I collect bookmarks. I've collected them for many years. I've collected more bookmarks than I could ever find books to put them in, especially in this era where I tend to do at least half my reading in newspapers, magasines and the Internet. Still, I can never resist a store bookmark display.



I came across lots of stuff when I was packing to move, but there was one inevitability that I came across in every storage space. Bookmarks. Tens of bookmarks, dozens of bookmarks, hundreds of bookmarks. It didn't surprise me as I tend to buy or find or am given a couple of dozen bookmarks a year, but it is the first time in a long time that I attempted to get all my bookmark collection into one place by putting them in one bag. Then I sat down last Friday and went through them, sorting them by theme and type and place. They brought back lots of great memories, like:

1. Trip bookmarks. When I go away somewhere I always buy a bookmark as a souvenir. When someone else goes away somewhere and wants to buy me a gift I always tell them to bring me back a bookmark from that place. I've bought bookmarks at The University of Waterloo (where I got my BA), the Royal Ontario Museum, Marineland, Disneyworld, Colorado, The Toronto Zoo, The Parliament Buildings, Prince Edward Island, Green Gables, The Kennedy Space Center, Universal Studios, Niagara Falls, Casa Loma, Ottawa, Charlottetown, Muir Woods, San Francisco, Windsor Castle, 221B Baker Street and I'm sure there's others kicking around. People have brought me back bookmarks from The West Indies, Switzerland, New Brunswick, Germany, Hawaii, Alaska and Cape Breton.

2. Handmade bookmarks. Looking through my collection I seem particularly fond of bookmarks with pressed flowers on them. I also like woven and crocheted bookmarks. I also have a handful of needlepoint bookmarks and hand-drawn bookmarks by students. Several of my handmade bookmarks are by my sister, Sheilagh, including my favorite, a felt bookworm she made for me when she was 11 and I was 13. She's also given me cross-stitched and hand-drawn bookmarks.

3. Bookmarks based on literature. Makes sense, right? Lots of bookmarks with poems and literary quotes. Lots of bookmarks based on books- Peter Rabbit, The Hobbit, The Velveteen Rabbit, Jan Brett books, Shakespeare, The Secret Garden, The Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz, Anne of Green Gables, The Lord of The Rings, Dinotopia, The Paper Bag Princess, Archie, The Book of Kells. Lots of children's books, I see- not too surprising :). Also several cool bookmarks advertising books illustrated by Debbie's sister, Ruth Ohi. I also have a beyond cool "Waiting For Frodo" bookmark that Deb mailed me earlier this year :). I also have a running history of my favorite bookstores through the years through their bookmarks, too.

4. Media bookmarks. Lots of TV/Movie inspired bookmarks. Several Star Trek bookmarks from several series. Star Wars, Prisoners of Gravity, Beauty and The Beast, The Simpsons, Northern Exposure, The Lord of the Rings (Paul and Beckett shipped me several LOTR bookmarks at my request two years back when they tragically weren't being sold in Canada :)).

5. Metal bookmarks. A little fancier and a little pricier than the paper bookmarks. Some I bought, some are gifts, I have about a dozen. My favorite is a hand-painted profile of Sherlock Holmes that I won at a science fiction art auction several years back.

6. Other bookmarks of note. A bookmark I made in Gr. 8 that won me first place in a local library competition. One of the specialty bookmarks we gave all our guests at our wedding reception (bookmarks just seemed much cooler than matches to me :)). The "Ad Astra 5" bookmark I picked up at Bakka Books in 1985 that lured me to my first science fiction convention.

And I know I have a lot more bookmarks out there. Some are still packed in boxes, some are hidden in half-read books, some are in my desk at school or pinned to my teacher bulletin board.

Every once in awhile I try to display part of my bookmark collection. I've framed them, propped them in display boxes. Recently I've tended to make bookmark collages on cork boards. Every few years I end up with a new batch of favorite bookmarks I want up where I can see them. My cardinal rule, though, is that every bookmark I buy must be used in a book first before it goes into the collection or on display. It's time to get a couple of my cork board collages up in my office here.

I'm very fond of my bookmark collection and didn't quite realize what a history they tell or how much they tell about me until I started going through them again. My choice of bookmarks can be almost as telling as photographs. Interesting :).

Exercise log: It's sunny today!!! Having ventured out to Tim Horton's this morning I know that taking a walk is a very doable project. Being that I'm not fully over my cold yet I don't think I'll attempt my usual three mile route quite yet. Maybe I'll walk the mile to Walmart and back. Maybe I'll buy a bookmark :).