Precious Things

Thank you for all the comments on my previous post. I love reading about what other people are up to and what their plans are (and I also love knowing I'm not the only September enthusiast out there)...

I mentioned a new little project: a collaboration between myself and some lovely fellow bloggers. It's called Precious Things. Allow me to explain the idea behind it...

I've often read interviews in magazines where that ubiquitous question pops up. You know, the one about what you'd save if the house was burning down. Well, with the exception of all living things, my camera, my new hard drive (which Royal Mail are now a week late in delivering) and perhaps a bottle of gin to calm the nerves, there are lots of little treasures which hold special meaning to me and which I'd hate to lose.

These things are not necessarily valuable in terms of financial merit but they're worth a whole lot more in terms of the memories they hold.

Mitenska is my special place where a particular blend of emotions, ideas and, I suppose, ramblings come together to form a whole. There's definitely some nostalgia in there. Bits of stories, things I remember from childhood. Inherited wisdom. Mental snapshots of people and places and experiences.

So it made sense to me to start a series looking at some of these little treasures, these precious things. And to think about what makes them so important.

Precious Things can take many forms: inherited jewellery, postcards, gifts from your children. Maybe a little something you bought with your first ever pay cheque, or a find you unearthed at a flea market - something where you have to imagine the life it had before you came along.

For my first post then, a few little treasures brought back from a long weekend in Prague.

When travelling (how cosmopolitan that sounds. The reality these days is that we don't stray far at all) I always like to find a souvenir or two. These souvenirs tend to be something for the house. And I'm a sucker for a vase, I really am.

So: these two treasures, procured from Golden Lane (which runs alongside Prague Castle). Both caught my eye for entirely different reasons; the heavy vase in splashy, monochrome Czech glass because of it's shape and size and my knowing it would look perfect on the bookcase. The little bookmark was just sweet and unusual, and that perfect mix of form and functionality. I still use it now, years later.

These souvenirs aren't just things I look at and use. They evoke memories of an icy city in March; of cold beer and horseradish dumplings and bookshops. And that's what makes them part of my collection of Precious Things.

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Please look out for my fellow blogger's posts on their Precious Things:

Bee at The Linen Cloud

Leanne at Today's Stuff

N at Creative Academia.

And as I get things a little bit more organised we should hopefully be posting simultaneously and with a guest post each month.