Short circuit

Recently on a visit to Dale Copeland, she gave me heaps of circuit boards from calculators and telephones.  I have been mucking about playing with little things from my printers tray on the wall and using them with the circuits boards. It is fascinating putting previously unrelated objects together.  It always throws up interesting thoughts and ideas to ponder on.

This one is about memories... imagine what is stored in the memory banks of this circuit board!  But much like what happens to us in old age... it is hard (harder) to access those/these memories now.

The bits mean to me/prompts these questions-

The Bobbin.  From an old sewing box from my Nana.  Sewing machines sew straight and true. Do we get more black and white about issues as we get older?  Will a straight line like Hansel and Gretel help us find out way home?

The belt buckle.  From a elderly neighbour when she passed away.  Belt buckles remind me of being tidy and safe... tucked in... but can they help us be 'safe' and valued in our old age.  Did it help my neighbour?  She was in her 90's with no children.  Her family bundled up all her stuff and it was discarded into a skip.

The Kewpie doll.  My Nana loved Kewpie dolls.  Without knowing this my daughter when she was 8 brought one as a gift for me from iko iko Wellington. I like the generational link.

The compass.  Hopefully we find our way in life.  Sometimes we go way off track.  What helps us get back on the track again?

The Lamb.  Like a lamb to the slaughter. Innocence lost.  As we age do we become more cynical?  Do we lose that excitement about the new... do we lose our vitality?  Do we have to as we age?  Is it a nature vs nurture question?  The lamb was part of a collection that I had on my window sill when I was very little.  My great grandmother gave them to me...a few at a time... all sorts of animals.  I still have one kitten, a pig and this lamb.

The hand.  From an old doll.  Hopefully showing me the way.

The faces.  My Nana had a thing about reusing stuff... more of a generational thing, being around from those post war years.  She made all sorts of stuff into stuff.  My favourite were her dehydrated apples carved as head shapes and her faces from stockings which she put in a jar to look like little trapped people.  These three faces are from one of those jars... watching and judging... always judging.

The Key.  Fairly obvious.