Safekeeping Susie's Treasures

"I want my "stuff" to have a happy home! Strangers just can't enjoy them the way I feel they should be enjoyed. Anything I send that you don't want to use or have please feel free to pass on to someone you know who would enjoy it."

That was part of a facebook message I received from my life-long friend Sue (known to many as Susie). We became friends back in 1972, shortly after I graduated high school and began my first job at a local weekly newspaper where she was working. She was one of the typists for the news columns and I was hired as a lay-out/paste-up artist for the advertisements. This was back in the day before everything was done on computers. The newspaper columns and ads were laid out on dummy pages and pasted into place. They were then photocopied, developed in a darkroom and burned onto plates and put on to the huge printing press...quite a cool process, actually.

Anyway, our friendship has stood the test of time and distance. Although I moved away from Ohio in 1981, Sue and I made a point to meet as often as we could when I returned for family visits. This continued as we moved even further south to North Carolina, but several years went by when we were not able to make it happen. I will never forget being at the funeral home in my home town after Mom passed...the family was gathered for her visitation when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and there she was, greeting me in that familiar little girl voice of hers. She was just beaming and I was about to find out why. Susie was in love and soon to be married for the first time...plus, she had traded in her keyboard for a white uniform and stethoscope. So at the tender age of 60, she became a wife and a nurse!

Susie had been a collector of vintage items for many years and her home was full of them. Unfortunately, her new hubby didn't share her love for the rusty and crusty so she packed many of her treasures away in boxes. Over time she felt compelled to part with most of them, some of which she gave to me! So several weeks ago, a large heavy box arrived, chock full of wonderful vintage treasures! She made sure everything was wrapped and packed safely and it was just like Christmas morning as I went through them, unwrapping each individual item. Many of them had come from estate sales and such, but a few others were actually family heirlooms.



This delicate night cap and the crumb catcher set (below) had belonged to her Great Aunt Ada. She told me they were well over 100 years old.

Great Aunt Ada was married to a dentist and was considered by the family to be "rich", according to Susie. I can't imagine sleeping with something like this on my head (although it does tend to bring back memories of sleeping in rollers...:O) but I guess many ladies wore them back in the day.

I was absolutely CAP-tivated (tee hee) by the intricate detail of the lace and delicate ribbon trimming. Take a closer look, isn't it just beautiful?

There were also many handmade lace doilies, embroidered dresser scarves and table runners and dainty lace-edged hankies and the like.

The lace around the edges of most of them is  hand-tatted and/or crocheted.

Also included was a darling vintage dish towel, a great old flour sack and many useful odds and ends.

 

Have you ever seen a cherry pitter?

It looks like I have all the tools I need to make some cherry jam, huh?

And then there was this adorable pin cushion made of linen from hand spun flax. Susie had put many notes inside of the box, giving a little history about just about every item.  But I have to say that above everything else that came in the box...even the lace night cap...these are my favorite...

When she was a little girl, she had a special friend whose mother, Mrs. Parker, made many beautiful crocheted doilies and things. The pink and red ruffled doilies are gorgeous but it's this little pair of high-heeled shoes that really made me ooh and aah. Aren't they just the cutest? What beautiful handiwork!



Although I felt totally blessed by receiving Susie's treasures, a part of me couldn't help but feel a little sad that she felt like she needed to part with them. But that's what blessing others is all about, isn't it—giving something away that you'd really like to keep for yourself. I means so much to me that she wanted me have them.

So what do I plan to do with my box of treasures? I think a little farm house in a meadow might just make a good place for many of them to be put to good use :)

Sharing at:

Mosaic Monday

My Old Kentucky Home

Well... I'm b-a-c-k!
Thanks to all of you who wished me safe travels and such.
I haven't even begun to get caught up with my blog reading, let alone anything else.

How does being away from home for only five days seems like it was two weeks?

We crammed a lot in, I guess that's why...but it is always good to get back home again.

~

On our way to Ohio for my family reunion (that will be another post),

we stopped in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky for a day and night, where lived before we came here.

As a rule when traveling to Ohio, we go by way of Virginia and West Virginia...
...a much more direct route for us, but we decided to take a little side trip this time.

They say (whoever they are) that you can never go home again...

...and although there is some truth to that, it's not always the case.

When we leave a place that we had called home for so many years,

often we want to be able to come back and see that everything has remained the same.

It had probably been fifteen years or so since we had been back for a visit,
and we saw so many changes as soon as we took the exit off the interstate...

we hardly recognized the place at first!

As we got into town, things started looking very familiar...

...in fact, some of the building and landmarks hadn't changed a bit!
~
Sadly, the house where we used to live was empty and run down.

Someone didn't show this place the love that they should have.

Among other things, the semi in-ground pool in the back yard was gone,
the hole filled in and many lovely trees had been cut down.

Sad.

This "Tot Finder" sticker in the front window has been there since probably 1988 or so.
It was given to my Adam when he was in elementary school during a fire safety assembly.
I remember the day he brought it home and promptly stuck it in his window.



Can you believe it has been there all these years?
I guess that alone speaks volumes about the condition of the house.
 ~

We lived in Mt. Sterling from 1981 until 1992 and Adam, our youngest was born there.

It was also there that Jim and I began our walk with the Lord...

...and found out what being a part of the family of God was all about.

What a blessing it was to take up where we left off with a few of our old friends!

A while back we had reconnected on Facebook and have kept in touch ever since,

and had then arranged to get together when we got into town.

So here's how it played out...

I called Nancy and told her we had just gotten into town.

She told tell me that she and hubby (Snookie) were heading to Kroger for a few groceries.

We had just been to Kroger and was actually pulling out of the parking lot!

Needless to say, we turned that buggy around in a heartbeat,

and had a sweet reunion in the parking lot of the grocery store!
 After having lunch together, we went back to their home for a "short" visit.

While there, Cathy, another mutual friend called to ask Nancy if we had gotten in yet.
 She lived only a couple miles down the road and wanted to come by and say "hello".
Her hubby was unable to join us and on her arrival, she stated she could only stay a few minutes.

Long story short, we spent the rest of the day catching up,
 laughing so hard we nearly wet our pants,

and finally having a time of sweet prayer together before we left for the evening.



Our photos were a little blurry...

...but our memories of good times were sharp and clear.
 Our group selfie was a little messed up too...
...kind of hard get us all in without a selfie stick...lol!
Cathy chose to be shy...plus she had the longest arms :)

The next morning we met again for breakfast and then we were off to Ohio.
About 30 miles north we stopped at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington.

So the entire eleven years we lived here, we'd never visited this beautiful place.
Don't ask me why because I just couldn't tell you the answer...
...and the term good fences has a whole new meaning to me now.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

A horse crossing...literally :)

Many beautiful old stone fences...

...and lastly, as we were walking along, we met Oreo and his sweet family.

He immediately brought me this stick to throw for him...

...and I did...

...and the games were on!
I also learned that he was very talented in his herding abilities.
His owners told us that at large family gatherings when folks start spreading out,
he promptly starts herding them all back together in a group...lol!
Oreo is one smart puppy!
~
And so it was back on the road again.
Ohio was almost in sight :)

To be continued....

Linking up with:

Roses of Inspiration

 Good Fences

Grace at Home

A Tale of Two Debbies

Once upon a time in a small town in Ohio, there lived two young girls.

Their houses were in the same neighborhood, they attended the same school,

and rode the school bus together...many times, sharing the same seat.

Not only did they share these things, they also shared the same name...well almost.

One Debbie spelled her name with an "ie" at the end...the other Debby with a "y".

During their junior high and high school years,

the Debbies became good friends.

They enjoyed talking, laughing and doing what teenage girls do best...

...being quite silly at times! 

When the Debby with a "y" was a senior,

she began to attend a different high school and didn't see Debbie with an "ie" as often.

 Debby with a "y" became involved with new friends from her new school...

...and slowly, began losing touch with Debbie with an "ie".

Time passed.

More time passed.

Months became years and years became decades.

During these years, Debby with a "y" married a man named Jim and they had a son.

Soon they moved to Kentucky where they had another son,

and several more years later, moved even further south to North Carolina.

Life had gotten very busy for Debby with a "y"...

...as it most assuredly did as well for Debbie with an "ie"...

...unintentionally letting their friendship slip through the cracks.

Yes, it slipped right through the cracks of time.

After many more years had passed,

 the invention of a strange thing called the internet became available to nearly everyone.

Oh, it was a really strange thing, alright...

...it gave a person the ability to communicate without wires...

 ...and find out all kinds of useful things...even the ability to find long lost friends...

This became a way of life for many.

They called it Facebook.

 

One day, out of the blue, Debbie with an "ie" sent Debby with a "y" a friend request...

...yes, you can actually request a friend with just one click.

This made Debby with a "y" very happy and right away accepted her request.

Then one day, after catching up a bit,

Debbie with an "ie" posted these photos on Debby with "y"'s page.

(Yes, that's a skinnier version of me...the one with the shorter hair.)

This put a big smile on the face of Debby with a "y".

She remembered these two young girls goofing off in that photo booth.

She also remembered that you got four photos for a quarter...
...and that she had kept the other half of them.

She also knew exactly where she had kept them all these years.

So very promptly, she posted them to Debbie with an "ie"'s page...

...so she could share the joy!

The End

Actually, I hope it's not the end, but just the beginning of our resurrected friendship!

Debbie with an "ie" still lives near our hometown.

The next time I visit my family in Ohio, I plan to look her up :)

What a blessing this has been for me!