Monday, July 13, 2015

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!)

6 comments:

  1. Thanks, Mom. Though I've heard the stories before, I appreciate having them written down so I don't have to rely on my memory. :-)

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    1. And I won't have to rely on memory later. LOL

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  2. I love this post... so many lovely (old) items, the cookery book, though not the same, reminds me of a very old cook book my Aunt left to me when she passed...it to has little clippings and notes slipped in the pages throughout. I love it, Iv'e tried some of the recipes, and love to imagine her (when she was alive) thumbing the pages, baking in her kitchen... she was a marvelous cook :)

    I'm not sure about the earache remedy o_O... doesn't bear thinking about!

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    1. Thanks. As I look at cookbooks of bygone years, there is definitely a genealogy of cooking. It is so fun to see the changes throughout the years. So many of the recipes in this book have names of the contributors. I remember looking at a cookbook that my mother has and finding my first grade teacher's recipe in it.

      The remedies are fun to read. They make me wonder about the survival rate for some of them though.

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  3. Sorry it took me so much time to get over here, Pat. Having a weird week, if you know what I mean. I love your post for Ten Things of Thankful. I have a fondness for old artifacts. I'm so glad you have these wonderful family treasures to share with your children, and that Kristi appreciates them as well. I'm not sure my daughter or son has the same reverence for the pieces of family history that mean so much to me. Such sweet stories and memories.

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  4. I know what you mean. Not everyone considers old artifacts in the same way. I once went to a garage sale, that had many very old family photos for sale. The man apparently had only one son who really had no interest in the photos. I felt so sad that these photos, many of which were in large frames, would not end up with at the very least distantly related relatives.

    I'm not sure how many years the turtle will continue to be handed down. I just couldn't throw it away.

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