Andy Rooney - He and I liked the same things.

"I like things you put things in." Andy Rooney said this according to a news reporter speaking about Rooney on a Sunday news show. I had to smile. I have never said those words, but I, too, like things you put things in.
Don't you like baskets, and don't you like to find things to put in them? I love to find a pretty basket at a good price. I have never bought expensive baskets. After all, I don't need another basket. They collect dust and I do my best to avoid dust catchers in my house.
Many years ago, I brought home a basket every time I visited the mountains of N.GA or North Carolina. The fall festival booths overflowed with them - all made from different materials - pine straw, kudzu vines, birch bark, grasses and twigs. I fell in love with every kind of basket I saw and I brought them home with me.

Lately, I can't stop buying those storage fabric boxes or fabric covered boxes. They come in lovely colors so I buy some blue and then find I like another type in green. If my shopping had been planned instead of being spontaneous I'd have selected one color and bought the boxes in sets. I could then use them on a shelf to hold my stuff, but now I have mismatched colors and that looks like I had no plan . And I didn't.

Recently I caught myself keeping the cute little square containers the cat food comes in. The plastic top peels off and the bottoms are just the perfect size to hold little things like paper clips in a desk drawer or earrings in my jewelry chest. But I feed the cat twice a day, that means two little square holders every day. I gave up and now I toss them.

I used to collect clowns and had some I prized. But my practical mind took over. I began collecting pitchers - any size was fine. The graceful shape of a pitcher is pleasing to my eyes. A pitcher is a vessel. Unlike porcelain clowns, vessels are useful.

I love the glazes and designs in the pottery I find in this area, so I began collecting local hand made pitchers and vases. Recently I attended one of the biggest and best pottery festivals  -- in Dillsboro, NC. I told those who were with me to hit me in the head if I bought anything. I am getting rid of "STUFF" and I don't need to add anything to what I have.

The potters came from as far away as Iowa and Vermont. Such creativity! Each booth held unique pieces. The lamps, glazed and even imbued with stained glass, for 200 dollars or more would make a conversation piece in any one's home. Oh, how I drooled over them, but that was out of my budget, completely.

The couple from Iowa had the one kind of pottery I could not resist. Half of the display was horse themed. Mugs with images of a horse, bowls with horse images and, large or small the pieces, whether plain or colorful, showed a horse in motion. And these horses were no caricatures, each was carefully etched and honestly portrayed a beautiful horse.

At first I tried to justify a purchase for a friend. But I don't have a friend who would appreciate horse themed pottery. I appreciate it and I finally gave in and  bought a sand colored  mug with a lighter colored horse on the side. I told myself I needed it for my new office to go with my horse lamp and my horse bookends. I felt a little  less guilty after I talked the owner of the booth into letting me have two pieces for a six dollar discount.

 Bowls, cups, vases, baskets, bags, magazine holders, containers of all sorts, home-made or manufactured, intrigue me. I can not be let loose in the container store.

Do you, like Andy Rooney and I, have an attraction for "things you put things in?"


Subscribe Free to this blog and get new posts sent directly to your Inbox. See the sidebar and write in your email address under the words Subscribe. You will receive a link sent to you by email and follow the directions given. That's all there is to it.