Jeana’s Journal

As individuals we are ever-changing as we grow, learn, age, and live. Recently as I sat working I began to reflect on my favorite “things” and I realized how much those things have changed as time passes. 

When I was a young girl I sometimes thought about what I would take with me should I need to flee my home and could take only one thing. Back then my treasures were few: the jewelry box my oldest brother had given me and a teddy bear. Right now I can’t recall exactly where the bear is, although I am sure that I still have it, and my jewelry box is still in plain sight but I rarely stop to admire it.

Life experiences and relationships help shape the things we value. Success and finding an area of interest that we pursue, either as a career or a hobby, are also great contributors to the things that bring us pleasure. The places we live and vacation as well as people we collect as friends are also important in shaping the person we become and, consequently, the things we value. There are also things that we believe to be beautiful and thus want to surround us in our “nest.” All of the above reveal the person inside our physical body.

While thinking about my favorite things I wondered how much my things reveal about the person I am and how that affects me daily. I started a list of favorite things and it quickly grew very long. I realized that, unlike my child-self whose life experiences were few, as time passes most of the things I treasure are directly related to life experiences, emotional reactions, and exploration.

Perhaps we are like precious stones and each passing year adds new facets and dimensions to the person we are becoming as we learn and grow. If that is the case, I plan to keep exploring and learning so that in my old age I will be brilliant!

Below are a few favorite things that I have collected in my life’s journey. I have purposefully excluded family reminders, such as photos, and quilts I have made or own. They, in reality, are my first choices. The items pictured are “things” that represent visual stimulation and positive emotion to me. They are the things I live with every day.

The tools of my trade on a handy turntable on my work table. I look at and use these things every day.

My red built-in kitchen hutch (it was number one on my wish list when we built this house). It holds everyday dishes and other dishes I have collected in my teaching travels.

One of my first drawings and the vehicle by which I learned that my hands can draw. It was an amazing discovery. The teapot represents the herbal/fruit tea I enjoy. My husband says it tastes like drinking potpourri, but I love it as a warm daily treat. 

During long hours of stitching time I listen to my favorite author, Miss Read, over and over again. Nothing much ever happens in these books. They are a fictitous tale of the daily lives of inhabitants in an English Village. The familiar characters keep me company and make me feel good inside. When working under a deadline I spend lots of time with these characters in Thrush Green.

I do love that 30’s green, I have lots of that color in my house. These dishes were hand-painted by ladies, as a hobby, in the 1930’s. Having their exquisite work—painted with “berry” motifs—is visually such a treat to me. I do love china!!….and red and green!!

Round red sandstone rocks collected on walks in the desert and sea glass from walks on the shore (many different shores) are a couple of my “nature collections.” These particular collections are a daily reminder to me (as they sit on the window sill above my kitchen sink) of the beauty and wonders of this earth.

A brand new bracelet (thus my favorite piece of jewelry) from the Cameron Trading Post, located on the Navajo Reservation between Flagstaff and Page, Arizona. Note the red blood coral stones—surprise— one of my favorite colors!