collection collective: moomins!

i grew up
without television.
my dad read
the plug-in drug
and this book's
warning about television
coupled with his distain
for consumerism
meant (to me)
that
we didn't get
to watch scooby -doo
and the smurfs.
instead
my dad read to us.
the jungle book
kim,
wizard of earthsea,
and many others...
my mother would
sit with us
and listen
to my dad read.
he was an excellent
storyteller.
he has
a real gift for voices
and a slow
deep voice-
perfect
for reading.

my mother
rarely read to us
(at least that
i can remember).
except
the moomin series.
i remember
curling up by her
and listening
to her soft,
gentle voice,
with that lovely
sing-song
of a foreigner
speaking
english,
reading us
moominland midwinter.

she lived in sweden
in her early 20s
where she
was introduced
to the moomin books
by Tove Jansson,
a Finnish novelist,
painter, illustrator
and
comic strip author.

moomins are not
very familar
to most americans
but you can find them
all over western europe
and,
of course,
in japan.
the japanese
(who seem
to have
a fondness
for all things
cute)
are crazy about
moomins.

my
collection collective
for wednesday
(a day late again)
is my moomin
collection.

the little my
yellow mug
i bought
in luebeck, germany
when i was there
for a foreign exchange
program.
i freaked out
when i saw them
because i never
saw the characters
outside of books.
i bought a mug
for each
of my siblings
and carted them
around europe
for months
because
i knew
my siblings
would love them
as much as i did.
that was over
10 years ago!
little my
was my favorite character.

little my (left)
with her mom

little my is
described as
a small, determined
and
fiercely independent.
she is
very aggressive
and
totally disrespectful,
but can be a good friend.
you can see why
i loved her, no?

i was also
very fond of
the hemulen
(see purple mug).
hemulen
are a species
that are described
as
avid collectors.
sound appropriate?!

my sister found
the purple
and gray mug
for me
at the marimekko store
in seattle.

the small
plastic characters
are from my brother
and my friend,
west coast pony.
they are a japanese
collector series.

they bought them
for me
at
schmancy
and
a store called okay-okay
(i think)
in seattle.
my brother
is so sweet...
he kept going
back to schmancy
to get me all
the characters.
i have most of
them,
but sadly
no moominmama!

it's not much
of a collection
but i thought
it would be fun
to share.

i'll leave you
with a crazy little
picture i took
today
while collecting in the forest.
here is a caterpillar
being predated upon
by an immature bug.
it's literally
got its mouthparts
(which are straw like)
in the caterpillar
and it's sucking it
like a milkshake.
they fell on my shirt
from a tree.
i interrupted his lunch.


friday-
my gift tags
for the
gift tag swap.