LOST

Funny how we have special places in our homes where we keep things. We always know it is there when we need it. The brooms go one place and the buckets another and the pantry is so important. Remember mine? I had what was called aMichigan  pantry. Supplies for just about every need. The cabinet sold and a lot of the food given away. Some of it I would NEVER use up by myself. I used to know where things were. It sure plays tricks on you trying to remember which new place you put something. Guess I should have been more organized, but 60 years of stuff well that was a challenge.

After months of moving and lugging and sorting several things are still lost and probably will never surface again. I have always been a person who HATES it when I can’t find where I put something. I search until I find it again.It bugs me.  I misplaced a key to the local post office box. I hadn’t had the key but maybe a week or so. I was informed that they are charging $6.00 a key now to replace them. I kept wondering how long it will take when someone asks me where something is that my mind will go straight to where it was the last time I saw it. My standard answer  is..”I know where it was, but not where it is now!” In that big mess in the storage place..maybe.

Sis and I came across a gold and diamond ring that I gave my mom. She thought she lost it, threw it out in an old purse maybe. We searched the house over for it. Never found it until cleaning out the house. There, in the bottom of a drawer, inside a very small box, was the ring. 

This ring had a story. Mom wore it a lot until one day she was in the parking lot of the doctor’s office and she put her hand too close to the trunk lid and you can guess what happened. Down came the lid on her fingers and I nearly fainted. I screamed but Mom didn’t look too upset. The receptionist came running out of the building carrying one of those neat snap ice packs. Seems the ring band was so solid it held up beautifully and the finger was saved from being crushed. The doctor removed the ring and mom held the ice pack on her hand until we got home. The finger never even turned blue, just swollen some.  Mom retired the ring for a different one, saying she didn’t want to damage it again or lose some of the diamonds. We never saw it again. We all thought it was gone for good.  Sis and I found it several days before we left our old house. We had a good cry over it. I wondered why, oh why, we hadn’t found it with all that looking and before Mom had left us. My guess is that she led us right to it. We had several things happen in that old house that made both Sis and I stop and think. Those who cross over and are away are not always that far away. I will always feel they are right beside us all the time.  

HAPPY EASTER??

Today it doesn’t seem like April or EASTER.. it seems like maybe November and we are getting our first snowfall. We had record-breaking heat last weekend.. nearly 90. It felt wonderful after such a long winter. This past week the crocus and the daffodils popped up and the tree buds began to show their colors. The grass was greening up after so much rain and warmth that spring usually brings to us.

 

Before

After the snow and it is still falling as I type. Slippery roads and ice pellets are making things pretty interesting around our neighborhood.  Maybe by the weekend all this white will be gone and the green will come back again. I am sure there are some birds and squirrels around who would really appreciate it. The robins are probably pretty confused over it all.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY EASTER WEEK.

STILL WORKING..

Several things I found lately that I never thought would ever work actually did. To my amazement an old Maytag wringer washer sat in the corner of our basement for 50 some years. When Sis and I plugged it in, it never hesitated.. started agitating right away. Good old Maytag..no wonder the service guy is never busy. I have a person who is interested in it, they are STILL being used by the Amish community  and they know how to fix them when they breakdown.

On our porch mom had stashed away her old stand mixer that she used a lot “back in the day” before we bought many portable mixers. When I cleaned it off and plugged it in..you  guessed it.. it worked just fine. Long ago appliances were built to work for a long time. Now, you can replace one almost every year if you find one on sale.

I decided to make banana bread with it and see how it worked.. Yummy.. the bread turned out great.

 

Well..hope you all are having a wonderful spring week, the ground is warmer and the grass is turning green, trees are budding and I am sneezing..all signs that spring is finally here.

TREASURES…

 

The things you find when you are going through the endless
boxes and drawers is just amazing. Yes..they are sometimes
special and sometimes shocking.I came across an old metal
trunk with 5 old quilts in it. I remembered them from days
gone by,but really had no idea mom had saved them.It was quite
a surprise. 

 

The large blue one had something that I thought was a dog on
it but when I looked closer, it resembled a donkey or horse.
I know my grandmother made it because it was pretty heavy.
Mom told her to make them heavier because it was so cold here.
The other quilts mom told us they were used in between the mattress
and the inner springs in the beds back in the 30′s.You can see some
damage to them,so they are really well-worn.

  

 

 These will be kept
in the family as keepsakes. In mom’s old sewing machine drawers
we found skeleton keys that went to our front door before the
new locks were put on. In our basement I looked under the pile
of old boxes and junk and found the drop leaf table that mom
and dad had in our home when they first moved in. Well worn doesn’t
really describe it,neglected and in need of TLC does.
I cleaned and sanded it and put on a spray coat of white paint. 
It looks like new!! The old chair I found also looked great
with a new shine.It was fun making them come alive again, ready
to be used everyday. People pay big bucks, they tell me, for antique drop-leaf tables if they are in good condition. Wish that mine had the original wood instead of being painted though. I will use it proudly as my parents did. The packing has settled down now, and the process of leaving the home place behind and moving on is upon me. I ‘ve had luck so far with many contacts with job offers so I hope to get busy once I get settled in a new place. I will pick up my flyers and business cards next week and start the expansion into another city to open up as many opportunities as possible. Time seems to be flying for me, Spring is trying so hard to come here and getting smacked back by the chilly air. We may just get one of the coolest May’s on record this year the weatherman said. Yes indeed..as long as there is NO SNOW involved I will be happy. I sold the snowblower and the lawnmower…. good riddance I will no longer be needing them!

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

THE WATCH

I have written before about the Lost and Found game that I have been playing, as I go about sifting through the many drawers and boxes and hiding places in our old house. Yesterday I came across a gold watch that my father wore only for the dress up occasion. The band barely used, but the front inside crystal dirty. Wondering how that came to be will probably always be in my mind. I do remember my dad strapping on that watch when we could go on trips or on weekends when he would go out somewhere special.

It made me wonder how old it was so I tried to find it on-line. No luck so far but some very similar to it.  I wound the thing up and away it went. It kept time and was even fast. Having to wind it reminded me of the old days when we used to do that as a routine thing every day. It was a habit we had like brushing teeth or setting an alarm clock. Now we turn on the computer and check e mails and never think about our watch because it just ticks along with its battery intact. As I go through the multitudes of boxes and drawers of life in this old house, memories flood back and the sounds of voices and laughter echo in my ears. Soon I will leave it behind and move on to another place in life, but I will be sure to take some of the treasures I have found along with me.  Mom and Dad back in the 50′s. Wonder if he is wearing the watch?