Music to my ears

I just chose a topic off the top of my head for no apparent reason.  Just because I felt like it and had a little time to kill before tackling a few yukky jobs today.

So, music.  *Most* of us like music.  A lot of us love music.  And for some of us, it's our whole life.  I will never understand the latter though, as I think there are way too many more important things in life.  But having said that, yes... music can make our day or just make us feel good for a short or long while.

When I was younger, lets say between the ages of 15 and 30....  I was obsessed like quite a lot of young people would and will get.   But let's go back even further than 15 just for a second.  I would turn on the radio every chance I could just to listen to some music.  Back then it was 1970's stuff, some kitsch and some great and some not so wonderful.  It all mattered though, just because it was music that was going into my ears.  

So then came the 80's music.  My friends and I would go clubbing and had a great time dancing to music with whatever was in at the time, we'd love it even if it wasn't the best sound.  Heck, it was MUSIC AND IT WAS IMPORTANT. 

Then somewhere after the mid 80's, a work mate introduced me to music that I had never heard before and sounded quite intreging and so different to what I was used to, I got hooked straight away.  I instantly fell in love with The Smiths for starters.  Then Depeche Mode.  Then New Order.  Then The Sundays.  And the list went on and I could see a pattern... all these artists came from the U.K.

Then came the 90's.  I was still loving my U.K. music but the artists I loved were producing less songs.  90's music for me was a bit of a blur, because I can't really think of specific artists that changed my life all that much.  Yes, there was some nice music, but there was also a lot of music that one needed to forgot!

Somewhere after that, music got less important for me because.... well.... simply because of life and the other things it had to offer.  My love for it was still there of course but it wasn't the first thing that I thought of everyday.  Then less and less.  The truth is that I still adore music.... but in a different way than back then which is a little tough for me to describe.

Today I can reflect back and know what type of artists I truly loved and still love.  These few are still high on my list of favourties, but in no particular order apart from the first one;

Depeche Mode
The Smiths
The Sundays
Seal
David Bowie
Heart
Prefab Sprout
Midge Ure (Ultravox)
Tears for Fears
Iceheart
Alan Parsons Project
David Sylvian (Japan)

This list isn't the end all of course, but you sort of get the gist of what I'm into.


Now that I've got my music thoughts and chatter out of the way, I can show you a couple of collectables that I picked up yesteryear.

Stunning little crystal vase found for just $2.  How can one not love this? 

Gorgeous little Quartz pineapple clock and if my memory serves me well, it was either $5 or $6.  Just one of those things I had to have!

Saturday

Sweet 'Koma' dome clock found for $3.  AND it works.  :)

How cool is this cotton fabric??  It's approximately 2m x 1m, which is a substantial amount.  I only paid $2 - clever me.

 

Hong Kong spoon found for $1.

Lovely bamboo coat hangers for only 50 cents each, found last year.  I never thought I'd say this about hangers, but they were worth every cent - I love them... as simple as they are.

Wednesday

As I do not have children for reasons that a lot of people would pat me on the back for these days...  I can use the sailor hat and shirt to dress my teddy bears!  Yes I myself am still a child at heart, but thankfully not in head.   LOL.

Free cute sailor hat and shirt

Tuesday

Oh, the prettiness of it all.....

Little bits and bobs, eye candy, knick knacks, curios and so on.  Whatever you call them, they can have such a hold on you can't they?  But we only live once so we may as well enjoy what we buy and have.

Adorable dove clock found for $8, but I managed to sweet talk the shop assistant into giving it to me for just $5.  It stands at 8 inches and shock, horror - it works just fine.

Sweet little ceramic rose for 70 cents.  You can't beat that price for something as pretty as this.  Although white can terribly difficult to photograph.

Tasmanian egg cup for 50 cents, but made in Japan.  :/

Only bought this because the husbeast is one (Tasmanian, not Japanese).

Free Clock & Paper Shredder

I scored a free Seiko Quartz pendulum clock with chime in new condition last week!  Why was it free, you ask?

Simply because it wasn't in working order and the owner mentioned that it wasn't worth getting it fixed because it would probably cost too much.  The clock itself is worth around $200 new (depending where you live).  And the only reason why I grabbed it is because my darling hubby can fix just about anything.

Well, not this time my friends.  The clock guts look a little frightening and we'd probably have to buy a completely new movement for it.  'Oh, my heart hurts' is what I thought when he mentioned that.

The last thing I want to do is spend a small fortune on something I picked up for free.  And my usual rule of thumb is ; do not spend more than $10 to fix (or add) something that was for free.

So my idea is this.... unscrew the long bottom part and use it as a normal clock, because I do have a stack of normal clock movements.  Not as pretty of course, but at least it will work.  The photos were taken before I cleaned the glass, hence the smudgy yuk on the lower glass.

So, as I was just about to leave that lovely gentleman's house, he then passed on a non working paper shredder!  Well, at least darling hubby fixed that quite easily!

Clock maniac

I may have mentioned before that I'm a small clock collector.  Anything to do with clocks fascinates me.  I quietly "SQUEE'D!" when I found one being trashed.  The actual clock didn't thrill me, but the guts of it did.  Yes, I also take guts out of old clocks to make new original ones. The clock hands are rather long, so it looks like I'll have to make a larger clock, rather than a smaller one.  But hey, what do you want for free??

Tic - Toc, more clocks.

Clocks and more clocks.  Where do I put all these clocks?  I do struggle to find a spot for each of my little treasures!

Unknown brand, wind up and set me back $4.99.  Stands at 4 inches.

The price on this one was messy and illegible to me.  It looked like $1.  Took it too the counter and the lady argued that it was $4.  After my long persistence, I got it for $1.  ;)  

A few weeks later I was in the post office and saw these little cuties going for $10.

Stands at 2.5 inches.

The next two clocks were bought purely for the mechanisms and not for the clocks themselves.

As you can see, they would hardly be collectible for me.  So out came the bits and pieces and back to the op shop went the rest!  $3 for this one, and stood at around 6 inches.

...and a whole 50 cents for this one. 

Stood around a whopping 12 inches.

What the Schatz are you talking about?

I found a Schatz Brass Clock (battery operated), and she's a heavy gal measuring at 5.5 inches high not including the handle.  She set me back a whole $4.99.  'August Schatz' started his clock business in Germany, around the Mid 1800's.   This baby is from the 1960's or possibly earlier.  I have no clue if she actually works because I need a square battery.  Why not buy one, you ask?  Because if she doesn't work, I'd have wasted a few bucks on the battery.  I wonder if there is any other way of checking if she works.......?  Schatz and darn it!

 

Tic Toc, Tic Toc.

Because my father had a fascination with clocks later on in his life, it logically rubbed off on me.

Before today, I didn't think I was a collector of clocks but I have enough of them to form a collection, I think.  The clocks I'm showing today all came from the op shop.   I will show more in the near future. 

This ceramic Quartz cutie is only about 4 inches high and found for $5.99.

This one set me back $9.99, but made my heart flutter.  Glass covered, ceramic face and bottom but I can't find a brand name anywhere.

This German Kundo was filthy when found but after cleaning her up, she looks a treat.  She was only $4.  Glass covered and plastic.  Now that's a rare price for a lovely clock!