I have often heard that if you have three items of a particular thing -- you have a collection.   So -- I guess I have a -- "collection of collections".

Many years ago, I started picking up cast-iron trivets at garage sales and junk stores.   (We call them antique malls today)   I don't really know why I started collecting them.   I liked the shapes and the black color looked good on any wall.   Of course, in time, Tommy told me that if I put any more trivets on that wall,  it would cave in.  In the fall of 1997, a picture of my collection was shown in "american country COLLECTIBLES" --a magazine that features pictures of their readers' collections.   Below is the picture and text as it appeared in the magazine.

This is a picture of a small collection of old kitchen utensils.   I remember when I brought home the potato masher on the left.  I told my daughter, Kelli, that I paid $6. for it.    With a blank look on her face, she said;  "But, Mom, you could have bought a new one for $1."   Above, you can see my Granny  Helms's butter churn.

This is how it looks today  -  displayed above my Planter's Peanuts jars.

When we first moved to OK, my Uncle John and Aunt Bessie lived nearby.  He called one day and wanted to take us to see some property that he was thinking of buying.   The house was literally falling down and there were piles of junk everywhere.  Although he was very excited,  she was not.    We picked up these old  popbottles that day.   They are worth a "million bucks" in memories.   OH  - they didn't buy the property.

This is Tommy's collection of miniature tractors.  They are displayed in the  drawer of a glass-topped coffee table - so you can see them through the top.