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A Family Affair: Collecting Blooms Together
It was Christmas and 16-year-old Jenny Specht's turn to open a gift. She chose the small but heavy blue bag with a pretty ribbon. Her curiosity mounted. She couldn't imagine what was inside, but her aunt always gave wonderful presents. Carefully, Jenny untied the ribbon and removed the paper covering the heavy item.
"I was dumbfounded," Jenny says. "I thought, Why would anyone give me a hunk of concrete? I didn't know anything about Isabel Bloom."
Pasting a smile on her face, Jenny thanked her aunt and shoved it to the back of her closet for the next several years. It wouldn't be rediscovered until she was out of school. And then Jenny found that she loved it.
Twenty-two years later, the daisy has a special place in Jenny's heart and an honored place in her home. It began a collection that today numbers more than 200 Bloom sculptures. From the daisy to hearts and birds to woodland animals, Blooms grace every room in Jenny's house.
Gifts from the Heart
Blooms have found space in her daughters' hearts and bedrooms as well. There, instead of the porcelain figures that Jenny had been given as a child, Bloom angels stand guard, one given by their grandmother for every year of age. Unlike her own reaction at 16, Jenny's daughters - now 11 and 8 - prize the heavenly pieces.
"They love their collections," Jenny says. "They look forward to receiving their new angel every year. I love seeing the angels on their shelves, each one carrying a message of love from my mom to my girls."
A Family Collection
Jenny and her mom own perhaps 400 pieces altogether, being careful not to double up on any one sculpture. Jenny says she will inherit her mom's Blooms someday, and her daughters will inherit them all.
"Mom and I give Blooms back and forth to each other," she says. "But we always call first to find out, Okay, which one are you getting me so I don't get it for you? It's a family collection that we all love. We bought Emma for my grandmother, who just looks at her and smiles."
The most meaningful gift ever given, though, was for a funeral. Jenny's friend had lost her baby six months into her pregnancy.
"They named the baby Hope," Jenny says. "I gave them the Hope Angel in her memory. Their little boy - he was 4 years old at the time - has always called the angel Baby Hope. My friend says she and her whole family love it. I am grateful it was available for them."
A Time for Every Bloom
Jenny changes her displays with the seasons, featuring Easter sculptures, Halloween characters, Santas and snowmen as the months pass. Her favorite display comes at Christmas, when she covers a slender artificial spruce with Bloom ornaments and red beaded garland. In her house, though, the tree often doesn't make it through the season upright.
"The cats have knocked it down several times," she laughs. "I've had to replace a few ornaments, but I love having the tree up, and I love my menagerie!"
Typically, her menagerie of pets - five cats, a great pyrenees dog, a parrot and a newt - mix compatibly with the Blooms. The larger pieces even function as perches.
Jenny's Growing Collection
While some collectors browse the stores each month, viewing and purchasing new pieces, Jenny tends to defer her purchases until the end of the year.
"I save up my money and buy the pieces that are being retired," she says. "I still receive pieces during the year as gifts. My kids always buy me Blooms for my birthday and Mother's Day.
"I will always love my collection. I really value the simplicity of Bloom children and animals. Their sweet rounded faces, their innocence. They make me smile." |
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