i've always had eclectic taste, from the very sophisticated to the ridiculous. the ridiculous things? well, i call these items my Early Kindergarten collections. i LOVE bright primary colors, especially Red and Orange, miniatures of almost everything (well, there is one BIG exception to this.), transportation stuff like toy trains, cars and planes too of course, and then there is the Snow White Thang.

while i was writing this silly post, i realized that my stuff, These Things, hold memories, painful ones but also lovely poignant heartache and gratitude flashes from the past. my dead husband Richard sitting on the damask loveseat in the wood-paneled den while i wrote, playing Snow White in first grade, feeling flush in Vegas and buying Minnie Mouse and so much more. and that this is why i can't seem to sell these items, even though i need money in order to keep my teeth and to ward off the death of my car and for other luxuries. that my ridiculous collectibles and my couch hold past small scenes that are precious to me. this is the true treasure, these moments of love, these tiny seconds of life where the joy lives, which doesn't mean that i don't covet my crystal MM bag!

as you can see, these are miniatures (by Robert Olzewski) the Cottage in the Woods with Snow and of all of the lovely dwarves or, shit, it's Little People now, right?  i've been obsessed with this story since i was cast as Snow White in the first grade play, when i was at my peak, with long dark hair, a tiny nose, a singing voice and 3, count 'em, 3 boyfriends!* it's been downhill since then, but i still love all things Snow. and i've been looking for a cool motley posse ever since. i wish i could still pull off the long hair and that i had the three boyfriends but knowing that it once was is not too shabby either.

Prince Charming has his own Wishing Well set piece. he does not belong

at  the cottage!  

bad bad photo. but this is the Woods set piece with the Witch and the Evil Queen hanging out together. kind of messed up because they are the same person. but what can you do?  oh, i get it. these were all taken when i was moving. i will do better soon with more photos.

my favorite piece of my Early Chihuahua kitchen decor. i would usually frame all of these, but it's for me and me alone, as it turns out -- i invited people here to come see my new fun decor but i heard no no no, as usual -- and i'm just fine with the pictures hanging like this. i love the Yoda-like half-smile and the sweater.

hmm, some exceptions to the Chi theme. this is Cocoa Chanel's favorite!

my new AC unit N3T3 bravely battling the 106 degree heat, which is a global warming travesty but whatever. please ignore the many fire hazard plugs. the comcast guy didn't realize that it's not linear programming to set this shit up. my "friend" Julie said she finds him creepy. i think he's cuter in person. he reminds me of the Little Engine that Could, a favorite since i LOVE trains. i think i can, i think i can... i knew i could. i know i can. wise words for all of us.

all 101 of the 101 Dalmatians in plastic from mickey dee's in their suitcase like carrier with the certificate of authenticity. yes, i know, i rock!!! oh, and if anyone wants to buy any of this awesome stuff from me, make me an offer. not begging or pleading. just like to share my abundance. :) i gave away many many many McD toys that i carefully collected. but I still have the plastic Chevron cars... this is what can happen if you didn't have a childhood and, well, you're just very immature.

i LOVE this box. i used to collect everything train-themed. my dead Richard came up with the Catch My Train of Thought idea (in a Valentine's card one year) and then the logo. i have a little train tattoed on my ankle, well, these days it's more of a cankle. the train love is not sexual. it's about freedom. my mother took all of us kids to museum after museum to make sure that we would be cultured, while my dad took us to interesting place, to places and things that fascinated him. so one day he drove the older brother and me way out in the burbs and put us on a train. oh my lord, it was the best feeling ever in the world. we were alone, away from the daily torments of our hideous family, on our own. we could do anything. we could be anything. i didn't have to become a doctor. my brother didn't get a beating while we were on that train.

my father drove into Boston and picked us up at South Station. we were full of giggles and joy. how could you not love something that can give you such freedom and refuge?

the Taj Mahal birdcage that i adore. it was home to my pet rats Ben and Jerry and Half-Pint the dwarf ratlet. to the right of the Rat Majal is a sculpture by Beatrice Wood called Modern Woman. it's of a woman holding a man over her head. Beatrice was so prolific that it's not worth anything now but i did get to be a Patron of the Art when it was included in a museum exhibition and in the film Mama of Dada, about BW. to the right of MW is the case for the 101 Dalmation toys!

another bad photo. i'll take some good ones. my pink and california green shelves that make me very happy, holding, from the top: Horton Hears a Who -- one of the best books ever. little Cindy Lou Who is a role model for me, for sure, an antique black wood train, a G gauge Coco Cola boxcar -- LGB, i think, my lovely blue whale lamp Wall, and below that is my beloved Train Box, which turns out to hold Beanie Babies and miniature cars and will share these as well. to the right of the shelf, on top of the stereo that doesn't work is my German train spinning top, one of my favorite train thangs that i own. just a small portion of my collections because my low income apartment is small -- but really very nice and GREEN. hence the big ass cardboard boxes. god, it was so much fun collecting all of that stuff. being a collector made every outing full of possibility... more stories for another time.

this is my neoprene cat purse and my striped kitty set, seated on the pillows from my possibly-worth-something champagne and ivory patterned damask love seat,

now covered in bright red-flowered Marimekko fabric to protect it from the Wonderpups. back when Richard was alive and we still had a house to call our own, the loveseat sat in my wood-paneled den in Ventura, CA. Richard would perch there and practice his jazz flute and sax while i wrote and re-wrote and edited, or he would review blueprints for his latest elaborate gardening project.  as i said, i loved that room.

okay, this part of the living/dining area is a hot mess. please note the lovely giant cardboard box (i need to cover it with something fun or paint it. such an eyesore), one of several that i haven't unpacked because i just have no room and i gave a ton of stuff to Salvation Army and to rather veracious "friends".

so i got Early Kindergarten creative. to the left we have the Kitty stuff and then there is my beloved Scottie Dog purse that i named Elektra after comic book Cathy's dog. i had the red straps put on and i got her a leopard print collar and a red dog tag. it's amazing now to think that i carried her everywhere, to the extent that people would ask how she was doing, and that when i went to a pre-imprisoned Paula Poundstone performance, Paula took Elektra up on stage with her. then my Scottie girl was famous! well, with people who also went to that event anyway. and i didn't figure out until a few years later that i NEEDED A DOG!!! (when i finally got my first canine-american, Richard said, yah, DUH, of course you needed this, in a loving way. instead i had 4 kitties: Thelma the Love Kitty, Louise, Moll Flanders the Homeless Tramp and Bobby Seale the Black Panther.

oh, and for those who partake, to the right is the brass and red water pipe that i bought in Kabul, Afghanistan back in 1971, before the Soviets invaded and it was a lovely city with a middle class and a nightclub. story for another time.

Snow White and Prince Charming Trolls!!! no jealousing, Freaky girl. you have lots of boyfriends. i've shared the story above. i love all things Snow. but my photos are getting much better, aren't they? deeper colors anyway! god, i love looking at these every day when i write and/or watch tv. you can see a bit of the pink Tweetie bird frame that holds a picture of me kissing Jonathan Winters on the cheek. he was a regular visitor at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. he's a looney tune too so we talked about meds for a while and had a blast. god, i miss being able to afford conferences and groups and such. i miss other writers. In Person writers.

my beloved Fish Called Wanda purse! i have Baby Wanda too, but she's in my filthy car, holding the garage door opener. style, baby, style. i bought a few of these and gave two to my Santa Monica acupuncture's lovely chinese receptionists. they were ecstatic. god, i love when i get to give someone the perfect present. the RED and the Fish, all good things in Chinese culture. now i wish that i'd bought a suitcase full of Wandas.

here we have my Kathryn Baumann Minnie Mouse purse in those fancy crystals with the name i can't spell or say. swaroski or something? (and LOTS of dust. carp.) Babs Walters has the same one. i inherited some money from one of my dead pervert relatives and went to Vegas with a friend. i bought Minnie at the New York New York hotel and then went to get a fabulous corned beef sandwish, on rye with a pickle and mustard, of course. she's damaged now, my Minnie. the crystals fall out if you actually carry the bag around. but she made myself and other people soooo freaking happy when i took her to Disneyworld! photos of inside to follow later. can you tell how much joy she gives me? shit, the suede bag she comes in is fancier than my regular purses. but it's mostly that feeling that i get to re-capture when i look at her, of having a chunk of money and celebrating my first big outing since the hysterectomy that set off the agoraphobia and all the misery of that. of my Richard gracefully and graciously bowing out and sending me and my best writer girlfriend off to cavort in the grown-up playground that is Vegas.

the inside of Minnie. the gold chain strap is to the left. this Minnie is number 162. next time Denese and Richard come to town, i'm going to carry her with me wherever we go. she needs to get out more. or if i ever get to party in Vegas again!

this was given to me by my sociopathic ex-con of a mother back in the day. she was on a Japanese art kick, had found some dealer and soon our dining room walls were covered with japanese scrolls. beautiful, of course, but one scroll goes a long way. this is a village carved inside a clamshell, what they call a netsuke, i think. there was a lovely wooden base but it got lost in the move. i tried to sell it when i first needed money but it's ivory and is illegal to sell, i'm told. maybe someone on here knows better or knows a black or grey market dealer in old ivory.

okay, that's it for now. god, this was fun to do. most fun post ever. well, i say that every time i put up photos. i will share more pics over the next couple of days and write more text to explain how i got this way, with this very very odd Early Kindergarten and Canine-American Taste. while i savor the tiny treasures of thought imbedded in these toys, trains and trips down memory lane