Many years ago,  mom gave me this parrot plant hanger and it belonged to her mother, my grandma Charlotte “Lottie” Baldwin. I don’t remember how, but its tail was broken off. I had kids, it swings…who knows. I kept the pieces in my closet, thinking someday I would fix it. I am extremely sentimental and throwing even broken things out that belonged to my grandparents is very hard to do. So I kept it. When I moved to this house over 20 years ago,  the pieces came along. A few years ago, I got the crazy glue out and fixed it. You really can’t see the crack in the tail, and I love it.

Here is grandma’s macaw plant hanger with a Tillandsia duratii

My collection

Before I even remembered I had this macaw planter, I have been collecting birds, especially flamingos and really, all things tropical. Here is my collection of tropical birds.

Even the corner shelf is filled with birds

Grandmas DNA

Do I like birds because grandma Baldwin did? I think it was pretty unusual for her to like macaw parrots back in the early part of the last century. Did she want to travel to exotic places? Or did she just like colorful planters? Was it a gift from somebody and she really didn’t like it? I hope not. I like to think she loved this planter, and because she liked birds, I like them as well. She passed away when I was three, so maybe mom will be able to give me some insight.

The tray above was made by my Aunt Violet or her mother, my great-grandma Eldred

From both sides of the family

I collect all things flamingos and above this thrift store find picture is a tray that was made by either my great aunt Violet Eldred or her mother, my great-grandma Alice Eldred (it was her fern that I talk about here.) The tray is decoupaged with a flamingo picture and then the edge and handles are woven pine needles. They spent a lot of time in Florida and so flamingos are something they liked.

More birds and orchids, too

I decorated my mantle with my pink McCoy pots to match my flamingos and I also like pictures of birds, which you can see. When I brought home the painting above the mantle, my husband thought I was crazy -not for the first time or probably the last time, but has learned to like it. I found the Walt Disney water bird booklet last year- isn’t it cool? I also like plates decorated with orchids. Even with all the birds, it is always about the plants. The small orchid lamp is from a local antique store.

My mantle is covered with tropical birds, containers, postcardsd, and plants.

I paired my pink edged calathea with my flamingos

Love this flamingo picture

So do you think our love of certain things comes from our relatives? I like to think grandma Baldwin would like to know that her macaw is hanging in my window and grandma Eldred would like that I love flamingos as she did.

What are you collecting? Do you find that you like things your grandma liked?

The sun shining in on my parrot hanger