 sj |
||
|
||
Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept?
|
|
|
Subject: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 16 Feb 02 - 08:25 PM In the thread that Art Thieme started, "Is It Me?" Katlaughing asked me how I came to write Handful of Songs. The song is really about what each of us has kept to remind us of loved ones who've passed on. For us, we will all leave a "handful of songs" that will be carried on and remembered in our family. The one common quality that people seem to cherish when keeping something that belonged to a family member is that it meant a lot to the person. I kept my Grandfather's hammer, and his old railroad watch. Neither of them worth a plugged nickle on the open market. But, they were a part of who he was.. a modest working man who was always on time. When I've sung the song, people always come up afterward to tell me what they've kept to remember someone they loved. For many of the men remembering their Fathers, it's a tool, a knife or a watch. I have my Mother's bible that her Mother gave to her just before she died on the operating table. A friend of mine keeps a hockey puck on his dresser that his Father caught at a hockey game and gave to him as a little boy. As the song says,
"Some may leave money from a lifetime of savings
Spaw asked me to start this thread. So tell us, Spaw, what have you kept that brings back loving memories of someone? I know that there are many beautiful stories out there. I'd like to hear every one.
And what about you, Rick? And Kendall? and all the rest? Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: bill\sables Date: 16 Feb 02 - 08:41 PM I have kept my fathers old miners safety lamp and his watch and my mothers pasport. The lamp is on the fireplace but the watch and pasport are stored away now. Cheers Bill |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jeri Date: 16 Feb 02 - 09:01 PM I'm a pack rat at the end of a long line of pack rats. I have trays and a rocking chair my grandmother, whom I never met, stencilled. I have a basement full of books, and all sorts of things my grandfather (whom I never met) made by turning wood. I have my father's belt buckle somewhere. I have a bunch of beautiful quilt covers my great aunt made, and you can tell when she got a sewing machine, because the stitching goes from the meticulous but somewhat quirky hand stitches to those perfect machine ones. One of the hand-stitched ones is all red and white, with hand-embroidered blocks - flowers, figures, faces and such. Before my mom died - LONG before - she told me there was only one thing I should never part with, and I haven't. She had one of those ceramic "nodders." It's an owl. The head is a separate piece, and fits into the body so if you push it a bit, it nods back and forth. It's been broken and repaired several times. Anyway, she told me that when my dad asked her to mary him, she came home and asked the wise old owl if she should. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 16 Feb 02 - 09:30 PM When we divided my grandmother's things, I had my heart set on a needlepoint flower picture that was always by her front door. My brother wanted a different picture, and my sister wanted still a different one. Because of our age differences, we realized that each of us remembered a different picture that had a prominent place in her house at different times. Then there were all the little gifts I had given her as a child...Then there are the special dark blue vases that hold yellow buttercups (jonquils) every spring. Then there are all the wildflowers every spring that she taught me the names to... |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Janie Date: 16 Feb 02 - 10:31 PM I have several things of my grandparents that are very special, but the most special to me are my grandmother's silver and an old, cheap cut glass bowl in which she always served the cranberry relish.. The silver is plated and not expensive, but to a poor Kentucky farm girl it was precious indeed. She only used them for special and family holiday dinners, and now I do the same. When I lay the table for Thanksgiving or another special meal, I always feel like Papaw and Nannie are sitting there with us around the table. I have watermelon seeds that my grandfather got from some farmer on a trip through Arkansas that he had carefully labeled and dated but never got around to planting. Finally, when Nannie died, my aunt took the last remaining quilt she had done entirely by hand and had teddy bears made from it for all of the grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was the quilt that had been on their bed for so many years, that had kept them warm, that they had snuggled under. This bear is priceless to me. Thanks for starting this thread. Janie |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Sorcha Date: 16 Feb 02 - 10:41 PM Well, I didn't keep it all but......let's just say I am not among the un-stuffed. My dad has been gone 11 years, my mom only 3, so I still have a LOT of their stuff. I don't really want to get rid of any of it in case the kids want it someday. I'd be sure to get rid of the one thing they wanted.
I have a serving dish that was my Great Grandmothers, a crystal/etched "violet bowl" that was another ggmothers, a workable spinning wheel from another. As for the ggrandfathers, I have a pocket watch, a jack knife, photos, sheesh, lots of stuff. From Mr. Sorcha's side we have a quilt made by his ggrandmother in 1889. It's the last photo on this page. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 16 Feb 02 - 10:54 PM Thanks for sharing that with me, Sorcha. I worked for 37 years at a Museum, and we had a group of women who came in dutifully every Monday and made hand-stiched quilts. None of this machine made stuff. Each year, they'd auction off a quilt as a benefit for the Museum. When I re-married, three years ago, they made a beautiful quilt for my wife and me. It's something that we'll always treasure that will be handed down to one of our children someday. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Sorcha Date: 16 Feb 02 - 10:55 PM Sounds like the beginnings of a song, there Jerry. Quilts and spinning wheels........run with it if you like--I can't write songs. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Gypsy Date: 16 Feb 02 - 11:02 PM I have moved so many times, and pared down an equal amount, that anything that has survived is precious. The item that reallly comes to mind, is my grandmother's journel of when she lived in Ethiopia in the 1950's. (she is a native of Louisiana, USA) She was there for two years, and reading it at the same age as when she wrote it......was a powerful story. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: 53 Date: 16 Feb 02 - 11:06 PM My dad's old Morgan silver dollar, and some of my mother's furniture. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: katlaughing Date: 16 Feb 02 - 11:59 PM Like Jeri, I'm a packrat. Like Sorcha, I have kept a lot. Mom would've been so proud of us when she died 3 years ago. We had one afternoon when we were all five together and went through her stuff to decide who would keep what. We did a good and fair job and were able to sit down to supper together after. I have my maternal grandma's silver beads choker which she gave me when I was 8, as that was the age she received it. I also have my mom's Bible which she won in a singing contest at church when she was just a girl. I have a pillow my aunt made for all of her sisters, including my mom, which she used grandma's tulip quilt pattern for. Each pillow was a one square replica of the original. I have my other grandma's Bavarian china and some really old silver, plus an oil lamp which they used on the ranch in Colorado. Most precious to me are the old family photographs showing the original log cabin homestead of my dad's family; my maternal "schoolmarm" grandma riding her horse to school; my other grandma as a young lady; plus other papers. Ah, the other precious thing I have is a cassette tape my dad made of his memories of growing up with extraordinary people; and one I have of my mom talking a little bit about growing up and singing a little. If anyone still has parents, grandparents living, please try to get them to put stuff down on a tape. It is priceless, not only to those of us who are their children, but also to our children and their children. Thanks for this thread, Jerry. I had to cry a bit before I could post. I love reading what other's have posted. kat |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Chip2447 Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:05 AM Someplace in time, eons ago, The first real Dakota Souix blacksmith made a metal hatchet. It has been passed from father to eldest son since it's birth. We dont know how old it is actually, but can safely say that goes back to the mid 1800's, or beyond. My Grandfather could remember his father telling him that it had belonged to his dad, my double great grandfather. So it probably goes back even further than 1850. Chip2447 |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: mmm1a Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:10 AM There are some antiques that I have that have been passed down from several generations , but the one thing that stands out at this time is a set of 8 crystal wine glasses.I know that they were my great-Grandmothers and I recieved them on the day I married my 2 oldest sons Father. The wedding toast was made with them. And now in 1 week I will carry on part of the tradition at my second oldest son's wedding. They will be using 2 of the glasses for their toast. But I will keep the glasses as I have 4 more children that will be married someday. Thanks for this thread. mmm |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Amergin Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:25 AM unfortunately...many of the older generations in my family...had/have a nasty habit not to make wills....and so many of the things they treasured are scattered....the kids of their current spouses usually ended up with them... |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: DonMeixner Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:40 AM My Dad's jewler's tools which I continue to use almost daily. I have my Grandfathers Architect's scale that I have used for 16 years as a drafter on designer. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: mouldy Date: 17 Feb 02 - 02:40 AM I have all sorts of things as I come (on my mother's side) from a long line of hoarders. The oldest thing I have is a silk printed paisley shawl which was given to one of my great-great grandmothers (I was told) as a wedding present in the mid 19th century. She had been a nursemaid for one branch of the Byron family and they gave it to her. It is huge: meant to be draped over and around a crinoline. But it is also a printed pattern, and not woven - as befits a servant! I also have (amonst many, many things) my grandfather's notebook from the trenches in the 1914-18 war. It makes fascinating reading when it comes to what they actually were given to eat! I won't add any more because I'd never end! Andrea |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 17 Feb 02 - 05:01 AM I have the last embroidery my grandmother ever made. She was going blind and died of breast cancer shortly afterwards, so it's special. It's a large square Jacobean 'tree of life' pattern in blues and browns, the patterns she loved best. Some of the stitching is a little off (it's one of those iron on transfers) and the colour changes are a little sudden compared with her earlier work (she loved the random dyed and variegated silks)but it is all meticulous stitching and so typical of her... I can see it now, from my computer here, and it reminds me of my childhood. Everything that could be embroidered was... chair backs, cushion covers, armchair covers, pillow cases, eiderdowns, chair seats, you name it, she'd put embroidery on it! From my other grandmother, I have a stone jug, a pine dresser and a poorly plant. Nothing else. She had 4 children, the oldest, my father was born out of wedlock. Before she was even cold in her bed, the eldest daughter was labelling furniture and things to be parcelled out to her three children. When the middle daughter, the woman who had spent the last 6 years looking after her complained, she said 'he's a bastard and doesn't get anything'. In the end, we got the leftovers, everything that they didn't want, mostly odd bits of china, glass, plants and a big pine dresser that wouldn't fit in any of their houses. I only got the dresser and the plant when my mother emigrated and couldn't take it with her! One thing I do have though, is a lot of family photos. My mother's family kept a photo of practially everyone who ever passed through their front door! Of my father's family, again, nothing. We weren't even allowed a picture of his parents. My dad left a fair amount of photos, and I have a lot of his tools - he left 27 screwdrivers alone, in various states of repair! I hope that Phoebe will want to keep some of the things, maybe not the War Department issue adjustable tank spanner that I'm so fond of, but hopefully something. LTS |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Deckman Date: 17 Feb 02 - 05:22 AM I have many treasures that belonged to my Father in his working days. My Father was a master carpenter, and became a successful custom home builder. One of the treasures is a very old handsaw, with the number 65 carved on the handle. It first belonged to my Mother's Father, my Grandfather. He then gave it my Father and he used it for years. The number 65 is interesting. In WW1, GrandFather worked in the shipyards and 65 was his tool chit number. In WW2, my Father worked in the same shipyard, and 65 was assigned to him as his tool chit!. CHEERS, Bob (by the way, my Father will be 94 in 6 weeks). |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 17 Feb 02 - 05:43 AM What great memories! Looking back on when I wrote the song, I hesitated on the line, "It's the JOY of remembering." It seems like this world has become so cynical that people don't use the word "joy" as freely as they used to. Maybe it's just my perception. But, I feel the joy in these postings. Why settle for happy, when you can shoot for joy?
You've touched on something else that is joyful... family photographs. There are a couple of lines in the song that talk about that, too..
"Some may leave lessons, hard in the learning
And tapes! What a blessing. My Father died four years ago at the age of 92. When he was in his 80's, I got him to do a long tape of his memories. My Father didn't like to talk much about growing up, because he was very bitter about his family. He wasn't one to open up about himself. The way that I got him to do a tape was to send a list of questions for my Mother to ask him, with the tape recorded running. Talking to her made it a lot easier than talking to the tape recorder and as he went along, he relaxed and was pretty effusive, for him. I also asked my Mother to write about her childhood, and got a many-paged letter that I really cherish. Her Father had a dairy farm and when she talks about beds with rope mattresses, heating stones in the fireplace to warm their feet in the wagon in the winter when they went into town to ice cream socials, it transports me into a time that has become a part of me.
"Throw all the kids in the old hay wagon, And point the horse to town
And over in the corner, there's a fiddler
My Mother was driving a milk truck and making deliveries when she was 13 years old. She finally stopped driving a couple of months ago. She misses taking her older sisters out for rides. She'll be 95 in June.
Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Mr Red Date: 17 Feb 02 - 06:18 AM Call me Mr Functional. I have a Swiss Army Knife given to me by my ex-wife It has a charmed life, whenever I loose it, it manages to turn-up, time and time again. Lodged in the crevice of a seat of a person I will only see for one day, found by accident etc etc etc. Given the circumstances I would not grieve but be quite happy if it divorced me. BUT it is a very, very useful, carpentry tool, tree pruner, spectacle repairer, and a knife! etc etc and if I threw it away it would be unkind, in pique, cynical. If I gave it away I would have to not like the person, & why would I be giving them presents? If I bought another, I would be unfaithful. So here I am in limbo land with the constant reminder. Why are these gizmos sooooooo practical. I also have a Pentel Pencil which has the same connotations, much repaired much lost & returned, and it was there when I wrote most of my early songs (AD ie After Divorce). It has magic. & that wasn't put there by her!!! No way. Infuriating isn' it? |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: JEM-Wales Date: 17 Feb 02 - 06:38 AM My father passed away last year and what I treasure from his side of the family is the photo of his great grandfather, taken after saving lives in a mining disater, the photo of his grandfather and grandmother when they went on the Ykon gold rush, the photo of his father standing on the ship of which he was a captain, which was sunk in the war and the photo's of my father - one when he is playing rugby for his country, the other taken during the second world war when he is looking so young and handsome in his uniform. On my mother's side I have the jet beads that her grandmother always, in every photo of her you can see them, wore, I have my grandmothers bakestone. 20 kilos of blackened steel, that still mkae the most majical Welsh akes, but for my mother, thank goodness I have as yet no keepsake, I have her. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: mack/misophist Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:00 AM In my own family we were too poor, too migratory, and too divided for there to be any keepsakes. Any extra baggage was discarded. My wife's family, which is old, established, and thoroughly middle-class, no longer bothers with keepsakes. I hang on to all the old family things I can get my hands on, hoping that some day one of the younger members will want them. So far, there's been a total lake of interest. This seems to be the rule with younger people today. Too bad. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: artbrooks Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:21 AM We have my grandfather's sea chest, a couple of embroidered shirts Jenn's grandmother brought over from Russia, and a picture of her Greatuncle Arthur (the one who was supposed to be in the band on the Titanic but missed the boat). |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Rolfyboy6 Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:38 AM Daddy's bowl-backed mandolin (Luigi Uriani, Napoli). Every once in while he'd whip it out and play 1920s novelty pop tunes like "Ain't she sweet" and "Washington at Valley Forge." When Kweskin came out in the 60s I was like "Yeah, OK, why're people excited about that? That's just like Daddy." Thanks Dad. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: GUEST,tupence Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:01 AM I've got my Grans cross & chain and some pictures of my grandparents before WWII having fun with their friends (wonder how many of them survived the war?). Generally though my family tend to keep things that mean nothing to anyone else, like small stones from a favourite mountain walk and train tickets. I've still got my 1st pet dog's identity tags & my mums got his licence -he's not been around for nearly 30 years. My granparents used to buy us silly cheap ornaments for birthdays - mine are all still on display in my frontroom, I would part with them for anything.
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: DMcG Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:47 AM One of the family traditions/keepsakes is a lace Christening gown made by wife's great grandmother. It was used for all her children, her grand children and all her great grandchildren. Hopefully, it will serve the next generation as well. We also have a table made by her grandfather that has been our main dining table for nearly twenty-five years now, even in the houses that were really too small for it. From my father's side I have kept a set of technical drawing instruments that he got when he started work. He was largely self-taught and they are a symbol of both his ability and determination. As a child I found his careful planning and preparation infuriating - when we will actually start on this??? - but I never knew him to make anything that was not to the highest of standards. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: kendall Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:34 PM My grandmother died in 1956, and, I got her lap robe. It is mohair, has pictures of horses on it, and it is as heavy as a bucket of hog livers. I believe it predates automobiles. I also have a Waltham railroad watch (gold). I used to carry it, but, they quit making watch pockets in mens jeans, and, it is a pain to set. You have to unscrew the front, pull a little lever, then set the hands. Why they made them that way, I have no clue. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:37 PM About the only thing my family hands down is its dysfunctionalism... Hell of a neat thread to read this... ;-) |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Rick Fielding Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:59 PM Wonderful thread Jerry. The kind of Mudcat chat that I dearly love. Sadly, I have very few keepsakes from my parents. My dad died when I was 18, and I'm afraid neither of us really understood each other very well. I had entered my own little world a few years earlier (absolutely necessary for my emotional survival at the time) and it was years later that I went through the contents of the one article of his that didn't get lost or misplaced over the years. It was his leather briefcase, and inside I found several fascinating things. A magazine where he was named "Pharmaceutical executive of the year", complete with testimonials from folks all over Canada and the U.S. as to how much he was liked and respected by his fellow pharmacists, from the ones who had stayed as small town store owners, to the ones who ended up CEOs of big companies. A couple of cartoons that I'd drawn when I was about 10. Also a half-written book called "Dear Doctor", crammed with humourous anecdotes about the relationship between those who manufactured the "miracle drugs" and those who dispensed them. Very funny writing. I had no idea he wanted to be a writer. Wish he'd finished and published it. Also, a Mason's apron and some documents and pins. Don't remember him ever going to a meeting, so I guess it was one of those hereditary memberships passed on to him by HIS dad. Some WW11 medals and patches from his time in the Army from 39 to 45, mostly spent in France. I still have difficulty knowing how those marriages stayed together with so much separation....but the vast majority did. I suspect my Mum put these things in the old briefcase after he died. And yes...I thought about these things when I first heard Sandy sing your song. Cheers Rick |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Lyrical Lady Date: 17 Feb 02 - 01:37 PM I have my great-grandmother's post card collection, my grandfather and my father's stamp collection as well as a several boxes of 78's that my dad spent years collecting. My most treasured keep sake is the set of keys that were hanging in the front door lock on the day that my dad died. I figure those keys are the last things he touched before he died and I keep them in with my silverware so that when I set the table, I look at them and remember my dad. LL |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Tinker Date: 17 Feb 02 - 01:41 PM As a third generation pack rat, I've surrounded myself with bits and pieces of the past from both sides. I've an afgan from each grandmother. And I'm still lugging the upolstered rocker that Pepere rocked all 33 grandchildren to sleep on. It needs major repair work, but the budget will cover it someday. An oil lamp Memere used in her childhood, and transcripts (the tape long ago broke) of her days in the mills as a young girl in New England. When we moved to our present house the 92 year old woman we bought from couldn't place all her treasures and I agreed to finish the job. Slowly many things have come off the porch and back into the house because they just "belong". That includes two unusual Madonna/Goddess statues that were in this good Baptist woman's foyer. My pagan friends can't identify them either but we all agree they belong, so they now live amongst the plants and try to protect them from my haphazard care. Love the song may even learn to play it in Bb like Fielding some day... Tinker |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 17 Feb 02 - 02:11 PM Several people have mentioned letters. Another great treasure. One of the ways that I kept my sanity through many hard years was by writing endless letters to my buddy Art Thieme. I kept carbons (remember carbons) of the letters that I wrote to Art that had descriptions of family adventures (and kept many of Art's too.) A couple of years ago, I went through my boxes of letters and pulled out all the references to my two sons as they were growing up, going back to when my 26 year old was a todler. I combined them into one running collection of great, funny, hard, painful remembrances and ended up with 36 pages. I think that they appreciate them. I sure get a kick out of reading them.. Now, with everyone on the computer, will anyone print out hard copies of e-mail and save them? Something else lost to progress. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: katlaughing Date: 17 Feb 02 - 02:39 PM Jerry, email makes it easier, if one wants to preserve, imo. I copy and paste the important bits that I want to save, put them in a spcific file, then have it to print out anytime. However, I also have a lined blank book in which I still handwrite short sayings, poems, etc. which I've come across and don't want to forget. My paternal grandfather clipped out poetry from magazines and newspapers, then pasted them into an old agriculture book which he obviously didn't need to read anymore. My niece has that and it is a precious reminder of him and his love of good literature. This has prompted me to ask my brother what happened to the reel-to-reel tape he made in the 1950's of my grandma reading us stories and my little 4 or 5 yr old voice helping her to tell Goldilocks. I'd love to hear her, again! Wonderful thread... kat |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Grab Date: 17 Feb 02 - 02:43 PM Got my great-grandad's violin, bought in 1921 for £21 (we've still got the receipt!). Sounds lovely, and the back is beautiful, but it's needed some major repair recently and may need more too. When I learnt violin as a kid, I needed to trade up from a 1/2-size to a full-size, and my gran said "I think I've got one in the loft". So that's what I got, and that's what I learnt on. My mum got it valued at Sotheby's, and they didn't want to know - they told her it was worthless. I just got it repaired, and the repairer had a fit when I said it wasn't insured! Anyway, I got it valued, and it _is_ worth insuring (not Strad territory, but nevertheless the price of a small car). There were some jokes from my wife and friends about getting someone to sit on it, but I don't find that too funny really - as far as I'm concerned, it's my violin and my gran's before me (and maybe my great-gran or great-grandad or some other family member - we don't know) and I couldn't bear to lose it. I don't get too emotional about most possessions - they're all just stuff. But instruments are one thing I really do get attached to. I'd rather have my house and car burned out than have an instrument stolen or broken beyond repair. Graham. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Bill D Date: 17 Feb 02 - 03:32 PM well, I have a bunch of 'stuff' from both my Mother's side, and my Father's side...and my wife (Ferrara) has lots of things from HER familie(s)...we are almost inundated with things that just 'sit there'. I suppose the most meaningful are the things my paretnts had carefully saved, including a tonic bottle my maternal grandfather used when he was a barber in Missouri in the early part of the century. My mother considered that her prized posession...various other glassware & letters and quilts also. I also have a kitchen cupboard from my paternal grandmother...the kind with the flour & sugar bins and bread drawer and plate racksetc..(it actually had the original zinc top when I first got it, but is now just a dining room piece. I do have my grandfathers watch and his shooting medal from his military service post-Civil war (1880s) My fathers family lived in Pennsylvania..(near Pittsburg) but traveled a lot, and I have a large album of postcards sent by various members in the 1903-1913 era...such reading! Now that I have a digital camera, I need to record some of those things with notes so my son will have records and know where everything came from. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: CarolC Date: 17 Feb 02 - 03:52 PM I'm not particularly sentimental, and I don't usually keep things to remember people by. Although I feel incredibly blessed to have a little over a year's worth of PMs from LR Mole to remember him by.
However, re: family memorabilia... I don't really keep any of that sort of thing myself. But for a little while when I was in my twenties, I was part of a family with some very interesting memorabilia. My first husband's mother was one of the original Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. She lived with my husband and me for about a year. She had a trunk full of old newspaper clippings and photographs from her days as a dancer in the early part of the 1900s. There were picures of her dancing with the rockettes, and some of her dancing in a show with Ginger Rogers, and some of her dancing in a Zigfield production of some sort or another. And newspaper and magazine advertisements in which she modeled cosmetics and things. And press releases and newspaper articles about the Rockettes' tours to Europe and other places. It was an amazing thing, that trunk. She was a very modest and quiet woman and didn't like to draw very much attention to herself when I knew her. It was almost like pulling teeth to get her to bring out the trunk and let my husband and me look through it. We had one fascinating afternoon going through that trunk, and then I never saw it again. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: GUEST,BigDaddy Date: 17 Feb 02 - 08:39 PM Where to begin? With the oldest, I guess...an ambrotype (photographic image on glass) of great-great grandmother Eleanor made around 1858 and a teapot she owned. A dauguerreotype of her husband Sylvester in his civil war uniform holding his 1851 Colt Navy revolver. He died at Andersonville prison not long after. Photos of most of my other great-great grandparents as well. My great grandfather George's pocketwatch and jeweler's loupe and great grandmother Mary Jane's ring and brooch. My grandfather's pocketwatch, Colt pistol, UMWA pin, a rolling pin he carved, an arrowhead he carved from a mussel shell and nine poems he wrote. And his blacksmithing tools. Also a window he handmade for his mother-in-law's (Addy's)log cabin. My grandmother Lula's rings and things. And that's just a start... |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: kendall Date: 17 Feb 02 - 09:01 PM I'm somewhat a pack rat, but my grandmother never threw anything away except her first husband. When she died, we cleaned out her house, and in the attic was many balls of plain string. There was also a shoe box labeled "Pieces too short to save." Carol C,I wish I were more like you; I'm too sentimental I guess. I even have a pair of Edsel hubcaps in the original wrappers! Coins from different countries I've been in, the watch my mother gave at high school graduation, my National Defense service medal (from the Korean mis-understanding) old high school year books, ancient photos, commendations from my service in the National Marine Fisheries, and a photo of the patrol boat I captained 40 years ago. I like to break them all out and remember those times because the recent past has been anything but happy. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Steve in Idaho Date: 17 Feb 02 - 09:13 PM I guess the oldest would be the matched sets of family Bibles. On from my Dad's family and in German. Has a listing of all my family from about 1800 on hand written pages in the center part for births and deaths. The other from my Mother's family and in English and from the early 1800s - same info and in the same manner. Both are huge books - and have heavy wooden covers on them. The rest are tools - tools are my weakness. If I had to choose between tools and Ol Mose I'd choose the tools as I could build another guitar with them. And my Grandma's old Oak hutch - she used to keep pictures of all her children and grandchildren on it - we do the same with it. The 22 rifle my Dad bought from the J.C. Penny's catalogue for $13 when he was a kid - my son has it now. And his old Harmony guitar - my son now has that also and is beginning to play again. But what is more important than any of the material things is the ethics I carry with me from them. "What do you think of this post hole Grandpa - nice and straight and deep." "I'm still earning my own honest way Dad." "I love my country very much Great great great Grandfather Tawney." "I don't lie to gain things Mom." "I believe in God Grandma." "I obey the law when the law is right and good." "I believe in helping others but not at the expense of myself - for if I am gone who can I help?" Just a few of the things I hold dear to me. I had to think about this before I posted Jerry - great thread Steve |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: The Pooka Date: 17 Feb 02 - 09:43 PM "Pack rat" doesn't make it. The kind that keeps EVVVERYthing, such that the keepSAKES are in there somewheres but ya usually can't find 'em so what good are they. There's a clinical term for this. NO STOP CEASE don't tell me; I've blocked it. Have software to filter it out; just can't seem to put muh hands on the CD-ROM. It's not Denial. It's Refusal. There's a Difference. Annyway the wife's case is a milder one so we're fine y'see. Haw. Old family photos & studio portait pictures, some to like the nineteen-teens I think. Great-Grampa Dan in his glory days of the 4th Ward Dimmycrathic Club of Danbury. Mom's story was they elected him Chandelier 'cause somebody said they needed one and Flynn thought it was an office & made a motion which carried. Dunno. Old family Bibles, the huge giant kind with the big clasps & gold leaf & so weighty they MUST be True & look like they have been stamped Nihil Obstat by His Holiness and Imprimatur by Almighty God Himself. Make ye think twice, believe you me. Some of Dad's writings, both his career & his avocation. Mom's typewriter; she wrote also. Political campaign literature & button etc.; she ran for satewide office in '62. Lost. Republican: durty linen, skeletons, black sheep. Naah. Social-climbing; lace curtain. Handed-down dinnerware & glassware & quilts & and all suchlike from wife's side, they're much better at preserving those things. Her father's paintings. He became an excellent artist and art professor and university art department chairman, after fighting in the Pacific as a US Marine. Remarkable remarkable man. Funny as Hell, too. I have his bayonet. Also "Ma's Sword." Ma was my maternal grandmother. Widowed, she lived with us. Yeah. Her sword had been captured by some ancestor, never got straght exactly whom, from the Mexicans or the Spaniards in the War. Never get straight exactly which War. Remember the Maine. Santy Anna gained the day nowait. Curved blade, fancy carvings on wooden handle & scabbard. No crosspiece handguard at handle. Ceremonial, I think. The important thing is it was Ma's Sword. Symbol of Authority. Oh yeah. Ruled the Roost. Sword kept hidden away at bottom of forbidden window-seat storage compartment. Never wielded. That wasn't the point. So to speak. It was There. Talisman. That was enough. Have it over the mantle now. Doesn't work same way for me at all. Excalibur after le morte d'Arthur. Haw. A-waaay, Santy Anno.
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:11 PM Wow! What a collection we all have! I have a lot of great old photographs, too... some are tintypes, and some more recent. I have a great old photograph of my father standing in front of his brand new Model T, taken out in Montana. He's standing there with his hands in his pockets with a big, silly grin on his face. I had never seen the photograph growing up. My Uncle Harold from Eden Prairie, Minnesota (only a Midwestern could picture the Garden of Eden as being prairie land) sent it to me when I was in my fifties. The story behind the photograph was even better. My Father had been courting a young woman in his neighborhood, and she moved out to Sydney, Montana. He took off in his new Model T and drove out to try to win her heart back. But it wasn't to be. I realized that there was a song there and wrote it for my Dad. After that, the family started calling him Montana.
And what about songs? This thread ain't dead. I suspect that a lot of us are like me... came to folk music through recordings, more than singing around the table. My Father didn't sing much. Hardly ever heard him sing. But, he loved The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. It was probably his favorite song, and the only one I ever heard him sing. Many, many years after I left home, I was talking to my Father on the phone and told him that I was going to record the old hymn Softly and Tenderly for a gospel album, and he started singing it, over the phone. Choked me up. I couldn't believe that he knew all the words, or would sing it over the phone.
My Mother sang a lot more... mostly hymns, but popular songs from the turn of the century too ... Casey Would Waltz With The Strawberry Blonde, Bicycle Built For two.. the songs she heard as a kid. I have two older sisters who liked to sing around the house, but my love of folk music came from the occasional songs by Burl Ives, Harry Belafonte, the Weavers, or quasi-folk like Frankie Lane. Did you parents leave YOU a handful of songs? Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: leprechaun Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:36 PM I think it was 1983 when my brother announced we were walking in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with our dad. He bought a cane with flask at the Hilton Hotel pre-parade celebration, so I got to carry his blackthorn walking stick. We started out at the front of the parade. Since I was just starting my police career, I was just a little worried whenever dad would open his cane flask and take a nip right in the middle of the street. Part way through, dad had to go into a bar to see if they would refill his flask. They wouldn't, so we had a drink. When we came out, we were in the middle of the parade. A few blocks later, dad went into another bar, unaware it was a gay bar. Dad didn't pay much attention to that sort of thing. He asked the bartender if Ma'am, could you fill my flask. The bartender said no, and besides I'm not Ma'am. Dad said Well you could have fooled me. When we came out of that bar, we were closer to the end of the parade, and dad sat down on the curb to rest, with his shillelegh and his cane/flask in his lap. I stood beside him in my green top hat, holding his blackthorn walking stick. It had to have been five years later when I was walking through the photography exhibit in the County Fair. I saw a photo with a third place ribbon on it. I looked at the central figure, an old guy with a bulbous nose, seated on a curb. I thought, That looks like my dad. That guy standing next to him looks kinda like me. Pan back. By God that is me! That's my dad! I told my other brother about it and he had the good sense to go down to the fair and buy that photo. It hung in my folks house until dad died. It's the most valuable thing I own. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jeri Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:19 PM There were always songs on car trips, Jerry, and my Mom sang constantly when working around the house. My Dad sang, but he was completely tone deaf. He knew up. He knew down. Actual notes weren't important to him. It didn't stop him, and he loved to sing. He also sang "Trail of the Lonesome Pine," but he did the parody - the one about the cow on the railroad tracks. We also sang the other songs you mentioned - Casey and Bicycle, also Daisy, Daisy, the Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze, There's a Long, Long Trail. When I was a kid, I thought that last one was a metaphor for death, although I don't think I knew what "metaphor" meant when I was 8 or 9. I must have been a strange child. ...and the band played on. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Mudlark Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:35 PM Great thread.
The most important thing I got from my grandfather....his jounals...from 1914 to 1969 when he died. In pencil, in miniscule writing, but decipherable in strong light...a lifetime, bridging tremendous cultural change.
Like Clinton, other than that, mostly disfunctional. But most importantly, from my parents I got a love of music, whatever else bad they passed on, and a voice to sing it with. I know more 30's and 40's tunes than I can remember learning, just from hearing them singing. The fact that they were drunk, and lousy parents, becomes less and less important, as I learn to play and sing those same songs myself. I've basked in the memories written here...a good thread! Thank you, all....
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Rick Fielding Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:42 PM Ahhhh, now music. Both my parents were (at one time) professional musicians. My Dad even got HIJACKED into the American Army. The way he told the story was that shortly after leaving the College of Pharmacy, he and his trumpet playing buddy (this would have been around 1927) were playing a jazz date in Buffalo New York. A guy in the club LOVED their playing and brought a soldier in the next night to see them. The soldier in question was the leader of the U.S. Army Jazz Band! Apparently he talked my Dad (don't know about the other fellow) into doing some creative lying (about things like "Nationality"!) and the next day my dad was a U.S. Army soldier (and clarinetist)! I think it only lasted for a few weeks before they booted him out...but it must have been fun, 'cause he told the story with a big smile. Guess that IS a keepsake. Rick |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: katlaughing Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:59 PM Speaking of photographs, last spring we went down to see my dad's cousins, both in their 80's, near the old family homestead in Colorado. I took all of the ancient photos and albums I have. Their mother, my dad's mom's sister, was committed to the state mental institution when they were quite young and lived there until her death in the 60's. It was something that was not talked about, from what I've gleaned. I didn't know it, but the pictures I took down were the first ones they'd ever seen of her. They had no idea there were any. For the first time in their lives they saw pictures of her; as a young woman and of her and their dad, on horses, getting ready to go on their honeymoon on a pack trip in the Rockies. It's pretty hard to describe the feelings I had when I watched those two very precious people in my life look with amazement and gratitude at pix of their mom. My only regret is that I didn't know who she was in the pix or I would've shared them years ago. Sure made my heart happy to see their faces and hear them talk about her, though. Of course, they now have copies of all of them. Jerry, we always were singing in my family, with my parents and had lots of records, too. I have always been so grateful to my parents for making music such an important part of our lives. we all took music lessons, too. One other thing dear to my heart is one of my dad's violins; I think it is the second one he had. It is a little over one hundred years old. I came home from school one day when I was about 8 and told my folks I had signed up to join orchestra and play the violin. From that day, I've had that fiddle. Had it repaired and the bow rehaired by an old fellow, now passed on, whose dad taught my dad how to fiddle and who made the fiddle my dad still plays. kat |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Mickey191 Date: 18 Feb 02 - 12:15 AM Wonderful thread-love it. I too am a saver, thank Heavens. I've some of my Dad"s tools including his shoe last (I think that's the name). In the 40's you could buy squares of leather and repair the families shoes. My favorite is the license plate from his 1929 Ford, which he bought the day WWII ended. From my Mom,letters,letters,and more letters. She wrote about every important event in the world and in the family. Most interesting is how the great depression affected our family and what a struggle it was to put food on the table. Many are filled with great Irish wit, but the most touching was the description of my brother's death from cancer. When she came from Ireland she was a cook for rich family,upon her leaving the job she was given a beautiful vase with hand painted roses and gold trim. The Mistress of the house said she was a "good girl" ugh! I still have that.I often wonder what will be done with those letters when I depart.Maybe my coffin. One great photo of my Dad with Countess Markevitz. (SP.) |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Justa Picker Date: 18 Feb 02 - 12:21 AM Well there is a 1914 Heinzman upright piano which was reconditioned and given to me when I was 4 to learn to play as I'd expressed an interest. It's one of the really old Heinzmans with the ornately carved, curved front legs. It resides at my parents house because they have the space for it, but my grandparents got it for me. And my mother has told me its mine and I can have it anytime I want. I also have a ring given to me by my grandfather when I was 13, and a Stratego game he bought me when I was 11. On occasion, I have my grandmother's wisdom. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Kaleea Date: 18 Feb 02 - 01:04 AM I have in my posession a chest of drawers & vanity with mirror which were in my grandparents bedroom. I also have a desk which Granny used everyday, for letters, etc., & keeping the books for Grandads' Auto Salvage business. Tucked under the kneehole of the desk is a little footstool my Daddy made in shop class in the 8th grade, last grade he attended before running away to join the marines. I have a piece of "costume" jewlery, and an apron from Granny. From the other grandparents, I have Grandads' old harmonica which is so permeated with tobacco I can't stand the taste of it to play it. & I have a feather fan made of the entire wing of a large bird. The fan is for "ceremonial" use of Cherokee people. Grandad was Cherokee & Irish. The most important thing I have from ancestors is the book of stories which I proposed at a family reunion a couple of years back. All the living aunts & uncles wrote down their favorite family stories, as did some of the cousins. The story I wrote was the story Granny told me when I was 17, of the 2 years when she met Grandad, and saw him at church functions, and finally married him when she was 17. None of my aunts or uncles had ever heard Granny tell this. These stories are what I treasure above all the other things. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Sorcha Date: 18 Feb 02 - 01:27 AM What about what you wish you had? My paternal grandmother and I used to play a card game called Authors......I've never seen it since. I wish I had her deck of cards. She taught me to embroider and I still remember the smell, sights and feel of her bedroom before she moved in with my aunt. She used to call me her "bed heater"......now I'm the cold one who needs a bed heater. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: katlaughing Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:13 AM Ah, Sorcha...pull up another corgi, darlin' *bg*...here ya go, I remember that game: click here and scroll down for where to get them. Smells...boy what memories they can trigger! Just a whiff of a certain Avon creme my mom used after her nightly bath and she is right here beside me. Lava soap and pipe tobacco take me right back to dad coming home from work...
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: mcpiper Date: 18 Feb 02 - 04:51 AM Good thread. I have and play my Grandfathers highland pipes, my Dad played them too, along with the old family fiddle, a barometer bought by my great Grandfather, all manner of odds and ends that remind me of special events and one or two things put away that are so special, to me only, that I only dare get them out when I need a bit of an anchor. Not a family keepsake, but I keep in my sporan a pipe that belonged to the man who taught me to play pipes. I was asked to play a solo at his funeral and was asked if I would like something to remember him by. It has heard every tune I have played for ten years or more. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Deckman Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:45 AM As I mentioned before, my Father was a master carpenter in his working days. About 15 years ago, when I was cleaning out my parents home as they prepared for the move to a retirment home, I came across a wooden jig. It was a stair jig Dad had made. I remembered him using when he built the home I was raised in, in 1941. It was a simple contraption of several wooden pieces, bolts, and was adjustable. I saved it. Just last year, I noticed a stair jig for sale in a tool magazine. It looked just Dad's, was aluminum, and cost $250! CHEERS, Bob |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:58 AM Bob: I had to smile, reading about the stair jig your Father made. In your Father and many of our Father's generations, you made something if you needed it, rather than going to a store to buy it. My Father devised an ingenious trap for catching the rabbits and squirrels in our garden. It was made completely out of scrap wood and wire... a large box with a sliding door that dropped when they hit a trip wire. My sons were fascinated by it and wanted me to build one just like it (with no possible use for it, other than as a base for a coffee table.) My Father was a serious small game hunter, and I must have eaten a thousand rabbits growing up. And squirrel too. But, for some inexplicable reason, he was very tender-hearted about the rabbits and squirrels that he trapped in our garden. He'd take them out into the country, give them a stern lecture about never coming back, and then release them. I never did figure out a way to bring the box trap back with me on the airplane, so I don't know if anyone in the family kept it. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: sian, west wales Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:02 AM My mum had an aunt, Cordey (Cordelia Jane) who died about 3 weeks before I was born. She left me one and a half things. The one is a very nice Victorian cedar chest (or "hope chest" as they're called in my family). I keep all my best linens in it and part of the Thanksgiving atmosphere is opening that chest to retrieve the white table cloth and having that cedar scent billow out at you. The 'half' was her name. The Family had pretty well decided that I was to be named after her (if I turned out to be a girl). She heard about this and put her foot down; said that Jane was OK but she would NOT be responsible for saddling another generation with Cordelia. Which is a pitty, because I like Cordelia better than Jane (so don't mind the Welsh using 'Sian'). I also have a big meat platter from her household which made its way to me eventually. Garlands of gold and rust flowers, and big enough to hold a 10 pound turkey - so this too is regularly aired at Thanksgiving. Both Mum's and Dad's own parents were too dirt-poor to have much to leave, as well as 8 children each side, and growing up in Canada I didn't have much contact with Dad's family in Wales, but Mum's family were just *fun* to be with, and that's meant a lot. Grampa died when I was real young ... but he sang a lot, mostly things which got censored by the family females before he got more than a couple of lines out. Party poopers! Interesting to learn that Rick's Dad was THE Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy ... Thanks for the memories, Jerry! sian |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: kendall Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:08 AM One of my cousins got an AUTHORS game for Christmas when we were pre teens. I went to his house shortly after Christmas, and he was showing me what he got. Naturally, he started asking questions on authors; questions such as who wore silver buckles on his knee? I answered, Bobby Shaftoe. Well, he was unable to stump me, and he asked his mother, a school teacher, "How does he know this stuff"? I finally admitted that I had also gotten that game. It was fun, if you could find someone who was interested in playing it. That was my problem; couldn't find anyone who was interested in dead writers. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: GUEST,Celtic Soul, sans cookies Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:29 AM I have my Mothers china and photos of her and of my best friend who passed away in the early 90's. But I'll tell you what means more than the things I have from either of them. I have some tremendous memories, and I take them out occasionally and share them with others. I don't collect much of anything except memories. Things just don't do people or events justice, from my POV. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Feb 02 - 10:04 AM The things we keep...
Screen Porch Door
It was made in 1921 of Seasoned Georgia Pine
And it saw Roosevelt and Truman, Eisenhower and JFK
Gliding on the porch swing on a lazy summer's eve
And he saw Roosevelt...
I asked my Dad if he would leave that screen porch door to me
and we saw Roosevelt.. By Jerry Rasmussen
In the days before air conditioning, the front porch was the center of family life in the summer. And, because porches were built on the front of the house (rather than decks that are always on the back of the house these days,) you could sit and watch the street and meet the neighbors out "to catch the evening breeze." We had a big screened porch that wrapped around the side of the house, with a porch swing that hung from the ceiling. There were many signs of approaching spring in our house. About the time that my tennis shoes disappeared under the bed for the summer, we'd put up the porch swing and summer would officially arrive. Never mind if it was only May. It was summer at our house.
My Father was a firm believer in "waste not, want not," and it was a rare day when something had been repaired so many times that he finally had to throw it away. The screens that were on the porch were the same ones that were on the porch when I was ushered into the world in 1935, yelling my head off in the back bedroom. Those screens are still on the porch, here in 2002. My father painted the screens black to keep them from rusting, and over the years the holes between the wires became smaller and smaller to the point where the porch took on a mysterious, shadowed existence. But, you could still see through the screens, and people still go for walks in the evening. In the 40' and 50's, people didn't have air conditioned cars to go for an evening ride. Going for a walk in the evening, you could not only catch an evening breeze, you could "shoot the breeze" with neighbors. If they weren't out sitting on their porch, they'd be sitting in lawn chairs on the front lawn. We knew all the neighborhood news, almost before it happened. The threshold from the screen porch to the front lawn was our screen porch door. My Father put an industrial-strength spring on the door, so if you didn't hold it as you went out, it made a magnificent, banging announcement when it closed. No need for a doorbell. When we ran out the door as kids (I don't ever remember walking out the door) the door would give a loud Slam! and my Father would yell out even louder, "I TOLD you kids not to let that door slam!" And then he'd get in to a real good mutter. We never learned, of course, and as grandchlidren and great grandchilden took over for us, my Father had new generations to beller at. He didn't really swear out loud, although only he and the Lord knew what he was muttering under his breath.
I remember all of this when I look at the old, chipped "knob of crystal glass that I salvaged when my nephew finally retired the door when he bought the house in the mid 90's. That door saw everything. And I remember it all
Thanks for inventing the front porch, Kendall... Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Feb 02 - 10:48 AM I'm not so sentimental about the past anymore. What is yet to come interests me far more, so I don't really have any family keepsakes. I've still got a couple of Dylan keepsakes, and a couple of Buffy Sainte-Marie keepsakes, though. Does this mean they are family? - LH |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Feb 02 - 11:25 AM Little Hawk: If you think Dyaln and Buffy are family, then they are, to you.
Funny thing about the word "sentimental." It sounds like it's all soft on the inside. I think that the things that we keep are far more vital than they are sentimental. They bring back memories of the values of the people who they once belonged to... values that are good to be reminded of. But, looking forward is where I am, too, Little Hawk. Wrote a song with the line, "The good old days are still to come," and I believe that.
I still have my tickets to Woodstock.. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: CarolC Date: 18 Feb 02 - 02:31 PM LH, I think so. I don't keep family keepsakes, but I still have a used Tim Horton's bag, some Canadian money, and a few other little bits and pieces of Canada that I brought home with me from my time in Orillia. I guess that makes you guys up there family for me. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: VoxFox Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:02 PM When my parents came to Canada after WWII, they couldn't bring a lot from Birmingham GB so most of what we have left is photos and other small things. Now,Mum is still living (87) and being the practical woman that she is, has already given each of us what we wanted from the house so that there will be no quibbling when she's gone. Other things have name tags stuck on the back for the grandchildren and so on. My only regret is not getting to know our grandparents or aunts from England. I was born in Canada but the others were born in Britain but were young when they came over. Now they are all gone and the sad part about that is no one even let us know when they had passed. It took a phone call to the aunts house one Christmas to discover that she had died months ago, (the last of the line). Sorry for the rant but I'd love to know if she/they had photo albums and what happened to them. Just call me dreamer... Love this thread. VF |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: DougR Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:06 PM Twin rocking chairs that my mother and father were given at their wedding shower in 1922. My brother and I were rocked to sleep many a night in those old oak chairs. A powder dish and vase my mother was given at her shower. My mother's cast iron skillet which I use exclusively for baking cornbread. A shirt my father wore as a member of the Riding Club in Clifton, Texas, with an embroidered horse's head on the back, and his name over the front pocket. DougR
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Gloredhel Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:13 PM My father worked with his father and grandfather as a carpenter when he was young, and inherited some of their tools, many of which go back futher than that in our family. He's let me keep some of them, because though my father had long moved on to a desk job by the time I was born, I have really precious memories of the additions he made to our house when I was small and how he let me help. (Help, yeah, took me five minutes to hammer one nail down.) I also have a black cashmere coat that belonged to my great-grandmother, though I find it more useful than sentimental. They don't make coats like that anymore. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Amergin Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:22 PM ok...it hit me today on my way to work....listening to Rick Fielding sing that song..... I do have some things that I treasure...handed to me... I have personal accounts of some of my ancestors....I have one of Eli Wiggell and his life in South africa and when he emigrated to Utah.... I have several others about the emigration from Massacussetts to Utah....In one of them, the fellow talks about this young man named Joseph Smith who worked for his father.... |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Kim C Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:28 PM I have two rifles that belonged to my dad - a .22 Winchester from the early 1900s that he gave me as a birthday gift years ago, and a reproduction flintlock that I got after he died (and a recurve bow, and two fishing poles). I also have a gold chain of his, the wedding ring he wore when he was married to my mother, and a watch. (I can't wear the watch.... I haven't decided yet what to do with it........) I also have his Purple Heart. He gave it to my brother a long time ago, and my brother asked if I would like to have it for awhile. He kept one of the ribbons from the set himself, but I have the medal. Also I have his copy of The Jacob Feather Family of West Virginia. Jacob Vatter (later Feather) was my g-g-g-g-grandfather who came to the US from Germany in 1775, and crossed the Delaware with George Washington. In 1980 one of his other descendants published this very large book. I have my grandmother's crochet hooks, some of which are microscopic, and her old Singer portable electric sewing machine. It's one of those that was made to look like the old Singers, with the black enamel finish. I also have a little angel figurine that I gave her just before she died. It only cost me a few dollars, and apparently she set quite a store by it, and wouldn't let anyone touch it. It sits on my mantel now. When I was a teenager my mom gave me a couple of pieces of jewelry she didn't wear anymore. I was very fond of an old Gruen watch she had... the little square ones that came with the fabric-rope-band... remember those? Anyway she had it fixed for me and gave it to me, either for Christmas or birthday, I don't remember which. I wore it for a long, long time. It was stolen in a house burglary about 9 years ago, along with the necklace and the onyx pinkie ring she gave me. They weren't worth anything, really, but I was heartbroken to lose them. I do have a couple of other pieces she has given me over the years, though. One of the coolest things I have is a quilt made by my great-grandmother, that was given to Mister and me by my grandmother as a wedding gift. It took me years to get those souvenirs.............. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: DancingMom Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:30 PM We have LOTS of things from our parents and grandparents-My grandfather's woodworking tools, a picture of my grandparents at age 16 and 20, right before Grandaddy left for World War II. My favorite is a quilt. My great-grandmother made the top, a starburst pattern, probably 65 years ago. She kept it in her closet until 1984, when she dug it out, gave it to me, and said, "I'd like to see it finished while I'm alive." I folded it and put it in my closet, where it remained for several years. My mother-in-law was visiting one day and found the quilt. She said, This won't do. We have to finish it." She carried it back to North Carolina and enlisted the help of some of her quilting buddies to put the back on it and complete the hand stitching then mailed it back to me. We took the completed quilt to see my great-grandmother, who by then was in a nursing home, frail and sleeping much of the time. We wrapped her up in that quilt, and she remembered it, and seeing it finished 75 years after she made the yellow starburst top, began to weep. She passed away 2 weeks later. It's one of the most treasured items I have because it was a work of love from my great-grandmother AND my dear mother-in-law. Sharon M.
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Mickey191 Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:40 PM Jerry, Loved your screen door rememberences. For some reason my Dad carried a small piece of Carrickmacross lace in his wallet. Would love to know the story behind it. I saved my Mom's hairbrush with a few silver strands in it. For 5 yrs. on the bathroom shelf, I had my husbands aqua-velva cologne. The smell brought him back to me for an instant.Then the tears-it held up damn well. I'm sure visitors thought I'd gone masculine. One of my best memories is a 8mm. movie of my Mom trying to hitch up a horse to a cart 40 yrs. after she left Ireland. Everyone betting and laughing at her. The horse got to town 10 feet ahead of the cart. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Wesley S Date: 18 Feb 02 - 04:19 PM From my father - a bible he was given for perfect attendence in a Sunday school class. His wedding ring, some of his cuff links and a plaque with a part for one of the Mercury space missions he worked on. And from time to time I wear the Amewrican Flag pin that he wore during the 60's. From my mother - I gave her wedding and engagement ring to my wife when I proposed, one of her favorite quilts that was made by my grandmother, an old coffee pot that I love, and some glass pieces. From my grandfather on my mothers side I have several silver dollars, a crystal he found, several rocks from the old farm and three books by Edgar Rice Borroughs - Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, Tarzan the Terrible and the Gods Of Mars. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Wesley S Date: 18 Feb 02 - 04:22 PM I forgot to mention that MY son will receive a VERY nice guitar and mandolin collection { that's one of the ways I justify buying these instruments }. And a nice pocket watch I received for my 5th anniversary. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:17 PM And that's the next part of this thread. What do you think that you'll leave behind. I realize that, if you're 28, that's hard to imagine. But some of us are getting to an age when our kids are expressing their special affection for something we have. One of my sons has been eyeing up a coffee table I made out of barn board. He always bragged to his friends when he was a teenager, that you could drive a truck up onto to coffee table and it wouldn't break. Some folks have mentioned leaving instruments... what a great excuse... "it's not for me, honey, it's for our kids!!!!" For many years I worked in a Museum, and one of the heart-breaking jobs that I had was talking to someone who wanted to donate something that meant everything to them, and none of their kids wanted it. I tried to take it, even if we weren't going to keep it, just to find a home for it, and make the person feel that SOMEONE appreciated what they had done.. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: DougR Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:27 PM I also have, and forgot to mention, my father's double barrel New Eba Nitro Express .12 gauge shotgun, which had belonged to his father. It is well over 100 years old, and were I inclined to lose a hand or arm, I would shoot it. DougR |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Amergin Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:32 PM I would like to leave behind my notebooks.....filled with poetry and stories....a painted chainsaw blade an aunt gave to me....photos of my grandparents and aunts and uncles.... I would like to leave them happy memories...memories that could bring a smile when they were down... I would like to leave them the sense that I was still with them...watching them....proud....letting them know they would be with me once more... |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Deckman Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:58 PM Jerry ... You are teaching us quite a lesson here! If you have an idea for a good thread, as you have, your responsibilty does not end with just posting the question. Like a good teacher, and I suspect you are a good teacher, you keep 'nursing' the question along. And look at the result. You are drawing out many heartfelt and valuable comments from many good people. As a final comment, I would like to add somthing directed to everyone that has posted here: we all have talked about what we have saved and what we value. But there is another side of the coin, one that is not adressed often. I would simply say this ... we have all EARNED our treasures. CHEERS and GODD THOUGHTS, Bob |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: DougR Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:41 PM Seeing as how I've been told I can't take anything with me, my kids are going to get everything. DougR |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Janie Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:59 PM To the Universe of Mudcat, This is an absolutely wonderful and amazing thread. I don't know what the rules are about this, but Jerry or Mudcat as an organization should edit and publish it. It is inspiring. It provides a very profound examination of the ways who we are, or who we perceive ourselves to be, are influenced by the people, places and social times of the generation(s) before us. I don't think it is coincidental that this particular discussion is happening on a folk music site. All Our Relations! Janie |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: CarolC Date: 18 Feb 02 - 10:05 PM I think the things my son has gotten/will have gotten from me that he will value the most, will be, for the most part, intangibles. My love, of course. Maybe a little excentricity; a tremendous appreciation for humor and an ability to laugh at himself; appreciation for beauty; willingness to forge ahead into the unknown without waiting for permission from anyone; basic values of honesty, integrity, kindness, and concern for others; and perhaps most importantly, my unconditional acceptance and appreciation of who he is as a person. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Ironmule Date: 18 Feb 02 - 10:24 PM To add to WesleyS's list of things from our family, there are photo albums and many small nicknacks we found interesting as kids in our Grandparents homes. Some treasures to be passed on in our turn: are a complete collection of Mark Twain from our Paternal Grandfather, and if I don't ever have any kids, our Maternal Grandfather's Fiddle, ordered out of the Sears Roebuck Catalog in '32 or so, and played at North Dakota barn-dances, will go to Brendan as well. The kid'll have quite a collection of instruments. Wesley better make sure he loves music ;^) I think that the objects however, are touchstones to our memories of those who've gone on ahead. We have a responsibility to our kids to give them a love of family history, and what good has been created in us by their teachings. My love of a job done well comes from my machinist Father, and my Maternal Grandfather the farmer, as well. Both sides of the family have an Old World sense of "Honor" in the best of ways. Doing the right thing isn't imposed from outside, but grows from within. Not a perfect family, Lord knows, but a good one deserving of pride in it's history. Jeff Smith |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 18 Feb 02 - 11:28 PM "some may leave lessons, hard in the learning." While it is hard to believe when your kids are teenagers and think that you are the dumbest thing on earth, they are soaking up the lessons that you've taught them. I laugh at my 32 year old son when he says that one of the wisest things that he learned from me was the answer, "We'll see." When my sons were little, if I was foolish enough to promise that I'd do something with them, and then couldn't (no matter how valid the reason) they'd wail, "But Dad, you PROMISED!" Never mind if you were in intensive care. You PROMISED you'd take them to see The Empire Strikes Back. So, I learned to always say, "We'll see." I drove my sons nuts with that one, until my oldest son got married and had kids and started getting hit between the eyes with, "But Dad, you PROMISED!" Now, he tells me that he always says, "We'll see." Not a bad attitude in life.
And yes, isn't this a wonderful thread? I go back and re-read it, marveling at the love that flows through these postings. Not sentimentality. Love. I'll pass on one more bit of wisdom I picked up somewhere regarding love, honesty and sentimentality:
"Love without honesty is sentimentality
I hear honesty and love in these postings. Not sentimentality. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: katlaughing Date: 19 Feb 02 - 12:05 AM I'd just like to make a note that it was Spaw who suggested that Jerry move his original posting from a thread it would have been lost in to a new thread, so thanks to Spaw, too. This has been wonderful! Thanks to all so much, kat |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: JenEllen Date: 19 Feb 02 - 12:55 AM I can't say that I was ever a pack-rat, we just weren't raised that way. We moved so much, and when the next move came along, my father would bring a cardboard box into each of our rooms and whatever didn't fit, didn't go. I learned to choose very wisely. In adulthood, I never really caught on to 'stuff', partly because I hate dust, and mostly because I hate dusting. The keepsakes I have are small, and functional. Every time I use them I remember where and who they came from. The spirit of the 'thing'. I always imagined keepsakes so lonely just sitting in a hutch somewhere, not being used for their purpose because they might break, or rust, or fade. My 'things' are used and abused, and when they go, they are gone, but at least they will have lived. I have a teapot that my mother painted for my grandmother (her mother-in-law). The two of them used to have Sunday tea together when I was young. I remember the two of them sitting together, drinking tea and talking. A few years after my mother died, my grandmother gave the pot to me. It is chipped and dinged up, too many cupfuls have passed through that spout to be otherwise, but it gets warmed every time I have friends over to visit and sit round for a chat, and I remember two friends who met through the sad coincidence of a marriage and shared a cuppa. I have my grandfather's shotgun. He taught me how to shoot, and when he died, I asked my grandmother for it. I don't shoot things, as a rule, but when I have to, it is with a little bit of him beside me. Example? The last time I had to use the gun was just a few days ago. There was a deer on my property that was severely injured and needed to be killed. I was a wreck for having to do it, but having that little bit of solid matter in my hands, with the same worn spots where my grandfather's hands had been, it made me feel so 'not alone' while doing a very ugly thing. I also have bowls from all of the great women in my life. That drives my family nuts. (If someone offers you a set of dishes, you should take all of the dishes and not just one bowl) Each one has a particular story, and a particular use. The blue one from Aunt Eileen, it is perfect for cutting shortening into pie crust. Every pie I make, I think of her and her lusty life. The flowered one from Dulce is perfect and balanced, just like her, and makes bread dough rise like magic. My personal favourite is a hideous glass thing from my ex-husband's Aunt Shirley. I only met her once (she was pretty hideous too) and she died well before my ex had ever asked me to marry him, yet shortly after we were married, one of his other aunts gave us this gift. The glass bowl, with a handwritten note from Aunt Shirley, telling us (by name) to be happy in our lives together. We looked at each other in pure horror, the gift from beyond the grave, then burst out laughing. When he and I broke up, I told him, I HAD to have the 'Dead Aunt Shirley Bowl' as it had come to be called. He consented. Now I use it mostly for fruit and nuts. What I will leave? Who knows. Whatever is left, I guess. I just hope that whoever takes it, does so because they want to use it and think of me too. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 19 Feb 02 - 07:34 AM JenEllen: Yes, there is something very special about having keepsakes that you can use. Too many get put away so successfully that you can't find them. I think of my Grandfather often, because I still have his hammer. It's a very small hammer, just right in scale for a man who wasn't much over 5 feet tall. He must have used it a lot, because the head of the hammer is so worn that it isn't flat anymore. That makes it almost impossible to pound a nail in without bending it over. I have two larger new, "good" hammers that I normally use, but so often, I can't find them... either my wife or I have misplaced them. But, somehow, my Grandfather's hammer is always there in plain sight saying "Use me." And I do. I've finally gotten the knack of pounding a nail in without bending it, most of the time.
I also don't count keeping things as keepsakes because they are the latest collectible rage. My Father had a set of duck decoys (which he bought when they were already old, and paid 50 cents a piece for. After he couldn't go duck hunting anymore, they sat in a loft up in the garage. I asked Dad if I could have one, and I think my sisters thought I was nuts. He said, "Sure, I'll never use them again." So, I picked the best of the lot, with the paint mostly worn off, and kinda banged up. When duck decoys became the latest decorating fad, my sisters decided they wanted one, and even my Dad decided he wanted to keep one in the house. They had theirs sanded down and varnished with so many coats that they looked like decoupage ducks. Totally non-functional. If you ever put them in a lake, you'd probably scare all the ducks away. I still have mine, as beat up and worn out as usual. When I see something worn out and beat up, like your tea pot, I know that someone loved the thing and used it until it became a part of who they were. In my mind, that makes them far more valuable than something new. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Songsmith Date: 19 Feb 02 - 08:12 AM Hello, I just joined this wonderful site today. This thread is so wonderful to read. I come from a family of twelve children. Music was a very important part of my younger life thanks to my Mother. She once told me the following almost word for word and it's the final verse of one of my songs. "As down the road of life you travel. There will be times you'll need a friend. Someone to mend your broken spirit. Or help you find your smile again. At times when no one can be found. A song will help you come around. A melody will sooth your soul. Just sing the sweetest one you know". Other than her constant unconditional love the joy of music been her greatest gift to me.
Last night I visited the old home. With friends and family gathered 'round. To share a glass and sing some old songs. No better time in life I've found. For every song is like a key. Unlocking special memories. That take me back to years ago. And happy times in this old home.
I hope this thread never ends. Jim |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 19 Feb 02 - 11:46 AM Thanks for sharing the song, Jim.
The reason I am enjoying this thread so much is that it is more conversational and personal than most threads. I still see people saying, "I'd like to say more, but I don't want to take up any more space," or, this is the last time I'll add something... I was looking at the back of my computer, and it looks like there's plenty of space left in there. Think what a conversation would be like if you got fifty people in the room and told each of them that they could only say one thing..
I've watched this thread grow from a fairly straightforward listing of objects, to why the objects are so important to us, to family memories, anecdotes, photographs, songs, values, and what we hope to leave behind. I have enjoyed every posting, and look forward to many more. Because this all grew out of a Handful Of Songs, I wonder if your kids are going to carry on the music. Neither of mine are, because neither of them are musicians. They don't listen to folk music much, either, even though they always enjoyed it. But, you never know.. I hope that some of you have kids who will help to carry on the tradition..
C'mon, in! There's plenty of room!!! Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: JenEllen Date: 19 Feb 02 - 11:48 AM Thanks, Jerry. Actually, I owe you an apology. I lied. I got to thinking about it last night, and I DO have a totally useless keepsake! In the bottom of my jewelry box, wrapped in a tiny piece of velvet and notepaper, are two rubies. One is about the size of a quarter, and the other the size of a pencil eraser. When my parents got married, my father's grandfather came over from Scotland for the wedding. He fell for my mom like a ton of bricks. The two of them quickly became co- conspirators in all sorts of mischief, and years later he would still tell me that she "set ma wee heart a'flutter". One of the running jokes they had was him teasing her about being an escaped belly-dancer that was trying to walk the straight and narrow after living a life of all sorts of sordid pleasures. (she was actually the daughter of a preacher) One afternoon, she got fed up with all the teasing and did an impromtu belly dance. I wasn't born at the time, but what I hear from my aunts and uncles is that it was a legendary performance that would have made Salome take notes. When he returned to Scotland, he sent her a package with the big ruby in it, for her navel. When I was born, he sent a second package, with the smaller one. The notes, in his scrawling hand, say they are for "the best bellies in Texas". The other note, in my mother's neat hand: "the Family Jewels" |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Mrrzy Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:09 PM Interesting thread. I really have nothing of my late father's, to my dismay; I now wish I had (ghoulish though this may seem even to me) some of his ashes. Mom lately gave to me (after discussion with all of us) a portrait we'd had done of Dad back in the 70's by an African sign-painter, it has him caricatured as a Superman kind of body-builder... but I LOOK a lot like him, apparently! Companion thread idea: What have you LOST? I want my white-cheeked rabbit back, that I lost I think on a transatlantic Pan Am flight about 35 years ago... and mu poor Willie left his black stuffed doggie (which used to be MINE *fume*) at the zoo last weekend... offering a reward! |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Steve in Idaho Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:29 PM Welcome Songsmith!! This is a great space - If you clik here you will also find a great thread on the live music we do on Sundays! Gotta throw a plug in guys!! Steve |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Bill D Date: 19 Feb 02 - 04:34 PM in this day of instant technology, why not SHOW some interesting things? Who remembers bronzed baby shoes?...here are my shoes from 1939 beside my fathers shoes, NOT bronzed, from 1907! and in case anyone is interested, here is my grandfather's tonic bottle (mentioned above) from about 1915-20.. beside a glass my Grandfather Day bought my grandmother at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 19 Feb 02 - 04:44 PM Hi, Bill: I've got fourteen pages of instructions on how to make my scanner send stuff over the internet. Maybe someday I'll read it and figure out to post photographs. Another good idea.. thanks for sharing the photograph. I have am American Bison statue made out of some weird metal alloy, and a paper weight from the same World's Fair. An elderly woman gave them to me, along with a cast metal ku kux klan figure as a wedding present. No wonder the marriage blew up in my face. I could feel the Ku Kux Klan hooded figurine burning a stigmata in my palm, but I thanked her profusely. Ended up giving to a black friend of mine who had a perverse sense of humor. He thought it was funny to have live tarantulas and scorpions in rather cheap looking aquariums in his living room. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Deckman Date: 19 Feb 02 - 04:46 PM JenEllen ... the "Family Jewels" ... I LOVE it!. Thanks for posting, Bob |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: GUEST,Cretinous Yahoo Date: 19 Feb 02 - 04:55 PM If I can't take it with me, then, I'm not going! |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Bill D Date: 19 Feb 02 - 05:37 PM ah, Jerry...black memoribilia is big stuff..you know Oprah is a major collector? (you have set me to re-reading the many old postcards my family sent in the eary part of the century...I should scan a few and post them!) as to how...well, there are several ways to show pictures, but I never heard of scanners 'sending'..I suppose it is like my copier also doing faxes. . All I do is get an image on my PCs harddrive (scanned or digital camera), then send to to the little space they gave me with my ISP (1 meg). It takes an FTP program, but is not hard. Let me know if & when you want to play with it. (You can also get space on Photoloft, or Photopoint or several other places for albums...or, there are still some 'free' web sites going, but those are a teeny bit harder) |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Herga Kitty Date: 19 Feb 02 - 06:40 PM Doesn't anyone have a hoard of previously undiscovered traditional songs and music, passed down over generations in their family .... |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Deckman Date: 19 Feb 02 - 07:02 PM Herga ... YES, we do. There is a lot of previously unkown material out there. Years ago, you would have to tramp the hills and back trails to discover the folks to discover the songs. I'm convinced today that there is a LOT of music floating around, maybe known to just a few people. For example, check out the song I posted of the "Haywire Mac" thread .... "YE OLDE BALLAD OF SOMETHING OR OTHER." To my knowledge, it's never been recorded, or known widely. I learned it from a very personal and private source. However, as always, I may be well proved wrong, and if that happens, then I get educated. And that's part of what MUDCAT is all about. Collecting folk material have never been easy, that's part of the challenge, and that's also what makes the rewards so wonderful. Jerry, I think I just posted a HUGE thread creep, sorry. Bob |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Herga Kitty Date: 19 Feb 02 - 07:36 PM Deckman Thanks. I just happen to think that the current discussions on Guests, flamers and trolls, ought not to get in the way of reasoned discussion |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Deckman Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:55 PM I agree ... so let's just IGNORE them! CHEERS, Bob |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Songsmith Date: 20 Feb 02 - 02:32 AM In response to what I'll leave behind. My two Sons have taken up guitar. They are progressing very well indeed. They both have a keen intrest in Maritime folk music and are huge fans of the late great Stan Rogers. I hear they even do a few of their Dad's when I'm not around. That in itself is my wish come true. I'll leave behind two wonderful guitars and most likely a bag full of unfinished works. Wouldn't it be wondeful if they finished a few together. Jim
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Chip2447 Date: 20 Feb 02 - 03:09 AM After some recent investigation, I.e. talking to my dad about the war axe/hatchet, I've found the following: It was constructed by the first Souix blacksmith in/around Fort Laramie. This was evidently my double great granddad. Records are sparse and difficult to come by. Granddad was born in 1888 and given what we know, that puts the hatchet being constructed mid 19th century. I wonder how many men Native and Caucasian alike said hatchet has killed? And how much blood it's drawn...the last blood was when my grandfather chopped off his own toe with it about 1892 or 93. Great thread... Chip2447
|
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Wolfgang Date: 20 Feb 02 - 03:57 AM Pictures and memories will be most I'll keep. But I hope the time my parents will leave ios still far away. From my grandparents it's memories that remain and too many unasked and now unanswerable questions (mostly about trivia). Another relevant song that comes to mind here is Eric Bogle's not too well known but beautiful 'Scraps of paper'. Wolfgang |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Wolfgang Date: 20 Feb 02 - 04:00 AM I might as well link to it: Scraps of paper (in the Forum) Wolfgang |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 20 Feb 02 - 10:36 AM Thanks for the song, Wolfgang... Glad to see you. And Janie, if you read this.. I printed out the first 100 responses to this thread. Now I have to go buy another ink cartridge. But, I'm glad that I did it. At some point soon, it looks like this thread will be getting unwieldy and I probably should start a part II. I'll post a short thread, asking how to do that. If other people are like me, I find it too daunting going back and reading all the messages on Part I long threads, so I think that I may just re-post some of the messsages I thought werre most memorable on this thread on to a new one. As for editing and publishing this, I suspect that would be a headache of major proportions. Might have to get a release from everyone who posted. But, I wanted a paper copy of all the postings so far, and am glad to have it. I know that I'll enjoy going back to read it.
What this needs is Studs Turkle. Or, as Art calls him, Studs Turtle.
Thank you, everyone who has contributed to this thread SO FAR. And thank you to all who will continue to contribute.
I've got some other ideas, too. Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 20 Feb 02 - 12:16 PM Jerry, I loved your song from the 1st time I heard you sing it! I have 2 things from my mom's folks in Missouri that are precious to me. The 1st is the square cast-iron skillet that Grandpa & Grandma used each morning to cook their bacon & eggs. The skillet was divided in half--1 side for bacon & the other side in half again to hold 2 square fried eggs. As a child, I just loved that concept of square fried eggs! I don't tend to use the skillet (low-fat diet & all), but I keep it where I can see it & be reminded. The second things is Grandma's serving dishes. Some are just inexpensive china & some are cut glass. Any time we ate there, Grandma served 2 or 3 vegetables in those dishes. Now, I've realized it was probably because vegetables were cheaper than some other foods. At home, we usually just had 1 veggie at a time, so it seemed quite special to me. I always use Grandma's dishes for our holiday meals. I remember happy family times & recount them to my kids. The most important things I have from my folks are their values & their faith. Those are deep within me--more precious than any material goods--& are things I can share & pass on. Thanks, Jerry! best, bbc |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 20 Feb 02 - 12:58 PM Hi, bbc: Wow, a message from the British Broadcasting Company! Part of the problem of monikers is that I'm never quite sure who I'm talking to..
I have a square cast iron skillet (but without a divider,) that I picked up many years ago for a couple of bucks at a tag sale, and it's my favorite frying pan. Your message brought back memories of my grandparents on my Father's side... which is what is so great about this thread. My Grandfather was a tinsmith in Denmark and I've been told, worked on some great cathedrals there. I assume that the cathedrals weren't tin, but I'm sure there was tin working to be done on them. He quickly rose to being foreman of the shop. He came over to this country in his late teens or early twenties, and met my Grandmother in the choir of a church in a Danish community in Wisconsin. My Grandmother came over as a maid, working for the Diamond family, who started Diamond match. At that time, it was the major match company and the family was extremely wealthy. I wrote a song about my grandparents and the chorus echoes what you've said about your greatest inheritances being your faith and values.
"Grandpa was a tinsmith, the foreman of the shop Jerry |
|
Subject: RE: Family Keepsakes: What have YOU kept? From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Feb 02 - 01:51 PM Click for Part 2. |
| Share Thread: |
