K is for Keepsakes
All right, all right, I already know that my "K" post is over two weeks late... but I really had trouble with this letter, until about ten days ago, when "keepsake" popped into my head (I certainly didn't want to do kale, kangaroo, or Kool-Aid, amongst the possibilities out there).
I realized that I save lots of stuff, particularly photos and memorabilia surrounding my family. There are pictures, cutesy gifts from the children when back in kindergarten, my mother's high school yearbooks, my dad's photos from when he served in the Navy in World War II, my husband's handprint gift to his mom, and much, much more, much of it stored in boxes in the attic.
Some of you will recall a crisis at the Camp a few months back, when snow crashed through the window at the high-country homestead, and threatened a box of photos from my childhood, some of my mother's collection. We managed to rescue them, but providing a photograph with any interest to outsiders, for the sake of the ABC Along was a daunting task... that allowed me to procrastinate right straight through till other participants' "L" posts started appearing.
Even though the photo quality is way below my standards, I am sharing a few of the keepsakes that adorn our antique house:
My great aunt and uncle in their marriage portrait; they were children of parents from the Azores, married in their late teens in Folsom, California (now a suburb of Sacramento, but back then farmland), and I attended their 50th wedding anniversary, amongst the many visits paid to them in my childhood. While Aunt Mary never had children of her own, my mother was her favorite niece and they were always quite close.
A collection of family photos gracing my mother's piano, the largest family keepsake in my collection. I just can't bear to part with it, unless it is going to be played regularly by someone who will appreciate it as much as she did. Amongst these photos... top row, son Cody's high school grad portrait, daughter Nikki and son Jesse side by side in grades 8 and 6, respectively, various high school grad shots of Jesse, with a kindergarten photo just below, an antique stereoviewer of DH's, Nikki in junior high. On piano music stand: a book of my mother's sheet music, Nikki at 6th grade and obscured behind, her high school grad portrait, next to her is a framed photo of dear departed Queen of Dogs, Zippy, and a miniature of all four children at the time DH and I married, in 1994, which resided on my desk at work for many years.
The observant amongst you will notice the cracking plaster in the background; these photos all fill the formal parlor in our 1854 house, and it is the one room that we have kept in its original condition, true to the historic character, although DH is the one responsible for that peculiarity.
I also have a large portfolio of artwork made by my kiddos when they were little... this is one of the few sculptures:
Sutter's Mill as depicted by DS, Jesse, while back in middle school.
There is so much more that it would bore you to tears.. .I am the type to treasure little mementos of adventures, ages and stages, people that I love, all of it.
I realized that I save lots of stuff, particularly photos and memorabilia surrounding my family. There are pictures, cutesy gifts from the children when back in kindergarten, my mother's high school yearbooks, my dad's photos from when he served in the Navy in World War II, my husband's handprint gift to his mom, and much, much more, much of it stored in boxes in the attic.
Some of you will recall a crisis at the Camp a few months back, when snow crashed through the window at the high-country homestead, and threatened a box of photos from my childhood, some of my mother's collection. We managed to rescue them, but providing a photograph with any interest to outsiders, for the sake of the ABC Along was a daunting task... that allowed me to procrastinate right straight through till other participants' "L" posts started appearing.
Even though the photo quality is way below my standards, I am sharing a few of the keepsakes that adorn our antique house:
My great aunt and uncle in their marriage portrait; they were children of parents from the Azores, married in their late teens in Folsom, California (now a suburb of Sacramento, but back then farmland), and I attended their 50th wedding anniversary, amongst the many visits paid to them in my childhood. While Aunt Mary never had children of her own, my mother was her favorite niece and they were always quite close.
A collection of family photos gracing my mother's piano, the largest family keepsake in my collection. I just can't bear to part with it, unless it is going to be played regularly by someone who will appreciate it as much as she did. Amongst these photos... top row, son Cody's high school grad portrait, daughter Nikki and son Jesse side by side in grades 8 and 6, respectively, various high school grad shots of Jesse, with a kindergarten photo just below, an antique stereoviewer of DH's, Nikki in junior high. On piano music stand: a book of my mother's sheet music, Nikki at 6th grade and obscured behind, her high school grad portrait, next to her is a framed photo of dear departed Queen of Dogs, Zippy, and a miniature of all four children at the time DH and I married, in 1994, which resided on my desk at work for many years.
The observant amongst you will notice the cracking plaster in the background; these photos all fill the formal parlor in our 1854 house, and it is the one room that we have kept in its original condition, true to the historic character, although DH is the one responsible for that peculiarity.
I also have a large portfolio of artwork made by my kiddos when they were little... this is one of the few sculptures:
Sutter's Mill as depicted by DS, Jesse, while back in middle school.
There is so much more that it would bore you to tears.. .I am the type to treasure little mementos of adventures, ages and stages, people that I love, all of it.
posted by Birdsong | 5:10 PM
2 Comments:
Wow! I bet your house is amazing. I love *vintage* homes, though I'm hardly up to the task of keeping one up.
What a great K! My mom has a lot of my family's keepsakes, and there are a few artists, painters in my heritage. My great grandpa drew pictures of the Yousimite area in pen and ink. I hope to someday inherit a few.
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