After my sisters and I had gone through all of Mom's house and were satisfied that we had pulled everything that we wanted and had space for, the executor locked it up, and we all drove away.
I paused and took a photo of where my mother spent so many happy hours with both Gus, and her chickens. Had I not been so overwhelmed with fatigue, hunger, and emotion I might have taken a pic of her bluebonnet patch just beyond her chicken house. I didn't trust myself to linger.
One of the many treasures I brought home were her certificates, her 5 and 10 year pins from UTMB, her credential pins, all of her lead markers, cardboard "gestation calculators" for OB ultrasounds, notes she took in X-Ray school (handwritten in cursive!, in ink!),
and some old name badges.
My mother was the parent I admired and looked up to.
She was smart, resourceful, courageous, steadfast.
She had little things sitting all over the house in little dishes and in drawers - when I saw one that I couldn't put down, I added it to my collection. This sterling silver keychain looked well-loved, but I don't ever remember seeing keys on it. After I polished it up, I discovered that the yellow crescent glows in the dark.
While I was waiting out the eclipse, I took a pic of the back of the house. Repairs and painting are starting this weekend. The underside of the patio roof will be "Glazed Granite", the body of the house will be "Toasted Almond". It will have moldings and trim replaced, gutters cleaned and reattached, bricks power washed, then caulked and painted.
I watched the entire thing.
My neighbors were cheering and clapping at first, then at totality, a hush fell over the whole neighborhood. No birds, no dogs barking, no traffic sounds. Without trying to sound all woo woo, it was almost a spiritual event, and I sat silently crying and watching in awe. Yep, worth taking a day off.
My button collection has grown exponentially (thanks, Mom!), and I will be thinking what I can do with them. I made a cute button craft years ago, ornaments, and a couple of Christmas themed pillows. I've even sewn them on clothes, ha ha.
But I want to really think about how to use them for something I can enjoy looking at. There are so many antique ones made of shell.
Just so lovely.
Gina
Such wonderful Friday favorites; you found some real treasures of your mom to hold onto her memory.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you got to experience the solar eclipse! It was an awe inspiring event for me in 2017 when we were in the path of totality. I even made a quilt to remember it. My favorite part was the 360 degree sunset that occurred.
ReplyDeleteI send you a big hug for going thru your mom's house. I just couldn't imagine having such a little bit of time to find some treasures. Bittersweet.
When I cleaned out my Grandma's home I took everything out of the drawers, cabinets and laid them out on simple tables and everyone had a key and could take what they wanted. On the last day, I boxed up the leavings and had a garage sale. The monies were distributed to my mom's sibs. No hard feelings. I did it out of love for my grandma.
A friend of mine is an embroidery designer and she also designs fabric lines for Moda, anyways, she has made many button crafty things. She takes an embroidery design of whispy florals and birds and makes the buttons be part of the design - like a center of a flower or the petals.
Here is another site I've used - I like to make button craft initials that I frame for each Grand niece and nephew when they upgrade to big kid beds.
Wishing you true happiness.
The eclipse was a big deal for me so I decided to go out onto my deck, lie down on my back, don my glasses, and watch. It moved me. I was reminded that the last time I watched with my dad. I thought how vast the universe; how much better this would have been with a pillow; how the heck was I going to get back up? At the moment of deepest emotion a bird pooped on me.
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