Treasures from the Past

Fox and Poodle in oils.  artist unknown  1958  


The Past, it seems, was quite over by the time I came along.  My brothers were 17 and 22 and the days of the Old Stuff were lagging behind. (Which were so much better than anything new that could be produced today!)  As I continue to clean out my Mum's house (she's still with us, by the way, 101 and going strong!) I stumble upon various ancient pieces that Speak to me.  I have taken so very little, in the grand scheme of things, less than two boxes, really. 
 But the things I have taken are such treasures to me.

I do though admit, here and out loud (as there is no one left to hurt by such an admission)

I dearly wish that I had just one old piece that used to belong to my birth mother.

Wouldn't that be a grand thing to own?

  I share some of yesterday's (sometimes painful) finds.

With my recent Passion For France, I was delighted to find several things from my Father's visit in 1944.  (see past posts) (seriously-a real rose from France 1944!)   This bracelet is so full of beauty and energy!  I imagine it was generally sold to tourists and were a dime a dozen...then.  I can't imagine finding its equal today.

The detail is perfection!

I don't see myself wearing it.  It has held up well...but still. 

 Sort of the thing one can imagine losing. 

I've decided to frame it against some lace and display it.  

It really was a Blessing to find. 

(L to R)

Tour Eiffel

Notre Dame

Paris

Invalides

Arc de Triomphe

Ile de France

Sacrecceur

Opera 

Always a favorite of mine.......the vintage table cloths!

They don't make 'em like this any more!

This is great!  A still wrapped, three pack of Ivory soap!

Appears to be a special vintage design for a contest occasion.

(12/31/2002 is on the back with a web site-so this isn't really old....just cool)

The front says to *find the sinking bar and win $100,000!

(as you'll remember...Ivory was known as the soap that floats!)

Now......wouldn't it be really sad if the sinking bar was in this pack....?????

Mum never bothered to find out.  lol

As for me, I don't have the heart to open it and be disappointed!

My great great grandchildren will probably be excited when they find this.

My Mum, looking very young.  I sooooo covet that dress on the right!

Too bad that one wasn't still in her closet!  ;)

For those of you who follow my blogs, you will know that my Uncle Whitey

was (and still is!) my heart and soul!

I can still, after 26 years, cry like a baby at the mention of his name.

(and why, yes...yes I am.....right now, even)  :)

He was the purest soul that ever graced the Universe.

In my eyes he was Angel, Pirate and Giant.

I will never stop missing him.

Here then, is his volunteer fireman's hat.

I used to wear it and pretend I was a policeman.

Uncle Whitey would laugh and laugh.

(and why, yes....yes I am......wearing it right now, even)  :)

*sniff*

Whenever I think of the odds of never having come to know him-I could have been adopted by anyone-I always give thanks that he was there as my one Constant.....and I lucked out.

Pretty Things

Bit and pieces.  I do so love a cameo, and oddly, given my Mum's age, she hadn't all that many.

What really fascinates me are the powder compacts.

I have a few already, Mum would dole them out like she did the lace. (see past blogs)

It seems that one MUST have a refillable compact for one's Coty Air-spun Loose Powder!  lol

These are quite unique.

Top:  Engraved *Officer's Club 1940*

Bottom:  SUNY Oswego 1946

(Note- SUNY Oswego was formerly the Normal School (yeah, I never asked why the name)

which went on to be the State College.  

All within walking distance of The Homestead and right on Lake Ontario.)

My grandfather hauled rocks from the lake shore by horse and wagon to build Sheldon Hall.

The State eventually bought them out in order to expand the college.

I was 4 when we moved from that site.  No indoor bathroom.

Try potty training in a real live outhouse!  ;)

(Kidding.....I remember a potty chair.)

How sad that we didn't have one of those fancy chamber pots to pass down.

I kind of remember an enamel bucket.

Uncle Whitey always used the outhouse.

I, on the other hand, was scared (shite-less?) with stories of

Small Children Who Could Fall In A Hole of Poo.

lol

And my final find of the day!

Weeeee!

Those little plastic records and my Mister Ed comic book!

"Willlll-burrrr!"

Remember when Mister Ed wanted Wilbur to buy him a swimmin' pool?

:)

And there you have it.
We are nearing an end to it all.
So many mixed feelings.
So many lovely memories.


Thanks for sharing this time with me.
xox
~Mimi

Une fleur de l'amour d'un jardin en France

A few more treasures from yesterday's journey to the past.......

At left, a photograph of my mother's family at a wedding.

To right, and unknown photograph found buried at the bottom of a 

candy box full of lace hankies.

At center, some amazingly beautiful vintage trinket...and my favorite of all, a cameo.

(I am quite enamored of cameos!)

The ecru lace you see behind is sewn to a scarf of black tulle.

The label remarks:  made in France

I had thought to stumble upon a stack of love letters but so far I haven't.

Only this one, preserved with a rose.  Dated 1944

My father says that it was "given to me by a French woman who picked it in her garden"

He also says that he "kissed this flower before sending it"

At this time, my parents were married.

Ahhh...the lost art of the romantic letter......

EBB would be so proud........

Une fleur de l'amour d'un jardin en France.

Oui.

*sigh*

I'm Not Crazy...My Mother Had Me Tested......

Since yesterday was such a wretched day of trying to sort out my Mother's long life, with her still in it, 

it made me laugh long and hard when I stumbled upon this certificate!

For those of you who are fans of the sitcom BIG BANG THEORY

(and I am a HUGE fan!  brilliant, by the way!)

you'll REALLY appreciate the joke!

So, for those of you who might have suspected......

"I'm not crazy.    My Mother had me tested."

See?  It says so right here!  :)

(Though, little did they know, they had a Bedlamite in the making!)

Find something to laugh out loud about today!

It's good for the Soul!

Pilfered Lace

The enormity of what I have just done has hit me like a wrecking ball into an unsuspecting wall of brick.

I have pilfered my Mum's hand crocheted lace.

Well, not even her lace, but my grandmother's lace.

And since my Mum will be 101 on this June 5th well, then that's some pretty old lace.

I have coveted this box of lace for ages.  Ever since my Mum started handing it out to me, piece by piece, like special candy treats.  She's been doing it forever.  Since the time I first moved to my own apartment.

Every now and again.....she'd gift me with a piece of  crochet lace from the box.

Endless excitement on a day like that when I possessed another piece to display!

(I was, perhaps, the only 20 year old with furniture sporting antimacassars!

  You gotta admire a good antimacassar!)

The ritual brought to me a love of dear, old things, painstakingly crafted by a woman I never met.

Grandma passed before I was born.

But, still, I have always had a picture in my mind of that faceless lady bent over her work of an evening.

And then one day, Mum stopped.  Stopped gifting the lace.

She said to me one day:  "Now you have to wait until I'm gone."

And of course, I promised.

And now, now I have broken my promise and pilfered that lace.

I hadn't meant to.  But, one thing leading to another and Mum, nearing 101, just isn't able to stay in her home any longer.   Nor my daughter's either.  And the goddess knows my poor daughter gave it her all.

But, it wasn't meant to be.

 Another promise not kept.

I wish I could bring her these lovely pieces and pretty up her room.

But, Mum's not the woman now to appreciate the lovely and would be all the sadder (and madder)

 that I had touched her things.  The upset would never be equal to the beauty.

She would find, now, no comfort in this lace.

I laugh out loud when I think of a character on a  favorite television show, Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory-  "A home?  We'd never put Meemaw in a home!"

You say that.

  But circumstance is a harsh mistress and Mum now

 resides in a care facility and her home to be scattered to the four winds in hopes that her long loved belongings will be honored by the people who take them.

That's one promise I can keep.

~MF 2012

The French "Appel" Pie Adventure

My Mum...in her 80's......

Gee....I wonder where I get my love of garb?   ;)

Nature vs. Nurture.  Hmm.

Ah, 'twas a bittersweet weekend this past.

My Mum, who will be 101 this coming June 5, had to recently move to a care facility.
We'll call it that.  It pains me to write the NH word.

The Goddess knows, we tried, against all odds to keep her with the family, but some things just aren't meant to be and one comes to realize that facility care offers a host of things that no human on earth can provide in a home setting.  Kudos to my daughter for holding out until the bitter end and medical care made it necessary to move her.  There is no way in the world I would have lasted a day.

So, with that said, there comes a host of other, even more daunting tasks.  The tasks of cleaning out her home.

There's naught for it and it must be done.  No other way around it.
But, if she were passed then I might feel differently.  It's a bloody knife in my heart as I go about the tasks that I promised her I would never do until after she was gone.

Crappy daughter, I.

There are many (many!) days ahead of sorting and deciding but I made a bit of a start this weekend.
I thought that I'd share a few of the more treasured things I found and remembered fondly.

***********

I have no idea what the pin on the left actually is but I do know that I shall wear it proudly upon my pirate hat!  The wee knife to the right is also on the piratey side!

I can sew the wee knife to my pirate garb and always be ready for a sandwich!  ;)

Going out on a limb, due to the look and age, but will say that this was my grandfather's pipe!

Remember......Mum is 100............   

I love these!  I played with them sooooo many times when I was small.

Who knew.......Mum was the original Steampunk Girl!   ;)

I adore cameos in any and all forms!  

And the wee mag glass will go nicely with my Vic garb!

Ok.  THIS is wild!  Clearly my Mum was corresponding to someone in Paris!

This begins in English and is a recipe for "French Appel Pie" 

The next two pages are meticulous instructions in flawless handwriting-in French-

for the pie!  It closes with sending more the "next time I write."

I'm actually rather excited to see if I find any more from this person!

A "French Appel Pie" Adventure!

Vintage beaded purse.  I was real good up until I opened it and smelled the inside.

It smelled the way my Mum smelled when I was little............

The Dog is mine....but the derby was my grandfathers!

It's sooooo old!  Fragile.  And I adore it!

The sales tag inside is handwritten and reads:  3052 Blk $2.00 51/4

The sewn in leather tag reads:  Bains, Oswego NY

There's so much more to do.

Torn betwixt wanting to honor everything and knowing that decisions will have to be made.

And....facing the 'lock box' wherein all my adoption information lies............

which is what, essentially, this blog is all about.........

But, I shall smile, because to do otherwise would be a failure to celebrate my Mums

long and wonderful life.........

Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me......

it's appreciated knowing that you are all out there to urge me forward....share a smile.....or break my fall.......

or perhaps peel a few *appels* with me along the way..........

Let the French *Appel* Pie Adventure start!

(with a humble nod to Maurice Sendak...who loved an adventure!)

(Right after this nap..........)    ;)

addendum:  My bloggie friend, Jinksy, just sent me a link to the bird's foot broach!
Amazing!
Thanks, Jinksy!
Bird's Foot Broach

BITS OF ME....

Something I have been meaning to post after a lovely afternoon of browsing in

 the ether of my world a month or so ago.   These are bits of the paperwork that my Mom sent to me when I applied for my passport to visit some Third World island or another owned by the

cruise line on an Hawaiian cruise.

I was taken aback to discover name change documents.  Can't describe the feeling in my stomach .

But, for those of you who know me you know that I have always been called by one different name or another.....so I guess this doesn't surprise me much.  But, still.......       :)

( * I have, in most case, made it a point to crop out actual (documented) birth dates and other identifying info.  Should the day come that I were to be contacted I would not want that information to be compromised.  I hope you understand.)

According to my father, this is our German housekeeper who called me Sugarfoot.

*************

Note from my Mom enclosed with papers.

My adoption papers still sit in the family lock box.  Over the years I have repeatedly declined to take possession of them.  I can't imagine what info they contain.

  I had always promised that there would be time when my Mother had passed.

She is now, 100.

Clearly, she is getting the last laugh over the naysayers who told her she was too old to adopt a baby.  ;)

 

GOBLIN MARKET

Took a wee stumble on the reading path and discovered Rossetti-in particular, Goblin Market.

Hmm.   I wonder if I have a Sister out there who would save me from goblin fruit?

It certainly is an exciting prospect!

Mayhap one day I'll know.

In the meanwhile......this is a most excellent poem!

ps.  Currently reading The Land of Green Plums (see below)
and quite liking it!)