sometimes...

Sometimes I stumble across objects that are so simple and plain and sweet in their beauty that they tug at my heartstrings... like this little French striped linen button that was found lost and alone in a tin of flashy celluloid and 1950s plastic buttons that were carded for sale on the stall...

In truth it is a little shabby... But I can imagine that it once sailed along the Amalfi Coast attached to a linen jacket or even that it belonged to an armchair in a French farmhouse where it was twisted around and around by small fingers until in came loose and was secreted in a pinafore pocket...

In all likelihood its origins are far more ordinary, but a simple little button like this reminds me how fortunate I am to do what I do. In the process of collecting and sorting and cleaning and finally selling all these vintage goodies I am exposed to whole beautiful histories of the people that once owned them; their lives and loves and travels and heartbreaks... And in turn I am able to count my own blessings in buttons and biscuit cutters, tea towels, twine, hand-written recipes and other simple things...