life; one because it belongs to a friend at church and it is a good way to see where he has traveled and times spent with family; and one because of the writer’s incredible gift of verbal expression and her challenges to live closer to God.

What unique voice can I offer? Who would want to read my musings?
Luci Shaw in her The Crime of Living Cautiously creates the image of her journal and camera being collection jars analogous to mason jars in which children catch fireflies. They are tools to capture our fleeting moments and thoughts. My blog could be a different collection jar than the journal, one more public. If nothing else, it represents getting out of my comfort zone, taking a risk, although slight.

Why do people blog? For gain? For fame? To receive feedback? To benefit others? Or simply to capture thoughts and images? Only the last two reasons appeal to me, and I seriously doubt much of what I have to share will resonate with a broad audience.

But just as the empty bowl fills when humbly lifted up, this collection jar will only fill if I write and post. Time to “fill ‘er up”.

At the End of the Block

  Pear trees blooming in March? A rarity in Northern Indiana but true this year as seen from this photo in front of my condo. Sometimes I feel cloistered in my condo retirement community. I like being the last house on the cul-de-sac, abutting the backyards of two "regular" houses. It makes me feel still attached to the outside world eight months after our move.

A reason to move to this retirement community was to be part of a discrete community. I value the sense of belonging, but at the same time I feel slightly boxed in, my world narrowing. Out my front door and to the west I walk a neighborhood of diversity. Turning to the east instead, I pass beige condo after beige condo of retirees. We have different backgrounds and experiences, yet we are quite homogenous and mostly products of a certain era. We are turned inward, our circled wagons creating security to face together the challenges of aging and dying. I need to go beyond the perimeter more to view a more expansive world and its perspectives, to leave behind what could become a fortress mentality. From the end of the block, I can look out my window and be reminded to claim the best of both worlds.