Jubilee Collection Goes Public

Some things make me this happy.

In a very late outing for ice cream in Hyde Park, Baby Sister managed to get most of her treat all down her dress last night. Not one to call it a day over sartorial issues, I pulled together a spare outfit with her cardigan as a top and Big Sister's cardigan as a skirt! Glee ensued.

I am grinning a bit like that today myself even though it means my sideboards are positively forlorn, almost barren.  Wait 'til you hear why!

I may have told you that I'm excited about the Queen's Jubilee. So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this article requesting loans of royal memorabilia for a Queen's Jubilee exhibit. What? There might be a life for my goodies beyond my sideboard? People might appreciate them more than our dazed school friends who come over for play dates, munching their snacks in silence while staring at dozens of images of their Queen? I'm in!

I sent an email saying just that. Happily, the curator wrote back and said, "hooray! We'd like to borrow your things." Well, I'm not sure he actually said "hooray" (that was me at this end) but thus began an exchange to coordinate delivery.

And because I could give lessons on how to make a complete boob of yourself and I was VERY excited about my Queen collection being part of the official celebration, I zipped off a goofy email to my beloved (even signing it "Crazy Cat Lady in the Making."). I sort of suspect that people who amass oddball collections like I have might also be inclined to amass felines.  Which is really mean to all the nice people who like and own dozens of cats. They are probably out there sending snippy emails about kooks like me who breed four small people!  But anyway, just as I hit "send" on my silly note to the Mister, I watched it flash thru the World Wide Web to...the curator. Not to the Mister. So within minutes of telling this professional artist and exhibit curator that I'd be happy to share my things, I went from looking like a potentially interesting American collector of British antiques (albeit not as quirky as Jubilade), to a complete nut.

I am nothing if not myself.

When I recovered from the red-faced shame (and how I wish I could send this to "Young Miss" magazine's "Was My Face Red" column (remember that!?)), I managed to haul Baby Sister and my loot to drop off my goods.

And today I was interviewed about it!  Baby Sister and I met with an Oral Historian (and here I have to pause and say that I've met exactly three people through the exhibition project and they all have amazingly interesting sounding jobs!  When I've queried them about whether they enjoyed them as much as it might sound, delightfully, they said they sure did!  How nice is that?!) and chatted for about 20 minutes on tape.  It will be interesting to see (and now hear) how everyone's contributions get folded together. I cannot overstate how tickled I am already to have played even the tiniest part of the Jubilee celebration.

As with most conversations, I did walk away from my interview reflecting on even more things I might have said. My collecting has its roots in a desire to create a home filled with meaning and even more, souvenirs of our travels. But now that I have a chance to share the collection makes me even happier. I think of it as a very tiny way of giving back to the British. We've been absolutely embraced by Londoners. That I can do something little to help them celebrate something so monumental makes my day. And then some.

Wanna go with me to see the exhibit? It will give me another excuse to go! I'll do my best not to embarrass us terribly. If you can't make the show (which runs through June 24) you can be sure I'll tell you all about it.

And again, apologies to crazy cat ladies everywhere!

Also, many thanks to Baby Sister for being such a great little girl on a long, hot bus ride in mid-day London traffic, sitting through my interview coloring, and being all around super company. She doesn't (at this moment) share my enthusiasm for the project but she's been a real sweetheart to tag along on my outings for it so cheerfully. She got a few sweets out of the deal, but her favorite part was getting to experience the public art just outside my interview.

A Window Onto the World

And a glimpse of history, too!  One man's trash is another's treasure. Those who think this looks a little bit junky will heartily agree that it should have kept going on its way to the "bin." But I am thrilled the man I bought it from rescued it from certain demise. Especially now that it can be my dining room window treatment!

The Mister took off for a few days to another country. Let's see how long it takes him to notice this treasure upon his return!  I mentioned I'd spied it recently and his first question was "how big is it?" This is a learned man. Experienced in these matters. He knows that I made an over 5 foot tall stuffed giraffe the centerpiece of a nursery for a baby not yet arrived in a townhouse already too small.

But how fantastic is this vintage 1937 banner from King George's coronation? How could I resist? What if I told you it was actually meant for his brother, Edward (Queen Elizabeth's uncle)? You can see the original ER printing through the back with GR clearly whipped stitched over top (think Girl Scout patch) when it Edward abdicated the throne. A piece of history that happens to fit my window exactly.

I'm sure the current taping up with duct and masking tape and a few stitches, too won't be a permanent solution (altho I very much hope it will hold until the Mister can spot it over breakfast! I also hope he doesn't get a play by play report from Baby Sister of how I hung it. She was outraged at my standing on the furniture. Mental note: dust footprints off sideboard before company comes this weekend.) but I'm determined this is the right place for this fantastic banner and I was terribly impatient to see how it would look.

I'm pretty sure I heard some of those pie birds below chirping their delight.

Wait 'til the kids see it! Just as they love to plan themed birthdays (and some have even been known to sketch cake ideas! Hooray, my tiny apprentices!) they have begun to adopt my quirks in collecting. Some, though claim not to be terribly enamoured by my funnier "old" things. The Mister wasn't a huge fan of the box of vintage underwear that was nailed in our last powder room. Big Brother goes so far as to have an aversion to ivy covered houses because "they look SO OLD!"  (As if that is a bad thing...?). But the boys sure appreciate my finding old bus blinds for their walls and Big Sister loves her old Girls Annuals.

The kids can be understood in thinking this frog Pelham puppet is creepy. I am a little scared of it myself. I thought it was about time he hopped off the top of the secretary (where his legs dangled over the side and he seemed to leer at us sitting on the couch) to take a special place in the dining room. Have I mentioned that I am a frustrated window display artist?  I have begun a collection of things (in the trade they're "props") for countless events, seasons, and holidays that are a bit quirky. Maybe someday they'll fill the window of a store but until then, I have my own props arrayed on my sideboards. As soon as Easter is over, stand back for All Things Queen's Jubilee. I suspect our beloved Irish handyman may not want to visit us this summer. He'll have fair warning starting with our door decor.

All this treasure hunting and displaying is contagious. Following Our Sweet School's Easter Fayre yesterday, I saw that someone had tucked a teeny prize chick next to a domed cloche on our sideboard, keeping my giant chick company!

This is another part of my job these days. Feathering our nest. With antique banners, dozens of pie birds, and puppets of questionable intent. A collection of sorts. Just like us.