More on the bag issue

Here's the next installment of my handbag inventory. First, this is the bag I had been carrying for about eighteen months, until the advent of the Lavender Wonder from Italy.

It's leather, and has a pocket on the front under that flap. The back zips open like a book, revealing an "organizer" section with space for pens, cards, coins, and my checkbook. Because it would take some zipping to get to the goods, I started carrying my license and debit card with my business cards, and a small zippered pouch for money in the main pocket. It wouldn't hold much more than that, plus a set of keys. It's about seven inches wide and nine inches tall. This bag is still in great shape and I'll probably go back to it, before I put much wear on the Lavender Wonder.

The next bag is really more of a field pouch than a purse. I bought it in England in 2005, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, at a National Trust shop just down the street from Shakespeare's birthplace. It has a main compartment under that flap, along with a zippered organizer section, and two smaller zippered pockets on the back. There's also a zippered pocket on the front flap.

I think you're really meant to carry your binoculars and a birding guide in it, but I love it as a purse. If they made a leather version, I'd be there.

The purse before the field bag was this black leather beauty, a JC Penney special. There is a large main compartment under the flap, plus a smaller open pocket on the front of it. There's a zipper across the back, too, closing a big flat pocket. It's about the same size as the brown leather bag.

I used to put my keys in the front pocket, and use the center part for other pursely things. Like the brown leather bag, this black one is still in pretty good shape and will likely be used again, probably when I need a black purse to go with black shoes, or something like that.

When I carried my pile o' bags to the kitchen to take their pictures, the Emperor just watched me walk by with them and shook his head. Looking at them all in a pile, I can see why it would seem funny. Why would anybody need so many bags? I've given a bunch away to the local charity store, too, so what you'll see here are only the ones that I've kept through several cullings. If I didn't buy another single bag for ten years, I'd still have a nice variety to choose from for practically everything I can see myself doing. I could probably not buy another bag for the rest of my life and be all right. But, let's be realistic here!

These three bags are similar:

• compact size
• flap over a central compartment
• long strap
• flat back

They're all neutral-colored, too.

When I was in the midst of my bag-frenzy (if you could call it that) and looking at photos of and patterns for bags, I stopped myself and asked, 'what specifically about this bag calls out to you?' No single characteristic floated to the top, other than "good size." I'm still trying to answer the question, which I think will translate out to something like "what's my one perfect bag?".

More navel-gazing later, with more bags to examine.