A Brief Visit With 5 Favorite Things

My elegant and wildly creative friend Salli makes a series called Tiny Treasures, drawings of favorite little items in her home. I took a page from her book yesterday because I wanted to draw but I didn’t have a molecule of energy for inventing anything new out of my noggin.

So here is a sketchbook page featuring a few objects that, yes Marie Kondo, still “spark joy” when I look at them.

Even if one is not a person who generally draws, I think drawing or even writing briefly about favorite things is a nice practice because it provides a way to reconnect with the delight the object provided at the start.

Happy Monday, friends.

This gift was special because the Hershey’s Kiss-shaped kiss and I go way back — to childhood, of course, but also to when our parents moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Mom kept a crystal container filled with chocolate kisses, and I still have a small, clear glass kiss from her. This is a blown glass kiss with pinks and greens, and a tiny paper scroll where one could write a message or perhaps a wish.

My husband’s parents were great collectors of cool objects. This metal sculpture is about six inches tall. There’s no visible signature, just a felt pad on the bottom to protect surfaces. I love him the way I love almost any depiction of an animal playing an instrument.

I saw this Zuni fetish carving by Claudia Peina at a western shop in an airport on a trip out West, and I kind of obsessed about her on and off throughout my adventure. On my way back, I splurged. She’s only about four inches tall, but there’s something very mystical and lovely about her.

A shell like so many shells gathered on trips to our heart location.

On the chance you’ve never seen a Wallace and Gromit movie, stop what you’re doing now and watch Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out. Well, OK, you have to like animated films. Anyway, it’s a clever and British and winsome tale of a human (Wallace) and his dog (Gromit). The figurine needs no explanation beyond the fact that the thing that looks like an “I” on the sweater he’s knitting is actually a dog bone.