Is there something special that you remember from childhood visits to your grandparents home? Was there something they owned that you loved - maybe even coveted?My Grandma Win had a beautiful vase, well to me anyway. It always looked like it belonged in a fancy house - well in the imagination of this child it did.
I can always remember Grandma having it on show and I loved it from when I was very little right through my teens and into adulthood.
When my Grandma died, my Mum inherited the vase and it sat on her bookcase for a number of years. Mum knew that I had always loved this vase and so one day she offered it to me.
All these years later, I still adore the vase and it has pride of place in my house. It is probably not worth much in a monetary sense, but it is priceless to me, something that takes my back to my childhood and my love for my Grandma Win.
So here are some photos, I hope you love it as much as me. (photos start with the face that I love best and then work around the vase)
The hat stand. Images of Grandma sitting on the phone there, a piece of timber added for the dial up to sit on. In the huge hallway near the front door. She was a real estate agent and always on the phone.
ReplyDeleteIt now sits in my entry. Oak, sturdy, seat with box undr it. *sigh*
nomeleab: unnamed paramour or mystery lover {german}
My paternal grandfather had a pair of giant marble dice which he used to let me play with. I wanted them so bad. I actually inherited them when he died.
ReplyDelete@ Madmother - I'm loving your definitions. I got "beliking" this time. I'm definitely beliking your vase Menopausal Mumma!
Forgot to add, it was my Grandma Win too, Karen.
ReplyDeleteunesse - the opposite of finesse
Thanks for sharing that, what a gorgeous vase. I have quite a few things in my house that were passsed on by both my grandmothers and I love. I'm a bit of a sentimentalist myself.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness goddess, where do I start with special memories of my Grandparents homes? The smell of pipe smoke. The smell of toast. Wedgewood. The smell of baking. the smell of coffee and the gurgling of the Cona coffee machine. The smell of cut grass. Ummmmm, all these smells.....I miss them. The smells, and my Grandparents. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your memories. I think smell can be a very potent memory jogger and it sounds like there are a lot for you Lucy.
ReplyDeleteOh and Madmother I can't do the verification thingy on your main blog - because it appears after I have posted my comment - very weird. I am loving the ones you come up with though. However on your newest blog it is not a problem. So I left one there tonight - not very inspired though.
GORGEOUS vase!! My Grandma Simmons had this wooden wall hanging of a half-moon with a staircase on the front.
ReplyDeleteOn each stair, she had a little trinket; ceramic mouse, thimble, tiny teacup. It had an accompanying star wall hanging that had a tiny shelf, also containing it's own trinket.
I thought they were beautiful. Thanks for reminding me about it!
Thanks so much for visiting and commenting on my blog! I really appreciate your kind words, more than I can say.
It is a beauty, your Grandma's vase!
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents had a very large painting of Rudolf Nureyev (the famous lead male dancer) bending a female dancer over. They were both wearing flamenco dress and the painting was actually, on close inspection, made of tiny, tiny beads. It was a masterpiece and hung in their hallway.
Anyway, my Granddad was a real practical joker. He had me convinced until I was about 17 (ok so I was gullible and easily led) that it was a portrait of he and my Grandma and that they used to be excellent dancers. I can still hear his thick Northern bellowing laugh, at my expense, the day I called him on it and he came clean about fooling me for so many years.
Awww thanks for making me think and remember that! It is one of my fondest memories of their home, which I haven't visited for 10 years (when Grandma died, 5 years after him).
Your blogs about things that belonged to mum bring tears to my eyes 'cos even after 25 years I realise how much I miss her (I really still do need her at times).
ReplyDeleteYour photos show the vase off so well and I am glad you have it now.
A little secret though...dad bought that vase as a gift for mum and, for some reason, she never liked it. I could never understand that as I too always thought it very beautiful.
P.S. I do so envy all the people that have memories of grandparents and their grandparents' homes. My adopted parents came from England so there were no relations at all in my life whatsoever. It must be wonderful to have all that magnificent memories to keep with you through the years. I am not jealous but rather so glad for all of you. Always hold those memories dear as they must be so special to have.
ReplyDelete