Monday, May 16, 2016

Dusting Off Memories.

While I was dusting my Grandmother clock this morning, it spoke to me - it chimed 11:00.
 This was my mother's clock, one that my parents had purchased to replace a stolen one, when they still lived on the farm in the Willamette Valley. It moved with them to their retirement house in the town of Molalla, where, after Dad died, it suffered from lack of proper attention and stopped working.

It did not move into Mother's assisted living apartment. When no one else wanted it, we brought it home with us. Tom replaced the works, and now it sings to us each hour. It is a reminder of my mother. 

That's how it is as I dust on cleaning day. Our home is filled with treasures - old family pieces and thing we have collected. Each one has a story. 
 For example, the clock on the mantle belonged to Tom's maternal grandparents. It was a gift to us one Christmas from Tom's mother. The framed picture is actually made of tiny glass beads, and was created by Tom's grandfather, back when beading was a common hobby. It used to hang in Tom's parents house.
 I bought this old clock for Tom one year for Christmas. He didn't inherit the one his grandparents had, it went to his brother, and he always admired them in shops, so I actually ordered it on line. We had it restored to working order. It is flanked by candle sticks we purchased in a blacksmith shop in an ancestral village in Sweden. 
 Tom bought this clock in a shop in Langley on Whidbey Island. It has been restored too, except that it never bongs the correct hour. It just does what it wants. I love it.
This was my grandmother's clock, which I claimed when we cleaned out my aunt's house It is also restored to working order. Sitting next to it is a pot we purchased from the Van Briggle Pottery factory in Colorado Springs, on one of our many trips to Colorado. The little mosaic hook plaque was purchased from the artisan who made it in a little shop on a back street in Rome. 
On the dining room table is a table topper we bought from a street vendor in the market square in Munich, Germany. On it is a compote that belonged to Tom's grandparents and candle sticks I bought in an antique shop a long time ago.

And that's how it goes, when I dust and rearrange and pick up and put away on house cleaning day. The memories flash by. This is just a small portion of the treasures with stories. 

It was a good day for housework, since the drizzle persisted throughout the morning. The blooms in the garden are drooping their heads, while being refreshed after too much, too early heat. 





We did get a walk in this afternoon in the cool, damp air. Looks like we may have more of that this week. 

21 comments:

  1. What a great collection of clocks. Whatever makes the cleaning more of a labor of love rather than drudgery--I am all for that!

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  2. Great stories of your clocks, and your garden is beautiful! My mother-in-law had a beautiful myrtle wood grandmother clock from the Oregon coast, and I coveted it greatly. It went to one of her daughters when she passed, as it should have. It is well cared for, and I get to visit it from time to time.

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  3. I have the old striking clocks from both sides of my family. My grandparents I suppose got them around the turn of the century. I left the one from my mother's family in Texas with our daughter when we moved to Texas. I brought the one from my father's family and gave it to our son who lives here. I hate dusting just about worse than anything when it comes to housework. Good you have all those memories to think about.

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  4. I loved reading about your clocks. It reminded me so much of my grandparents. Their home was filled with clocks. The grandfather clock, was quite large, then there were several smaller ones similar to the ones you had on the wall. Their were cuckoo clocks (more than one) and smaller clocks for the mantle. Sometimes they would drive me crazy as they all went off at different times. I think my grandfather must have set them to chime a few minutes apart so he could hear each one. You have some wonderful treasures.

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  5. how fun, you have so many clocks! That would drive me nutty...but as I look around my house I see lots of collectibles with their stories and memories too.

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  6. Well, having all these stories pop up must make dusting interesting. Maybe I'm going to have to look at what I'm dusting instead of swearing all the time.

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  7. Again, we missed the rain. I could sure use a little of it here. It looks like we are sure to have some on Thursday, our hiking day. I wondered if it's a cacophony of sound on the hour at your place, with all those clocks chiming away. :-)

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  8. How wonderful to have so many treasures to remember your loved ones and to purchase treasures to remember places visited. Thank you for sharing with all of us.
    We had some misty stuff yesterday and I think our gardens enjoyed it.
    MB

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  9. Many nice memories you have. These pieces are evocative, aren't they?

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  10. A home filled with love and cherished memories, it doesn't get any better than that.

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  11. Impressive collection of stunning clocks. Thank you for sharing!

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  12. We have much the same weather and blooms now. Interesting. Your house must be filled with dings and dongs!

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  13. Those clocks really took me back. We had a grandfather and mantle clock also that traveled with us but as a kid my favorite were the Cuckoo clocks. One actually had the little bird, the other had Bavarian people moving about hourly. I understand Tom's interest.

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  14. We also have a grandfather clock and an old mantle clock that was a wedding gift to my parents in the 1930's. I love the chimes! When the grandfather clock was being worked on (about a year ago), we really missed hearing those chimes every 15 minutes. And I also agree that dusting can be very nostalgic when you think about where and how all those little momentos came to be with you.
    Wonderful memories...

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  15. What lovely clocks. My MIL also collected clocks. She had some beauties and one or two that you have. There was a largish but somewhat plain clock by Seth Thomas hanging across from the kitchen table. I licked that clock. I looked at that clock so much that when I became pregnant with my son, I said Let's name him Seth. And we did.

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  16. I would love a clock that chimed random hours. You'd never know what would be next! We had to silence our chiming clock when we pulled out our carpets and put down hardwood. It was too loud and echoed too much. Kind of sad.

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  17. I read your post yesterday but did not get to comment. I love the beautiful old clocks! I would love to have had my grandma's clock. I remember spending the night at her house and hearing the ticking during the night and then the chiming. My dad actually got the clock, but no one knows what happened to it after my parents divorced in the 60's.

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  18. Oh what beautiful clocks! How lucky you are to have them. I have one mantle clock that belonged to my great-grandparents, its an 8 day clock and I love winding it up and hearing it tick as I go about my day. Reminds me of visiting my grandmother (who inherited it from her father, then she passed it along to my mother who passed it along to me.) The loud gong leaves a bit to be desired, though! :)

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  19. You have some beautiful family treasures, I enjoyed seeing them:)

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  20. Lifetimes of treasures to be cherished by your family. I too am a bit of a sentimentalist and love the stories of treasures. The minimalist decorating/lifestyle is interesting but living with things touched by former generations brings comfort and joy to me. Your house, full of treasures whose stories make them even more dear, feels like a home, not just a place to live.

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  21. You two have the most fabulous collection of antiques and collectibles. You are really lucky that Tom is so accomplished at fixing things. Granted so are you. I wish you lived next door so he could fix Art's school house clock.

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