Familiar Things – downtoearthpositive

I have been really enjoying a writing group that gives a word a day to prompt thoughts. Some have been difficult, because this blog is “all about positivity” and let’s face it, not all words lead to positive thoughts! However, having a word stretches the imagination. A few days ago, the word was archaic and I must admit, difficult for me, as if that makes sense! I’m surrounded by the subject. Being a lover of antiques, I get pretty excited about archaic things!

There is nothing better than adopting an old handmade quilt. Just the fact that it is still in one piece after 50? 100 years? fascinates me. I have one my great-grandmother made, it is ugly as sin, yet beautiful. Made from the material of old shirts and cotton dresses because they came from a time where you used everything up to the best advantage. Why throw all that good cotton away just because of a rip or stain?

What is THAT? I don’t know, but it’s cool looking!

Old pianos, the older the better! I love ripping them apart. The craftsmanship, hand carving and delicacy and patience of the mechanics, they make some pretty cool repurposed works of art!

And my favorite —my adopted family of photographs. It saddens me that these wonderful people, or maybe not so wonderful people . . . have no identity. Who are they? Where did they come from? What was their story? How many kids did they have? Were they farmers, bankers, etc. Thus my second blog, The Brown Bag Letter, named after a letter written in 1899 and passed down in my family written on a brown bag because paper wasn’t available.

So I guess archaic isn’t so hard after all, I’m surrounded by it. You may like new things, that’s fine. We are all very different and that’s OK. Sometimes it is easy to look at ourselves and wonder why, or even be judgmental because we are different. I’m sure some haven’t read this far, thinking of the old shit I like because they prefer, At Home, IKEA, or wherever . . . that’s OK too. Celebrate who you are, what you like, your surroundings. You are you! And you are awesome!

Enjoying the Adventure! (Even when sometimes the adventure looks back!)

Dr. Dink

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Please visit my other Blog: Brown Bag Letter

I encourage you to visit other bloggers. You’ll find almost everything imaginable that can be written, in every form, from all over the world!

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I’ve been away for six weeks. When I left Pennsylvania there was snow on the ground and we arrived in the desert to sunshine and 93 degrees. Yesterday, I was surrounded by blue skies and was floating in a pool. I came from the dry air of the desert with warnings of wild fires, back to the Northeast and buckets of rain, buckets!. Everything feels damp, everything. For the past six weeks I’ve been experiencing the world from the eyes of a two-year-old in his toddler proof home. Today, I’m home, surrounded familiar antiques. The opposites are too many to list.

During these six weeks, I’ve been trained by a little human. He has taught me the wowness of the mundane. The excitement of what has been there and taken advantage of as “the norm”. He has shown me to see with new eyes again.

As I sit here this morning surrounded by my familiar, I realize that there can be no assumptions —everything is not the same, although nothing much has changed. Because I’ve been retrained by this little guy, I do see things differently and with a renewed sense of appreciation.

I was greeted by Smiley, my African statue and our collection of beautiful antique mirrors begging to give reflection, the best cow oil painting ever and the weather-vane in the window. Memories, comfort, old things . . . seen with new eyes, retrained to see by an inquisitive boy.

Look around you, what do you see? Look again, what is so familiar that you don’t see or appreciate it as it deserves? It may be a trinket, a wedding band, something from your childhood, or the person next to you . . .

Enjoying the Adventure,

Dr. Dink

________________

Please visit my other Blog: Brown Bag Letter

I encourage you to visit other bloggers at the following sites. You’ll find almost everything imaginable that can be written, in every form, from all over the world!

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