Source: (consider it)
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Thread: People may find your things strange.
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
Over on the Prayers of the Faithful, thread people request prayers using their ship names. I keep a prayer list in a small book that I use while saying the daily office. Should someone find my small book they would see such things as Bill for healing, and Helen for safe travels, but they would also run across some rather strange names such as Graven Image for support as she looks for a job. Now I know that our dear Lord has this all sorted out but I wonder what someone else might think. Do any of you have anything that makes perfect since to you, but would prove a puzzlement to others?
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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BessLane
Shipmate
# 15176
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Posted
Right now, I have multiple five gallon buckets filled with bottle caps. I'm saving them for a special project but if you didn't know that, you might just think I have some serious issues. I also have several coffee cans filled with the little tabs from the tops of soda/beer cans. Those I save for someone else, but again it still looks strange.
-------------------- It's all on me and I won't tell it. formerly BessHiggs
Posts: 1388 | From: Yorkville, TN | Registered: Sep 2009
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
A collection of fluff on one of our bookshelves - it's cat fluff from our British shorthair. When she moults, boy does she moult, and I keep meaning to try and felt the fluff into something decorative.
-------------------- "I say - are you a matelot?" "Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here" From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
I often think that if I ever get raided by the police, they'll take one look at my bookshelves and DVD collection, lock me up and throw away the key.
I also have little bundles of old nylon guitar strings. They look really useful, but are probably not. I've just seen some tiny animal sculptures made from thin wire, and might have a try at making those.
-------------------- 'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
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Posted
theater props. There's a rubber chicken in my kitchen. assorted fake weaponry mixed in with my collection of real weaponry. a rubber skull (life sized) on a shelf. a bright pink dog collar hanging above my desk with a dog toy just beneath it (that the dogs do NOT get to play with, those are mine!). a vase with a false bottom. a bunch of bottles with odd potions labeled on them. two giant bins of costumes and a few masks. a whole wall of costume hats - witch, tricorn, fez, russian beaver hat, sombrero, much much more...
add all that clutter to my book problem, camel statues, and globes hanging from the ceiling, and it might look a little odd to the wrong people.
-------------------- Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
I remember when we were cleaning out my late great-aunt's house. People kept going, "Why was she keeping this???" I'd bet much of it just wasn't sorted through/thrown away yet.
I think of that often - what people would think going through my stuff if I died (yeah, I'm morbid like that), but it's not enough to make me keep my place neat & organized.
Right now, someone would find a huge box in my apartment full of electronics recycling I keep not managing to get hauled away. Since some of that waste is disassembled (2 computers in particular - I wanted to remove the hard drives), it would probably strike someone as something I had intentionally saved or collected. For some art project? For scrap metals? (Then why did she keep the plastic casing?...)
-------------------- I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by comet: theater props. There's a rubber chicken in my kitchen... a rubber skull (life sized) on a shelf. ... it might look a little odd to the wrong people.
Everyone has skeletons don't they? I have a number of them, including a paper skull, all that's left from a life-size paper skellie (Bob, since you ask). When leaving university my Dad brought me home with my gear in the car; I had to sit with the full skeleton on my knee praying not to get stopped on the way.
-------------------- 'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet: Everyone has skeletons don't they?
A baboon skull and a monkey skull ... inherited when my older brother left home for university, I took over his room and the skulls came with it.
-------------------- Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I have a 43-year-old Plymouth convertible on my back patio; it has been there for about 25 years. I taught my wife how to drive in it on our honeymoon. I bought it in 1977. It is light-years too expensive to restore it, so I think I'll advertise it as a parts car in January and try to get rid of it along with some unused building materials.
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I have a few animal skulls (but then, I was once an archaeologist). I also have a random selection of human bones at the top of my wardrobe - I think they were once part of a skeleton for an anatomy class, but I'd rather like to dispose of them, and I can't just throw them in the bin!
-------------------- Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I was thinking I don't have too many strange things other than an inordinate number of books. Then I noticed the Klein bottle and the railroad lantern on the mantel.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
People might possibly wonder about my (working) collection of music books. Some of them exist in several different versions, by various publishers, because of the differences in engraving. For instance, the Schirmer editions of both books of 'The Well Tempered Clavichord' never get played anymore, but the Kalmus editions are played frequently.
Yes, I have been asked why! Several times.
-------------------- Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
We have 7 sewing machines, a large Argon ion laser in the loft and an x-ray box. I'm a part-time seamstress and my other half is a quantum physicist, so not unreasonable. More intriguing might be that I spent at least 7 years visiting forums whilst using the username puddlepants : ) That used to raise a few eyebrows.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Avila
Shipmate
# 15541
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Posted
I have plenty of space - and fill it! I currently have a collection of empty bottles some of which have had the bottoms cut off. A second microwave for my mini kiln, and a broken vase. The bottles are part of my experiments with fusing recycled glass, the vase though is there because you never know when a prop about brokenness may come in useful...
And that's not including the eggboxes and other assorted things I claim to keep for children's craft (even if they have been there for 2-3 years so far...)
-------------------- http://aweebleswonderings.blogspot.com/
Posts: 1305 | From: west midlands | Registered: Mar 2010
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Avila: I have plenty of space - and fill it! I currently have a collection of empty bottles some of which have had the bottoms cut off. A second microwave for my mini kiln, and a broken vase. The bottles are part of my experiments with fusing recycled glass, the vase though is there because you never know when a prop about brokenness may come in useful...
And that's not including the eggboxes and other assorted things I claim to keep for children's craft (even if they have been there for 2-3 years so far...)
I have collection of empty bottles too, for slumping in my small craft kiln ( I also have a microwave kiln which I use for jewellery).
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Avila
Shipmate
# 15541
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Posted
Tangent....
What kiln do you use for slumping? I am currently looking at getting one but the size I can stretch to would not be enough for full size wine bottles....
-------------------- http://aweebleswonderings.blogspot.com/
Posts: 1305 | From: west midlands | Registered: Mar 2010
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
I've only got a little sc2 so can only do small bottles and jars - cue me buying miniature bottles of wine So I can do recycled spoon rests but not serving trays/cheese boards. Mostly I do jewellery, candle holders, bowls etc. I've only had it a few months. I still use the microwave kiln for some jewellery as it has instant results.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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The Weeder
Shipmate
# 11321
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Posted
Books. There are books everywhere.
Some one asked me if I was a teacher- he could not imagine why anyone would have all these books without a reason. And to be fair to him. only one bookshelf has fiction. All the others, in my study, living room, bedroom, landing and kitchen are non fiction.
-------------------- Still missing the gator
Posts: 2542 | From: LaLa Land | Registered: Apr 2006
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The Rhythm Methodist
Shipmate
# 17064
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Posted
I have a collection of memorabilia from the 1851 Great Exhibition, but most of my junk is unidentifiable - a legacy from ebay, where my favourite search terms are "unknown" and "mystery item".
I briefly owned a "leather" bottle, fashioned from a scrotum, but I felt this would better enhance my father's collection.
My long-suffering wife is generally understanding, but drew the line at an elephant's foot umbrella stand, a cast-iron tortoise spittoon, and an eighteenth century prosthetic arm....complete with rusting hook. There's no accounting for taste - or (in her case) the lack of it.
Posts: 202 | From: Wales | Registered: Apr 2012
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by The Weeder: Books. There are books everywhere.
Some one asked me if I was a teacher- he could not imagine why anyone would have all these books without a reason. And to be fair to him. only one bookshelf has fiction. All the others, in my study, living room, bedroom, landing and kitchen are non fiction.
But this is supposed to be about strange things! There's nothing strange about lots of books!
What I can never comprehend is a home with one bookcase -- most of which contains knick-knacks instead of books.
-------------------- "...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe." ~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Pigwidgeon: [QUOTE]Originally posted by The Weeder: [qb] Books. There are books everywhere.
What I can never comprehend is a home with one bookcase -- most of which contains knick-knacks instead of books.
I once attended a party at the house of a couple in my volleyball group. Being the unsocial person, after a while I wanted to browse their books. Careful and tactful search showed they had a bible and the newspaper as the only reading matter in the house. I recall breaking out in a cold sweat on discovering this.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Pigwidgeon: But this is supposed to be about strange things! There's nothing strange about lots of books!
What I can never comprehend is a home with one bookcase -- most of which contains knick-knacks instead of books.
Or, just as bad, arranged by colour (blue in the dining room, green in the hall, any other colour not welcome), with knick-knacks arranged along the edge in front of the books, so that the books are completely inaccessible without dismantling everything. My mother-in-law, in case you were wondering.
-------------------- The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by The Rhythm Methodist: ....a cast-iron tortoise spittoon ......
One of these on Antiques Road Show last month. Ł4k
Fly Safe Pyx_e
-------------------- It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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Polly Plummer
Shipmate
# 13354
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Posted
Last time we moved house, one of the removal men said "Why have you got all these boxes marked Books? Are you an accountant?" I said "No, they're books to read". He said "Blimey! Hear that, Bill? they're ordinary reading books!" and Bill said "Blimey!"
Posts: 577 | Registered: Jan 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Polly Plummer: Last time we moved house, one of the removal men said "Why have you got all these boxes marked Books? Are you an accountant?" I said "No, they're books to read". He said "Blimey! Hear that, Bill? they're ordinary reading books!" and Bill said "Blimey!"
Some years ago, when bf and I were moving from respective flats to new house, the removal men came for my stuff first, because I had the teensy 2 room place one flight up - whereas flat no 2 was both large and at the top of 90 stairs.
'Look at all them books!' they said when they saw my shelves. Oh dear, I thought. Oh dear. Oh dear. [ 20. November 2012, 13:23: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
Two of my dearest friends have two bookcases. One holds an ancient encyclopaedia. The other hold a small assortment of books about cats, and cat ornaments. Whenever I visit, I bring an assortment of books to read. I can deal with no computer, but not with no books.
-------------------- Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Unda Maris
Shipmate
# 4983
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Posted
Back to skeletons (of course), I once heard someone who had to transport a skeleton across town and wanted to carry it as a motorbike pillion. To turn a few heads, I suppose.
They couldn't do it, though, as they couldn't find a crash helmet to fit!
-------------------- Competence costs extra!
Posts: 66 | From: Solihull - the centre of England | Registered: Sep 2003
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
Once here in Mozambique, a friend asked me to take a full-sized dress-doll with me when I was driving to another city. The doll wasn't exactly in one piece anymore, so there were various loose limbs in the back of my pick-up truck.
Normally in this country, the police puts up many road blocks where they want to search the contents of your car. This time, I so wanted that they'd look in the back. But alas, they didn't
-------------------- I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Imersge Canfield
Shipmate
# 17431
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Posted
This is a great thread. I am quite a horder too.
I justify it by calling stuff found objects !
I am a sucker for anything interesting or strangely facinating.
I have a number of teapots and all kinds of stones and bark.
-------------------- 'You must not attribute my yielding, to sinister appetites' "Preach the gospel and only use jewellry if necessary." (The Midge)
Posts: 419 | From: Sun Ship over Grand Fenwick Duchy | Registered: Nov 2012
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mark_in_manchester
not waving, but...
# 15978
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Posted
The Rhythm Methodist said
quote: most of my junk is unidentifiable - a legacy from ebay, where my favourite search terms are "unknown" and "mystery item".
Ooooh, you bad man. That's planted a seed in me which didn't need planting.
I love old shite, especially value-less old shite. I go right off things which later turn out to be 'collectible'. But around here, people sometimes do me the favour of stealing such items, like my petrol pump.
-------------------- "We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard (so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)
Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010
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sophs
Sardonic Angel
# 2296
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Posted
When people come into our living room the first thing they notice is the books over flowing, the second thing is the teapots on every available surface and then, once they sit down their eyes wander to the plant pot full of tea strainers sat on the fireplace opposite the copper bucket.
Why, they ask, would anyone want or need 30 odd plastic tea strainers from the asda smart price range.
To go with all the teapots of course.
This generally bemuses them until I explain that we have a huge collection of china for our wedding in May.
Posts: 5407 | From: searching saharas of sorrow | Registered: Feb 2002
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Less easy to explain is my collection of stones with holes in.
Visitors seize instead with relief upon the sight of the neat row of Devon Buses, or the groups of little pottery houses. At least those are normal.
-------------------- Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Chorister: Less easy to explain is my collection of stones with holes in.
You mean there are people who don't collect stones with holes in them? Shame on them.
-------------------- "controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
I have 68 old cameras (OK, 67 plus a new one, plus the crap one on my phone).
I also have a collection of coffin furniture and two photos of Edwardian funerals.
For some reason, one starts more conversations than the other...
AG
-------------------- "It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Chorister: Less easy to explain is my collection of stones with holes in.
We call them bricks
To be collectable stones, especially pebbles, have to have a marbling pattern to them. And small. Except for the ones which are flat enough for skimming, as these are always skimmed, no matter how beautiful the patterning.
-------------------- Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I have a large collection of assorted wine-bottle corks on my kitchen counter. I plan to make a hotpad out of some of them. They need to be decanted into a large bucket so we can do more sophisticated cooking.
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sir Kevin: I have a large collection of assorted wine-bottle corks on my kitchen counter. I plan to make a hotpad out of some of them. They need to be decanted into a large bucket so we can do more sophisticated cooking.
My wife and I kept a champagne cork (or Cava when we were poorer) for each wedding anniversary in a special box. It filled up after about 20 years so it was divorce or dump the corks. We're still married.
-------------------- "controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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The Machine Elf
Irregular polytope
# 1622
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Chorister: Less easy to explain is my collection of stones with holes in.
Did they have holes in them before you collected them?
-------------------- Elves of any kind are strange folk.
Posts: 1298 | From: the edge of the deep green sea | Registered: Oct 2001
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poileplume
Shipmate
# 16438
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Posted
My wife disposes of anything and everything in her periodic Angel of Destruction moods.
Last week she informed me she had disposed of “those old roots in peat moss” in my workshop. “They are called dahlias” I told her.
Nothing is safe chez nous.
-------------------- Please note I am quite severely dyslexic
Posts: 319 | From: Quebec | Registered: May 2011
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by que sais-je: quote: Originally posted by Sir Kevin: I have a large collection of assorted wine-bottle corks on my kitchen counter. I plan to make a hotpad out of some of them. They need to be decanted into a large bucket so we can do more sophisticated cooking.
My wife and I kept a champagne cork (or Cava when we were poorer) for each wedding anniversary in a special box. It filled up after about 20 years so it was divorce or dump the corks. We're still married.
My family uses the corks from celebratory bubbles and each member there writes a prediction. eg birthdate if there is a pregnancy, exam marks or whatever suits the occasion. We do this only for the bigger occasions so not too many corks. Minor birthdays etc are marked but corks are pitched.
-------------------- Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
I have a shelf covered in balls of wax. Everytime I get a nice waxed cheese or descnd to the level of eating mini-babybels I roll the wax into a ball and roll the balls together until they are in the golf-tennis ball size. I then inscribe the rolling date on them and place themon the shelf.
Apart, that is, for the browny-yellow one. That was from a competition I had with my drinking buddies to create the largest ball of earwax (inspired by Father Ted). I kept going after the weigh-in with mine and now I have seven years of my earwax in one fist-sized lump.
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Bob Two-Owls: now I have seven years of my earwax in one fist-sized lump.
Waaaaay TMI.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Rhythm Methodist
Shipmate
# 17064
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by mark_in_manchester Ooooh, you bad man. That's planted a seed in me which didn't need planting.
I love old shite, especially value-less old shite. I go right off things which later turn out to be 'collectible'.
It took me years to come to terms with the fact that my tastes extended way past traditional antiques, and into the realms of "value-less old shite" - as you so aptly put it. I find beauty in strange places, and I'm sometimes even moved by objects which saner people would not afford a second glance.
The current love of my life is an old explosives chest - a crusty old Victorian thing made of steel banded, 2 inch thick wood....immensely heavy. Having finally got it home, I was overwhelmed by the compulsion to see if I could fit inside and close the lid. I later phoned my father to tell him of my acquisition of this incredible artefact. He interrupted me with, "Can you fit inside it, son?" It seems there may be an hereditary problem!
Posts: 202 | From: Wales | Registered: Apr 2012
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by The Machine Elf: quote: Originally posted by Chorister: Less easy to explain is my collection of stones with holes in.
Did they have holes in them before you collected them?
Yes. That is why I collected them. (rather like why you buy Polos, not just any old mints)
-------------------- Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
One does?
-------------------- "Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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