Memorabilia follow-up

Now that we're well into summer, my Blatherposting schedule is likely to be sporadic; this goes for my time online as well. Will Write For Chocolate has been updated, but there likely won't be another new strip until mid-July.

Thanks so much for the yoga tips and DVD recommendations in LJ. Several of you strongly recommended taking some classes first, to make sure I have the proper technique before getting a DVD. This makes sense, but my schedule is more hectic these days; I think I'll probably postpone trying yoga for now.



I enjoyed reading your posts about my childhood memorabilia Blathering. Thanks to djbp for pointing out that Cyborg was a text adventure game. I'm sure I must have played it at some point, therefore, but confess I have no recollection. Ah, I miss those brain cells.

And thanks to jhayman for identifying my Mom's old travel sewing box. "That Murray's Erinmore Flake tobacco tin that your mom kept stuff in brought back memories for me. My dad smoked that brand of pipe tobacco. He's been gone just over 22 years. It's never any easier."

msminlr suggested I use family fabric scraps for quilting. Funny you should mention that, Margaret...I've actually been reading some books about quilting. Plus I found a partly finished quilt that my sister put together many years ago, from some of Mom's leftover fabric. After talking to Ruth, I've decided to finish it and we're going to give it to my father.



poslfit suggested that I rework the story about Mom's buttons and send it to the the Globe's Facts and Arguments page. I think I might just do that. John's suggestion also started me thinking that I need to go over old Blatherposts and try turning some of them into personal essay pieces that I could possibly sell to magazines and newspapers.

I also appreciated some of you sharing your own stories about childhood memorabilia. Here's one from aunty-marion:

"When Grandma Beet died, she didn't leave a will, so the house had to be cleared to be sold in order to settle the estate. We all got bits and pieces from her stuff (known in the family as 'Thank you Grandma's), and one of the things I got was most of her sewing stuff.

It included an old glass bottle which had originally contained senna tablets - full of hooks and eyes (and alas I gave it to Mum and Dad to put sweetener tablets in, and Dad dropped it... ;-( ); some buttons, embroidery floss probably older than I am, a silver thimble, and various reels of sewing cotton, including one labelled in French - that one's actually been very useful, as despite the top few layers having aged to the point where they almost rotted, the inner parts were perfectly OK and exactly the right colour to sew the braid onto the edges of the nMC banners we have for our music stands!

Thank you, Grandma..."




What I didn't mention in my post yesterday: whenever I go through stuff in Dad's basement, I always hope to come across something of Jim's as well as my Mom's. It's hard to describe exactly why.

It gives me a certain amount of comfort, touching and holding something that once had significance to them. I especially enjoy finding something that gives me a chance to find out more (even just a little) about them, getting to know them better, helping to keep their memory close.

I still have a shirt of Jim's in my closet. It gives me comfort knowing it's there, even if I rarely look at it.

The newspaper clipping above was one of things I came across in my Dad's basement. I assume parents kept it because Jim was voted the game's most valuable player in that particular hockey game. The article itself isn't that exciting but I can read so much more between the dry lists of names and stats: Jim's flushed and excited face, the piles of hockey equipment, my brother looking so small out there on the ice, the echoes of the cheering crowd in the arena, my parents' beaming pride.

I put the clipping carefully into a plastic slipcase and left it in my father's basement.



Looking forward to seeing my friend Helen and her husband Dan today!

The hummingbird photos were taken at the cottage.


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