NOTES: 1. Oddly enough, having lived in Southern CA for a number of years, I don't remember seeing many pelican objet d'art, probably because for the first few years there I did not collect anything and I didn't tend to go to the touristy places unless someone was visiting me. (I did get to see live ones living fairly close to the ocean). However, I didn't really notice pelicans until I went to Monterey, CA where I bought a hot plate, a useful item that was actually made locally. (One of my pet collecting peeves is buying a souvenir from a place only to find out it's made in a foreign country. So technically, it's a foreign souvenir depicting a U.S. locale. I try to avoid these if possible. It makes for very few souvenir purchases but the successful purchase of one made in the country you are visiting is much more satisfying. (If a California souvenir were made in Rhode Island I would also object).) (back)

2. I have more mugs than I can count. The majority were given as gifts, none have pelicans on them. (There are a couple of puffin and penguin ones, even a seagull, however). They range from plain looking, to depicting location of purchase (Las Vegas for example). For some reason my husband and I received zillions of mugs for gifts over the years. I guess they are cheap and easy to find and evryone assumes you can use another. I've got kitchen shelves of mugs, mug stands with mugs, there are many still in boxes I may never unpack. There are Christmas mugs, mug with our names, there are mugs with sayings, jokes, holes in them yet still they function. I may use a mug once a week. I don't drink coffee and my husband drinks his at work. They're too small to hold a decent glass of soda, so there they sit, collecting dust, behind a cabinet door, invisible but always a foreboding presence. (back)

3. I found a T-shirt in Myrtle Beach, but the store was out of the pelican decals. (back)

4. I suppose I could hang it on the tree this December, but why? No one can tell it's supposed to be an ornament, and when it was manufactured was it intended to be seen for only a few days a year? If so, then why does it not have a Christmas theme about it? And if so, since most Christmas trees are inside out of the wind, what's the point of it having chimes anyway, unless it's ment to hang low on a branch where a small child can swing at it or a rambunctious long-tailed pet can go racing by. (back)

5. We haven't seen the heron much the last two years. A drought both summers has completely dried up the streams so the heron has gone else where to fish. (back)

6. A few words about souvenirs

I have few souvenirs, I have lots of photographs (mostly unlabeled unfortunately). Many "souvenirs" are ugly, useless and extremely unappealing, many are kitsch. (kitsch - tastelss, tacky, undesirable. Howeverr, kitsch has become collectable so don't despair if your collection is kitschy, you are considered trendy. Kitsch is in the eye of the beholder.

In the past, I did occassionaly acquire a souvenir, however, it wasn't long before I stopped buying them because there didn't seem much point, most of these "souvenirs" ended up in a box or lost. Occasionally one turns up, and I think "oh, I remember that" but not necessarily when or where I bought it. Except for one; a pair of little porcelain terriers I bought in Canada on a trip with my grandparents when I was 14. At the time I thought they were cute. Recently I discovered these little dogs are made by WADE and therefore are collectible. Although the Wade pelican I saw at an antique market was tempting, I did not buy it. I may yet regret that decision, but this highlights my non-obsessive collecting nature, something of which my husband approves, but which may actually take some of the fun out of it.