Ten Things of Significance

For the Ten Things of Thankful I am doing another Ten Things of Significance post at the request of my daughter.

This bank book and pair of glasses belonged to my grandfather on my Dad's side.  The first entry was 1915 and the last was 1960.

This very small purse belonged to my Mother's Mom.  The purse was given to passed on to me.  It is about 6" long and 5" wide.  I'm not sure when she got it or for what occasion.

One has to wonder why this very old turtle shell was kept and passed on in the family.  The family lore is that my maternal grandfather gave my grandmother a little turtle.  (It is about 1-1/2" big.) Apparently it was a treasured memory for my grandmother.  I would like to know the whole story.

This very old tea kettle was given to us by my in-laws because they knew I liked old things.  We are not sure if this had actually belonged to their family.  From the way the inside looks, it may have survived a fire.

My paternal grandfather was a barber in his early days.  I remember seeing him shaving in the kitchen, because that was where there was a small window that gave him sufficient light to see well enough to shave himself.  I thought it was interesting to watch him sharpen his razor on the leather strop. The razor is well used and has a nick on the blade.  

These items belonged to my paternal grandmother.  She loved to sit in a rocker right next to their old radio, which was one of those that stood several feet tall from the floor.  She sat there and listened to the Yankees play, and used her magnifying glass to read the sports page of the newspaper.  (When she was in her 70's she had to have one of her eyes removed, we think because of a tumor.)

My mother saved a few of my baby clothes for me.  I have a photo of me wearing this little lined wool bonnet.

The first Christmas after my husband and I got married, we were able to purchase a Christmas tree but had very little money left for ornaments.  We went into a little craft store. A kind lady there told us that we could put some tiny plastic beads in a muffin tin and bake them in an oven for a few minutes to make ornaments.  We made several of these and also shaped some of the beads into a star.  We strung some popcorn and cranberries and had a most beautiful first Christmas together.

My husband was the first in his family to be able to go to a university.  In preparation for his freshman year, he made this beautiful pine filing box so he would have some place for handouts, etc. from his classes.  The box has been used in numerous ways since that time.

I bought this 1883 cookbook many years ago and have enjoyed trying some of the recipes.  There are many handwritten recipes and newspaper clippings that have been slipped in between the pages making it all the more interesting.  In the back of the book are useful hints such as the one to stop an earache which brought many a chuckle to my family.  (Needless to say we never tried that remedy!)