half a dollar

Edited to add: Several people suggested to me that perhaps I am wrong about the worth of my colonial currency, so I googled and found that yes, it could possibly be worth more than I previously thought. I had googled it when I first found it and was able to find more than one site stating it's worth at maybe a few dollars.  I was lucky that first time for I was able to find an exact match to my inherited half a dollar.  This evening I haven't been able to find the same denomination.  WAH! The interesting news is that colonial currencies like this (but not identical) are selling on Ebay for anywhere from twelve dollars, up to several thousand dollars.  What???!!!  WHOA!  So now I will need to have it appraised.  Thank you to those who spoke up and questioned me ... let that be a lesson, don't rely on googling for your evaluating the worth of well, much of anything.

What fun stuff I've found amongst my parents things!  These blew me away when I found them ... a "half a dollar" from 1776 and I'm not sure what you call the second, some sort of promise to pay thingie from 1815. 

And it was not the first time during this long journey that I thought I was going to be a bazillionaire hahhahhahahhaha. I thought for sure that the intact currency from the Colony of New York would catapult me onto Easy Street, LOL! 

Nuh huh!  Turns out to not be worth much of anything more than it's face value ... and of course, it's immense sentimental value to me.  Sentimental value = treasure beyond words.

Isn't it fun that it's called a "Half A Dollar" ... love the wonderful graphics on it too.

Sadly the Promise to Pay Bearer note 75 cents, is damaged but still such fun to see. I'll have to research and see how these were used. 

Joining Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady.

we will remember you

  2003

 2004

 2006

2007

For five years I participated in a mail art call in tribute of September 11th. I read about the call for mail art in one of the rubber stamp magazines and was delighted there was some small way that I could contribute something.  (I don't seem to have taken photos of my submission in 2005.) 

The background of the last envelope is taken from photos we took at the 9/11 quilt show at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, August of 2002.  It was amazing and so very heartbreaking to see all of the blocks that had been made in tribute to those lost. 

That's me in the red ... this is only a very small section of the exhibit.

It was overwhelming and I just dissolved into tears.


We will always remember you

old macdonald had a farm

with a chick chick here ...

and a chick chick there ...

teddy bear

This little teddy bear was given to me by my mother about a year before she passed away so it is very dear to me.  We shared so many of the same interests. Reading (mysteries, especially old English tea cozy mysteries). Crafting (especially embroidery). Gardening (especially planting bulbs and annuals). Movies. Teddy Bears. Dollhouse miniatures. Dogs. Live Theater.  I could go on for a long time yet ...

This September will be the 16th anniversary of her passing ... miss you so very much Mom! 

I'm joining Claudia's new fun link party, A Favorite Thing Saturday. 

I look forward to seeing what your favorites are too.
You can join the fun here.

dear harriet

(Great Great Grandfather at age 30)

So many little treasures found in my parents house.  Bits and pieces of my ancestors lives.  

 

Three photos of and one letter written by, my Great Great Grandfather.  This letter was written in 1857 to my GGGF's fiance, Harriet, about six weeks before their wedding day.  No words of love or mention of their impending nuptials.  GGGF was soon to be 23, perhaps his youth precluded his use of flowery language. He is quite the serious minded young man. I feel a bit sad for dear Harriet LOL. 

 

I suspected this letter couldn't be an original but I had so wanted to believe that it was the original that I momentarily talked myself into believing it was.  Then, I googled when typewriters came into use and typewriters were not commercially available in 1857.  PHOOEY.  

Can't even trust one's relatives to leave you the real authentic stuff. SHEESH.

So a family member must have typed this up, copying from the original, at some later date.  My guess is that another branch of the family kept/received, the original letter and the rest of the relatives received a typed facsimile.

 

(I thought I didn't have a picture of Harriet but I just remembered that I do!)

 

(there is barely visible handwriting at the bottom of the page - I tried to darken it but no luck. WAH!)

Possibly a family clue, lost forever now, left by whoever typed up the letter.

Although GGGF seemingly wasn't much of a romantic, he appears to have been quite industrious in other areas of his life.  He was a farmer, a banker, a real estate agent and a representative in the state legislature for eight years.

These two photos are of GGGF, not sure what age?  Look at that mustache!

I have some of the documents he wrote ... land grants, patents, indentures, etc., written on parchment.

missing pieces

Can I tell you that it broke my heart to go to my nieces engagement party and not hear her mention her father or anyone else mention my brother?

party time

Tonight is my oldest nieces engagement party, given by her fiances family.  It's a happy time and a sad time for me - my brother, her father, passed away when she was nine years old and her little sister was only three. Her father would have traditionally given the first toast to the couple tonight. WAH! So I've got the sads a bit "around the edges" today, keep finding myself tearing up and sighing.

This much loved and lucky couple are going to have a beautiful wedding next year atop a hill on the peninsula where they both grew up with a breath taking view of the ocean, followed by the reception at the same spot and at the same time that the brides parents wed (paying tribute to the adored and beloved husband, father and brother who will attend in spirit and in hearts).

They then will be off to a fantastic honeymoon on the Amalfi Coast of Italy.  La di da! Lucky dawgs!

I bring this all up because 1.  I am a proud Auntie :) , 2. I am a smoosh and immersed in memories today and 3. Our gift to them for their engagement has all to do with their honeymoon - sorry to have taken the long (and hopefully scenic route teehee!) to getting there.

I couldn't think of what on earth to get them for an engagement present, was at a complete loss.  I searched the internet for ideas, nada zip zilch, nothing that interested me.  I finally hit upon the idea of something related to their honeymoon. 

So I found them wine from Costa d' Amalfi with a lovely label on it. 

I hoped to find them wonderful Italian chocolates (since my niece shares my addiction to chocolate)  but I left it until too late and could only find the typical Perugina Baci candies locally but I fancied them up with a banner I made with photos found on flickr of shots of the Amalfi Coast. 

I also added travel books on the Amalfi Coast, a language translation book, a photo album. 

I love Paper Source and picked up bags and wrapping paper that I liked there - the funny thing is that they don't have any traditional bows for packages - so I tried to make this really cute origami one I found online but nothing doin'!  I'm all thumbs and couldn't get the center bit to pop up blah blah blah like it was supposed to, so I made old fashioned ones with loops, out of stationery.  They turned out okay if you don't look at them - or touch them, or they start to fall apart bwhahahhahahha!

Wishing you all a lovely long holiday weekend!

south of the border

Edited to add: I found out via darling Leslie's blog, Brookhollow Lane, that there's a brand new blog link party this weekend - A Favorite Thing on Saturdays at Mockingbird Hill Cottage. So I thought I'd link up this already posted entry since it's about one of my absolute favorite things - this ceramic donkey of my mothers.

It gave me untold moments of fun and pleasure as a child, playing with the buttons it held. 

Please forgive me, I may not make it around to everyone's blogs until next week.  I look forward to reading about all of your favorite things. 

A photo of my mom and brother taken on a day trip to Tijuana Mexico in 1957.  My mom is the second from the right, wearing a dress with what they called a "mandarin" collar back then - my brother is the second from the left, note the bobby socks, penny loafers and rolled cuff Levi's.

My mother used to entertain all of my dad's visiting clients and their families when they came to So. Cal. on business trips.  That usually called for trips to Disneyland, Santa Monica Beach and Grauman's Chinese. This group must have visited before and was looking to be more adventurous. 

I know the young man on the left is the son of one of my parents favorite people, a man my father worked for in the late 1940's and became the best of friends with.  They would meet up across the country, at various golf courses until his former employer and then beloved friend, passed away in the 1980's.  Sadly I haven't a clue who the other woman is with her darling son.

I don't know the back story of the ceramic burro, when it came on the scene and from where?  But I thought it looked like it could well be a souvenir of this trip to Tijuana and it holds a very special place in my heart. It was a fixture of my childhood. My mother always kept her stray buttons in it's basket and I loved to play with all the buttons when I was little.

I was so sad when I couldn't find it in it's spot at my parents house after my father passed away last year. I looked and looked, with no success.  There were only a few things I was specifically longing for and seeking out and they all proved to be illusive until the very end.  

And each time it was my husband who found them, this cherished ceramic burro and my mom's grandmother's baby doll.  (A couple things proved to have truly vanished without a trace WAH!)  Now I look for special places in my home for them, where I can always enjoy them.

things are a bit brighter

Thanks so much for your kind words, they mean so much to me!

Hurray, my Auntie is much improved!  Yabba dabba doo!  When we visited with her this past Friday, she didn't want to remain in her room for our visit, she wanted to go to the lounge - she got herself up and out of her bed, grabbed her walker and she was off.  So cute.  She talked a mile a minute for the hour and a half we were there.  So she seems to be returning to at least, a version of her old self. 

She's going to be a great grandmother too and we're all looking forward to a small family get together to celebrate in September.

We still don't know what's up with our doggie for sure. They thought she had Cushing's Disease but after several tests, the results came back negative.  Now the vet thinks she's had a reaction to her thyroid medication, says an animal can develop a sensitivity to a prescription and that being ravenous, scarfing down food, vomiting, panting and agitation can also be symptoms of too much thyroid medication.  The vet reduced her dosage and thinks she should be better by the end of this week.  Fingers crossed.

We've had to feed her three times a day and split those three meals into six bowls at each feeding, so that she could keep her food down.  18 bowls of food a day, timed at ten minute intervals at each feeding. Anything for our little (well, not so little) pookie pie!  

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  We saw a fun movie yesterday, Robot & Frank, to celebrate my husbands last day of vacation.

Happy Monday!

blogging blues

Life is weighing a bit heavy over here and blogging seems of very little import these days. Yup, I've got the blogging blues, er, blahs!  

My Auntie is in the hospital/rehab facility "indefinitely" and she has cabin fever of course and her spirits are sagging.  Attitude can be ALL, certainly so very crucial for elderly patients.  

She is my last link to my family's past and all the stories I was never told.

My doggie is ill with "they know not what".  They thought they knew what she had but last weeks test results came back "inconclusive", even after being viewed by a specialist.  This week will bring more testing. 

My best and dearest pal and constant companion.

 

There is more and as they say, when it rains, it pours.

Hope you are all well and managing to somehow stay cool!

bobbie had a nickel

Oh! such a woebegone little book.  Cover missing, whole pages gone and funny random bits cut out. Obviously very well loved by a little boy and later his sister so very long ago.  

(I'm so sorry that I couldn't post this charming book in its entirety - my younger self apologizes for any role she may have played in the removal of the pages and denying you the complete story of little Bobbie's trials making his big decision.  Thankfully the climactic end and Bobbie's choice are intact so, SPOILER ALERT teehee!)

 

The End.

Please visit Sue at It's A Very Cherry World for more Rednesday fun!

patty cake patty cake

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.

Bake me a cake as fast as you can;

Pat it and prick it and mark it with B,

Put it in the oven for baby and me.

Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.

Bake me a cake as fast as you can;

Roll it up, roll it up;

And throw it in a pan!

Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.