Monday, September 14, 2015

To Patricia Love William

"Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them"  - Paulo Coelho

I love this time of year when Fall approaches because I am more than happy to see hot, humid, sticky God-awful Summer begone for another year.  And I take joy in knowing the flies, ticks and mosquitos return to hell where they belong. But one insect that makes me happy to see is the spider. (I know). Big fat ones come around announcing that Autumn is on the way. So for me that's a 'yay'.

So, I had my 'pet' spider come around this year too, weaving a gorgeous web every night and putting himself right smack in the center.  Every morning both he and the web were gone and then every evening they'd be back again. Sweet and reassuring. (I know - the last thing you want is a spider bite, but my spider is out there catching all the hellish insects - and he's outside...)

Today he was gone. His beautiful web remains (still catching pesky gnats) . He might have been plucked out of his perch at dawn by a hungry bird. Maybe his time was up. Maybe it was a she and she went off to lay eggs and die like Charlotte. Who knows?

“It all goes away. Eventually, everything goes away.” - Elizabeth Gilbert


And so the point of this really is about miniatures. I recently acquired this gorgeous piece of miniature silver by Pete Acquisto. I found it taking my own advice. This very piece is a limited edition and at this very minute is listed on a website for $1400 and I got it for less than $100. Score, right?

Here is the poignant part, its engraved "To Patricia Love William". My namesake no longer has it and it ended up with a seller other than her. Did she give up miniatures? Did she move on to another collection of say, stamps? Did she leave this world? Did she lose the fact that she loved miniatures along with other losses?

This brings to mind several of the serious collectors and well known miniaturists whose miniatures were recently auctioned off. Adell Venus comes to mind since that one caused a lot of chatter. Other famous collectors: Flora Gill Jacobs, Mary Kaliski, Vivian Green who owned a dollhouse museum in England. And the rest of us no one knew.

Sad to think about. Endings. 

Treasure your loved ones, enjoy your miniatures. Take them out of the boxes and let them entertain you. Cherish the feeling they invoke. Remember the thrill you had when you found them or made them.

I'm thinking my spider's name was William. 
To William Love Patricia 

What do you think? About spiders? Endings? Treasures of any kind?