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Souvenirs

September 17th, 2014

Whenever I travel to try to buy a patch for my travel patch quilt, but that’s about a kitchy as I get when it comes to souvenirs. Typically I prefer to purchase a useful item that I can either display or something useful that I can use daily. Last time I was in Seattle I purchase a lovely hand carved spatula. It’s made of bird’s eye maple and it’s quite stunning, I use it almost daily and it brings back memories of that trip. This time I purchase a small sign for my garden.
garden sign 1
I spotted it at Bloedel Reserve and knew it would be the perfect item since we spent the majority of our time touring gardens.
garden sign 2
The script font and the tiny bird are lovely, the rusty finish is also fetching. No worries about it rusting or leaving it in the garden.
garden sign 3
garden sign 4
I’m not sure where I’m going to put it right now, perhaps in my small entry by the front door. When I get a fence and gate on the main garden in back I’d like to put it there, perhaps I’ll cut a special rectangle in the gate and showcase this inside.

What kinds of items do you purchase to remember your travels?

5 Comments to “Souvenirs”
  1. angie on September 17, 2014 at 7:19 am

    I have definitely changed my taste in souvenirs
    when we travel. I try to get something local and useful.
    And if I don’t find something, wine works!

    I didn’t start collecting patches from national parks untilgeology field camp, I like your idea of sewing them onto a quilt. If I can find a unique Christmas ornament, I will pick one up. In Florida my souvenir was local raw honey and a bottle of wine I fell in love
    with at a quaint, hole in the wall, Italian restaurant.
    In the Bahamas I bought a beautiful hand wove basket from local artisans and painting from a street artist.

    But, we used to waste tons of money on tacky tourist trap crap. We were ridiculous in Hawaii. Between the 2 of us traveling so often at times we learned fast and became more picky!

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  2. whit on September 17, 2014 at 8:55 am

    What a beautiful sign! Your idea for incorporating it in the fence is tres charming! The bird is so adorable. We have a potter in Port Townsend that includes such little birds on her wares…I can’t wait for the next time we good to the peninsula.

    I tend to do the same with souvenirs. I stick with local food delicacies or handmade items. Last trip we took to AZ, we found ourselves staying at the b&b run by the woman that started Buffalo Exchange. They had a beautiful resale shoppe next door, for vintage and antiques. For our souvenirs, my hubbie picked up a vintage gemstone tie clip he had needed, my daughter picked up a fantastic tripod for her movie making, and I found a silver serving spoon with our initial carved on it from the bargain bin, no less. We also brought home mesquite jelly, prickly pear jams, and mesquite flour. Had to introduce my daughter to chicle and limon while we were there too, as they were staples of my youth. :) Usually, if we can find a Christmas tree ornament, that comes home with us too.

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  3. Nebraska Dave on September 17, 2014 at 9:08 am

    Susy, I was never a souvenir collector but as I’ve said before, I’m not a tourist traveler either. I’m a destination event traveler. There has to be a family event or a project of some kind on the other end. I had a wonderful wife who was the souvenir decorator. Many of her creations are still on the walls of my house. Slowly they are being replaced with other stuff or being added to but that is just not something that I do well. My daughter who lives with me didn’t inherit that gene either. It once took me about 90 minutes of sorting through the home improvement store closet door knobs and plugin covers to find the right ones that would match the color of the newly painted bedroom. I can’t tell you how long it took to pick out the paint color which was a real task in itself being partially color blind and all. Is it any wonder that after ten years, I haven’t tackled another room. Maybe some day but just not today. :-)

    Have a great souvenir memory day.

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  4. Sarah on September 17, 2014 at 10:14 am

    I’m not much for souvenirs – if I see something that I would buy in my own hometown I might get it, but I’ve found that when I buy souvenirs they just end up taking up space.

    One exception is when I travel to foreign countries I’ll always buy a children’s book. I have them in Thai, Japanese, French, Spanish, Swahili and a few other languages. Being children’s books, they’re easy enough to understand even without knowing the words, and now that I have a little one he loves them too.

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  5. Rachel on September 17, 2014 at 5:07 pm

    Magnets! It’s been fun purchasing magnets on our travels and having them displayed on the refrigerator, a place we obviously frequent multiple times during the day where we can often be reminded of our family adventures. Your idea of purchasing a beautiful, practical item for every day use is a good one.

    Reply to Rachel's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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