My great hobby – an extensive
- PIG – COLLECTION -

I have been collecting pigs for over 30 years,
no piggy-banks or dressed-up pigs ... no.... ordinary, true to nature pigs.
I have them in all kinds of materials and colours,
big and small, fat and thin.

Often I am asked how I got around to collecting pigs.
I will tell you now.

The story goes back to my youth.

We, (with this I refer to my brothers and sisters), grew up in a time when there still was space for man an animal.

At our home the animals wandered free across the yard
and we used to play and romp around cheerfully as children.
My mother used to say: “there’s not one swine roaming around here, but eight.
Often I heard my mother say that she had piglets for children and a boar of a guy.

I can remember the word pig being used daily at our home.
When we made too much mess, we had to clean the pigsty.
When we stayed in bed too long, us lazy pigs had to get up.
When we were mucky from playing games, we were dirty pigs.
Lovingly our mother would scrub her piglets and put them to bed.

As a child you did not understand these expressions and you never stopped to think.
At an advanced age, when  I had children of my own (two daughters),
I suddenly understood the expressions of my mother, because I had two piglets of my own.
Our children got a pile of white sand to play with, what do you think......
they had to start digging in the dirt beneath my plants.
When they had to go inside they would squeeze and fight their way through the door.
The door opening was never wide enough.
And they sure knew how to make a mess.
Yeah, sometimes it looked like a pigsty.

When I realised we had two piglets of our own, I said to my husband:
“Jan, my mother was right, now I understand what she meant by swines,
lazy pigs, dirty pigs etc., etc., etc.

Subsequently on my next birthday my husband gave me a wooden, hand carved pig. He made it himself.
He added: “now you don’t have two pigs but three”.
And soon many, many more followed.

I make high demands upon my collection, with care I select them.
I don’t care for dressed up pigs (there’s enough of those around);
piggy-banks or huge pigs.... no I rather select dear, small, normal pigs.
Sometimes I choose cuddly toys, nice pigs, pigs that make me proud.
I will bathe them, dust them or wash them so they stand bright
and clean in the cupboard, looking at me with shining eyes and snouts

Yes, pigs are a cherished memory of my childhood,
I can’t get enough of them.

On all pigs ....... on my homepage there’s copyright....
So do not use or copy them without my permission.

Fräncis