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!

Sunday

It was well over 10 years ago when DH was sent to Christmas Island for his work for about 5 days.  I didn't have the responsibilities that I have now, so DH insisted that I come along for fun - only we had to pay for my plane ticket which was an amazing $1700.  But why was it so expensive?  The place is Australian territory (that's where we flew from and took about 5 hours to get there) and the plane was domestic but why that astronomical sum for a ticket?  

Somebody on the Island had mentioned that it was because they don't have a lot of flights to C.I. and not many people travel there (or here, as he then said).  Made sense that they should price the ticket the same as what one would pay to travel half way around the world or more! Ha!  We also stopped at the Cocos Islands on the way and got a glimpse of some fascinating things but we only got an hour worth of sight seeing.

We arrived at C.I. in the evening, twas hot and muggy and was greeted by a local man that drove us to our hotel room, which was in the Casino.  The Casino wasn't functional at that time and hadn't been for a while because of issues they had so it was quiet and serene AND we were the only ones staying there.  On the way to the hotel it started pouring with rain and it got even muggier, a type of mugginess that I had never experienced before.  

The next morning DH was given a vehicle with a tank full of fuel so we went to first find some food then did some serious sight seeing, as he had some time before starting work.  We saw C.I. in it's full glory ; lush, bright and tropical looking.  But the most interesting and odd thing was the fact that the place was covered in crabs.  Not little cute crabs, these were LARGE crabs and we'd find them crawling on the road, in the bushland, logically on the beaches and funnily enough, one crawled into our hotel room while we had the patio door open.   

And the beaches!  For one beach, we had to walk through the bush for a good 45 minutes as that was the only way you could get there; we encountered a lovely little waterfall, many crabs and some were intimidatingly the size of my head.  When we finally arrived, absolutely no people were to be found so I collected a bunch of beautiful shells without being discovered.  Hehe.  

We found another spot that one could only get there with a vehicle through the bush and after we discovered why, it was petrifying (although DH found it exciting) to me but I won't go into that because it gives me palpitations just thinking about it.  But boy was the danger worth it!   This small and desolate beach had no people and instead of sand, it was covered in little white and smooth coral.  Now and then I'd find a coloured one and grab it.  The water was crystal clear and it was all very magical.  This small beach was surrounded by tall and sort of concaved rocks and it felt like we were in some movie.  I have a little bowl in the bathroom with coloured coral and a bunch of shells that won't let me forget about those extraordinary, fabulous beaches!

For the great memory, DH gifted me a little gorgeous rabbit figurine in a souvenir shop before we left.  It's swarovski crystal and gold.... see photos below.

DH went again for his work a few years after that, but I didn't go because of the insane price of the plane ticket... and I was working at the time anyway.  But I've told DH more than once that I'd like to retire there one day when we're old and grey.  He hasn't said yes, but then again he hasn't said no to the idea.  ;)

I adore my tiny, sweet rabbit.  Terribly difficult to photograph and yes, it needs a good clean and polish.  I've seen lots of different ones at eBay (the cheap fakes) / the jewelry store / the crystal stores, but I've found nothing close to what mine looks like and I think it's way cuter than any rabbit figurine out there.  ;)

I don't know much about gold and I have no clue as to what this stamp mark is or means, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the gold.  

I very foolishly lost the original box and authenticity leaflet years ago!?! 

A little crystal...

 ... goes a long way.

I paid 50 cents for this cute crystal leaf:

And $4 each for these little gorgeous purple crystal vases, that I just had to have:

I've never seen purple crystal before and they simply fascinate me, so I'm on the hunt for more.

More glass and crystal

These little treasures were bought last year at various op shops.  I hadn't shown you earlier because I thought I had misplaced the photos. 



 This lovely bottle sits amongst other bottles in the bathroom and she stands well over 60cm tall and bought for $5;

 

This is an Italian Borgonovo vase, which I found for only $4.  She stands at around 60cm tall; 

 

I love tube style vases, especially when they are etched in a floral design.  I recently found its twin sister, so now I have two of them.  One was $1 and the other was $2.99;

 

This one would have to be my favourite... she's a little crystal baby and only set me back $2;

More free kitchen stuff

So, remember a few days ago when I posted about those fabulous glass bottles I scored for free?

As promised, here are the other things that lovely lady passed onto me...

A couple of hand painted ceramic containers;

A little hand painted ceramic vase, or is it a bottle?;

A little crystal vase, but unfortunately it had lots of little chips throughout;

And lastly, another 3 ceramic containers;

Yay for free!

Free, but never in a hundred years...

Very rarely do I find trash that really IS treasure!  How 'confused' do you think I was when I found a vintage crystal perfume bottle on a trash heap??  I mean, come on - who on earth, why on earth, is all I can ask myself.  But for whatever the reason, I now own this;

 It's one of those bottles that usually has that 'puffer spray ball' attached to apply the perfume with, but alas, no puffer ball was found.

I must have run all my fingers across every millimetre of it several times and not one chip or crack was found.

Amazing when you think it was obviously so unloved that it needed to be trashed and one would expect an unloved thing not to be so perfect!

 Old perfume residue - and boy does it smell old.

Now to find a puffer ball that will fit....


PS; I'd love to know what the real name of those puffer spray balls are and if anybody out there knows, please do message me.  :)

Ding-a-ling

 A whole $2 got me this cute, perfect bell.  I'm still trying to figure out if it's made of glass or crystal.

All about crystal...

I've been collecting things for years, as you may or may not have read in previous posts.
Today I'm specifically talking about crystal.   Crystal is usually expensive, but I have managed to find a few cheap pieces, anywhere from $0.50 - $10.  I do not buy anything that's chipped or cracked as that would be defeating the purpose of finding the cheap but beautiful pieces.  On with my crystal show.

Two crystal champagne (?) glasses, 50 cents each.

 One crystal glass for $1.

 My pride and joy.... a Royal Doulton crystal vase at only $2.99!

Bohemia crystal vase, and it's the only crystal item I have that came with its own original box.... $6.

My second favourite piece, an Astra crystal perfume bottle for $6.

And as always, last but not least; a Bohemia crystal vase at $10.  That's the most I've paid for crystal and I intend on never spending more than that on one piece!

Mikasa

I love collecting one offs, simply for the challenge of looking for more and more, and the excitement of actually finding them.  Take this Mikasa crystal gold rimmed liquour glass for instance.  It stands at 7.5 inches tall and it was originally $4, but because the op shop was having a half price day, I snapped it up for $2.  It's perfect, unchipped, unscratched and makes my heart flutter.  If I can find at least one more, I'd be a happy gal... and even better if I find it at $2 or less.