Sometimes I’m a little embarrassed that I’ve managed to fill up this large house with my knickknack treasures and various collections.

It wasn’t my plan to thin out my book collection today. I’ve got about a dozen shelves and at least two of those could be emptied to make room for…oh...knickknacks maybe.  What I have displayed in my house has changed over time. Used to be there were framed pictures of family and friends. Nowadays, though, it’s just the grandkids stuck on the refrigerator door.  Last night I sat down to thumb through my various quilt books.  As I packed two armloads from the bookshelf to my recliner, I realized it was time to clean things out. I’m sure my kids will appreciate the effort as they realize they’re going to be stuck with the job once I “go to the next level.”

This purging usually takes a good hour or more as I need to sit down and study who goes and who gets to stay.  The AARP magazines (at least the few I kept) got moved to the hallway closet shelves.  I had two with Bob Dylan on the cover so one got sent to recycle and the other got saved – because it’s BOB DYLAN for crying out loud!  I had four Port Townsend phone books and a couple Port Angeles. Linda Pedersen used to send me the old PT books when the new ones came out because sometimes I wanted to look things up and the internet didn’t always work.

I kept most of my cookbooks, having cleaned out others in years past. Same with my health book collection.  Diet books are the easiest to discard; especially once I’m honest with myself and realize that “I’m not doing that!”  I have 27 PTHS yearbooks and those ALWAYS stay put.  One entire shelf takes up sewing books and I did relent and dispose of 12 this time.  Like the yearbooks, all my Port Townsend books get to stay no matter what.

The bottom shelf holds a few old books from the early 1900s. Probably the oldest is a 1912 issue of Huck Finn. I also have a book from my days in grade school and the Gregg shorthand textbook from high school days when the plan was to be a secretary and move to the city. I did move to the city (Portland, Oregon) but Dictaphones were replacing shorthand steno books by then.  I have two novels by Edna Ferber just because I’ve always liked her stories.  My two Harry Potter novels are being let go because my plan to read all of J.K. Rowland’s books is obviously not going to happen, and if I change my mind, the library is only three miles away. I kept my books on Elvis, Dylan and Merle Haggard but I’m letting go of my American Bandstand photo book.  Goodbye Dick Clark.

  I admit it’s an ongoing struggle to not bring more stuff in when I’m out and about.  Thrift stores and garage sales draw me like a magnet. Besides books, my collections include knickknacks of pigs, elephants, frogs, cows, Elvis, Coca Cola, Port Townsend, paperweights, painted rocks, salt and pepper shakers, and quilt wall hangings.  I suppose it’s kind of like living in a big ole cartoon.  The picture shown is a salt and pepper set I bought years ago because it looks just like me! I suppose some folks might consider me a junk collector but I see myself as a connoisseur of fine art.

Knick Knack Paddy Whack, by the way, is a 1906 children’s rhyme that originates from the time of the Irish potato famine. In case you were wondering. I was, so I had to Google it.