Saturday, December 05, 2009

My Place and Yours: wherever I lay my hat, thats my home.

The ever hilarious Tania of Myrtle and Eunice is this weeks worthy theme queen for My Place and Yours. The theme is Wherever I lay my Hat thats My Home. ( yes, I have that song in my head now thankyou Tania and Paul Young)
Easy peasy.

You see when I was young and full of bravado and travelling across Europe by myself at age 19, I saw, in the window of a shop - the most beauiful thing I had ever seen... a wall hanging full of embroidery and little mirrors and all odd bits of cloth that I thought was the most exquisite thing ever. I also saw the price tag was  $1200. Totally out of my reach. I showed then older, wiser (!?!) boyfriend Mark, who, I was niavely impressed with ( god I was so young and so in awe of him- I actually slipped down a flight of stairs the first time I saw him so overwelmed by him was I- *cringe* he had been everywhere he was English and had travelled overland from Australia, Iraq, Afghanastan, had amazing stories to tell of crazy, wild and daring escapades etc etc )  who remarked in what was to be a life changing moment  " yeah you get them from India for about $20, but you can't go to India by yourself, you will get hassled by the locals - I met some girls (yeah  I bet you bloody did!) who were travelling alone in India and I thought they were very brave". 

Hmmm... a seed was planted  that grew and grew until very soon after I decided- before I returned home to Australia I would go to India BY MYSELF. I would be one of those "brave girls.' AND I would get myself one of those exquisite wall hangings. Simple.

So 2 years later, having been living in London playing silly buggars it was time to go home- via India. Alone.
I got my wall hanging.
I also got Typhoid fever.
I very nearly died- but thats another story.





Now I look at it and it reminds me how much I have changed and grown and matured. Where ever I have lived since - in the last 11years it has hung above my bed. I am not home or moved in properly until it is up. Chef knows - if the house catches on fire, grab Busy, the dog , the wall hanging and the yellow thing dad made and run for the hills.
Its tatty around the edges and it is peiced together is a very haphazard way but that is what makes it so charming.
Plus all these years on I still think its so beautiful.



( it cost me less then $20 to buy and other travellers kept telling me I paid to much which I found so annoying! HOW could that be too much??! So I gave an Indian family a huge amount of money! Great I reckon!!!)
Want to see more? Go over to Pips to see who else is playing....
Don't forget you can still enter my softie giveaway if you like ...

15 comments:

  1. What a toss that bloke sounds like! I think that gorgeous hanging is worth a near-death Typhoid experience - it is spectacularly lovely.

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  2. Wow, that IS amazing, so intriciate and busy, I could look at it for hours and I would've gone to India for it too! Were I not a completely wussy, non-adventurous homebody... heh heh.

    So it probably still cost you less in flights, hospital bills etc to buy direct from India than buying it for $1200! Well I hope so anyway...

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  3. Great post! Love the story behind the wall hanging and that you still love it. It looks so spectacular against the white wall. What a great piece and so perfectly 'home' x

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  4. After all your adventures getting that hanging I'm glad you still love it now. I hope you still have that brave adventurer lurking inside you!!!

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  5. oh what a fabulous post & ssoo much fun to read!..i love those patchworked mirrored wallhangings too, nearly as much as i LOVE my kilims!...btw i think you were very brave indeed to risk life & limb venturing into India all on your ownsome..what a gal :))

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  6. I think its one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and it is magic that it hangs above your head....I am very glad you didn't die..so very glad! xx

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  7. Blimey, I'm very pleased you didn't turn up your toes. Where would we be? That wall hanging is beautiful – and I reckon it says a whole lot about you.

    PS. Sorry about the song thing.

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  8. Lovely story, and I too had one like that at 19 - the boyfriend that is, I fell over with a jd and coke in my hand in awe of his fantasticness which turned out to be less than fantasticness, (don't they all!). Glad the wall hanging lasted longer xx Now to do my meme this week

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  9. what a lovely story! and a beautiful wall hanging that is so much more beautiful because of the unreal story behind it. sounds like it could become a family heirloom!

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  10. great story Cath...so glad you proved him wrong! we hope to be off to India and Nepal next year so I'm going to keep an eye out for one of these hangings!!! and I can recall being told I paid too much for things in China - who cares if it supports a family for a little longer?

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  11. Man you tell the best stories, I love it! I can just imagine you trapesing off to India blowing a raspberry at the bossy boyfriend and finding such a beautiful treasure. I suppose the wall hanging must kind of symbolise 'do what you want to do, be what you want to be yeah!'

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  12. I undertstand exactly as lusted for one of these forever ... Gorgeous, totally beautiful post;)

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  13. Oh! I love it! What a really super special thing to have! It's gorgeous and full of hair-raising traveller's tales too! Totally beautiful, I think. Doesn't it look lovely hanging there?! Sigh.

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what a nice person you are- taking the time to comment in this busy hectic world...Thank you!!