“Sleigh dreams?!?!” – “It’s July and everybody has this summertime-feeling. Who, for god’s sake is coping with sleds in July?!?!?”
Me. Yes me, I’m coping with sleighs, even in summertime ;-). It’s not because I’m a passionate sledsgirl or much into winter sports, it’s because my dad owns the probably largest collection of sleighs in Germany, supposedly the largest one in Europe. Whether there is something comparable at other continents I didn’t check – would be interesting….
Sleighs everywhere
If you grow up in a family with a passionate collector like my dad was –as my sister Alexandra and I did – sleighs are present all the time, no matter what season it is: in January and February they came back from wintertime exhibitions, from March till summertime my dad cared for them, new “members” of the collection were admired, restored and made a repair. Instead of canopy swing or luxury goods for the summer-garden my parent’s patio was decorated with sleighs. Even my daughter remembers times when granny told her not to go to the patio because grandpa was painting and varnishing his sleighs. – Instead of enjoying the patio she could take a nap in her grandparents tv-sled – which she enjoyed very much. – In the late summer-time my dad planned exhibitions, made agreements, socialized and organized the transport of his treasures to the locations of the exhibitions.
You see, sleighs are and always have been significant in my family – no matter what season.
Why I am blogging now
Ok, this is no reason why I, especially in summertime , start a blog on sleighs. For some time now my dad’s health situation is not stable at all. He is not able to go on caring for his collections, to present and exhibit his life-time-treasures. Who ever talked to him remembers his words “Hegen-pflegen-weitergeben”, which means “nourish, care and hand it on”. This is what he did now. So he assigned the documentation and the handing-on of his collections to me.
With this blog I want to introduce sleighs of my dad’s collections, their background and the stories of my dad. I also would like to share ideas with people who are interested and most of all keep my dad’s dreams, his sleighdreams alive – in other countries and with other sled-dreamers.
Let’s keep in touch.
Love,
Stephanie
Schlittenträume* 