Collecting suns: Photos reveal Chicagoan's happy hobbies

River North condo owner Dolores Kunda's walls are covered in nearly 100 handmade suns.

The big picture: We recently asked Axios Chicago readers to tell us about their collections and received a flood of responses spanning nostalgic matchbooks to vintage watches.

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The intrigue: Research suggests you can improve your well-being when you join a hobby group or engage in social elements of your hobby , like attending car shows.

What they're saying: "The suns line the walls of the entrance to my guest bedroom, welcoming company to my beloved Chicago," Kunda tells Axios.

• Her collection began in 1990 when she was working in Mexico and has grown to include pieces, many of them gifted, from Latin America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

💭 Bri's thought bubble: Some of my most vivid memories with my grandma are of us standing in front of a vintage curio cabinet filled with opalescent perfume bottles. I loved hearing stories about where they came from and which ones she liked best.

• She told me the perfume bottle collection would be passed down to me one day because she treasured sharing those stories with me.
• Now, I'm the proud owner of dozens of little glass bottles that hold hundreds of generations-old happy memories.
• When I display that collection one day, I hope people will ask me where each piece came from.

Here are a few more reader notes we had to share:

Sentimental matchbook decor. Photo: Courtesy of John R. Schmidt

🍻 The bar in Park Ridge homeowner John R. Schmidt's basement offers a trip down memory lane — it's plastered with hundreds of matchbooks he's been saving since the late 1960s.

• The DIY project isn't just sentimental but also a conversation piece for visitors, Schmidt tells Axios.

How it works: He cut out the matchbook covers, taped them to the bar top and attached a piece of clear plastic on top.

An array of electric watches. Photo: Courtesy of Pat Kavanaugh

⌚️ Oak Lawn homeowner Pat Kavanaugh restores and collects vintage watches.

• "It has kept me up many a night but the feeling to see [a watch] run again was exciting," Kavanaugh tells Axios.

By the numbers: His collection exceeded 1,500 watches at its peak in 2008, says Kavanaugh, who's been working at his hobby since 1989.

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