My small office

My small office -- or my sister's room when she's here -- reminds me so much of my father's office at the church in Runnemede. It runneth over with books, papers, and other items. But it also runneth over with heirlooms.

This will be the final episode, probably, about heirlooms.

As I look around this room I see, first of all my fathers desk, which originally belonged to his father. It is an oak library table, actually, mission style, with a drawer. It serves the purpose. It holds my laptop, my scanner, my printer, and two other heirlooms -- a trophy cup my grandfather Drexler won in 1901 at the Wannetah Tennis Club. And another heirloom is a thermometer that my father had on his desk for years. It's not the long, skinny kind. It's square, and looks more like a barometer. There is also a paper weight on the desk which was my father's and shows an incline outside of Philadelphia.

Then as I swing around the room I'm face with a framed print of a bride, circa 1935. I always thought it was a painting of Aunt Francis because the dress surely resembles her wedding dress. Under that is an old oak bookcase FULL of old, antique books, including my father's copy of The Secret Garden with all those wonderful picture plates.

Of course my grandfather's trunk is at the foot of the bed, and that contains the wedding gown about which I wrote lately, over 50 old handkerchiefs, my wedding gown (not exactly an heirloom, but getting close to being an antique), a beautiful silk bedspread, which I won't use because I don't want it damaged. I'm not sure what else is in the trunk, but it is loaded.

If I continued through the home, I'd have to mention so many more. And, I do love the old things. They last and last and last. They are not good to have if you're into redecorating every few years, though. I mean, who could throw away a good antique? Not I. I love the old mission oak furniture which seems to be a big part of my home.

TTFN

Heirlooms, again!

I was also asked to address what is my favorite piece of jewelry, heirloom or otherwise.

Every married/engaged woman's favorite should be her engagement ring. And for years that was my favorite piece of jewelry. But I need to get back to my jewelry roots.

When I was a child, I loved jewelry. My mom had a wonderful jewelry box, about which I have written before. My first piece of jewelry was a baby ring. I still have it. It is gold and has a small emerald in it. Why an emerald I don't know, since I was born in March and the birthstone for March is aquamarine. Mom would only let me wear it on Sunday to church and when I got home, she would make me remove it and she would put it back in its box.

As I got older my father would let me wear his step-mother's jewelry. And eventually, when I was in my late teens, he gave me a beautiful necklace which is very ornate, but delicate at the same time -- very, very Victorian. It is set with garnet and pearls. My father also gave me a sterling silver ring when I was 13, which was pierced with little hearts. It was such a pretty ring, but somewhere along the way I lost it.

Then when I was 16 he gave me a birthstone ring -- aquamarine -- I still have that ring as well.

See a pattern here? I LOVE rings. So, enter my engagement ring. It was designed by Bailey, Banks, and Biddle -- a very old, Tiffany-type jewelry store in Philadelphia. I loved that ring. Alas, it broke. Yes, one of the prongs broke off, so I had to have the diamond reset. And while I do like the new setting, it's not the same, therefore, no longer my favorite piece of jewelry.

I think at this time my favorite piece is my mother's engagement ring -- which was an aquamarine ring that I wore for years and years. The setting on that ring, also, caused the stone to come unpronged, and it couldn't be fixed, so I had it reset. And I do like the new setting. It makes the stone look huge.

There is other heirloom jewelry which I have shared with my sister, and we have traded a piece or two.

One final note: When my father died, I found his step-mother's will. She had willed all her jewelry to me. Unfortunately, during the poor times of my father's ministry he sold several pieces, so that part of her will was not honored. That's okay, though. My Father (heavenly) is rich and I don't really need more jewelry. I'll be awed when I see those gates in heaven which are made of precious stones. And, those golden streets. Awesome.

MTF

Hierlooms, continued (part deux)

When asked what my favorite heirloom is, there are many, not just one favorite. My "favorite" has changed from time to time.

I think, however, my most favorite heirloom -- drum roll please -- is my great grandmother's wedding dress.

I remember as a child my mom would get out this dress -- and there was another one, which I believe was my father's mother's dress -- the one about which I'm writing today is my father's maternal grandmother's dress, and I should know her name -- was it Minerva? I know she was a Casper. But that isn't what's important. What is important is how it came to be my favorite.

Wow, that paragraph I just wrote says a lot, isn't a complete sentence, and I should delete it, but I won't. I'll let you all figure it out.

Anyway, the dress is beautiful, and it was housed for years in my Grandmother Drexler's hope chest. Now is is housed in another heirloom, my Grandfather Drexler's wedding trunk. Both dresses were beautiful, but I fear my mom wore Grandmother Drexler's dress to one too many church dress-up functions. It just didn't stand up to her wear and tear and then allowing me to try it on and parade around in it -- always upstairs in the attic where it was stored.

The picture shows what the dress looks like when it is on a dress form. I had this dress in various rooms in our former home, but decided it was getting too dusty and I was afraid the dust and sunlight (albeit I did not put it in direct sunlight) and other airborne particles might harm the delicate material of the dress so I put it away.

Under the dress is a half slip -- the top is double strength mesh and lace. And then beneath the dress there was a pair of bloomers. Please notice that she is carrying a bouquet -- it was made for me by my favorite florists -- Batavia Floral Designs -- and it is in an old-fashioned silver bouquet holder.

The crown that held her veil, is on top of the red fluff -- the veil material is not anywhere to be found, but the crown is still in working order and it is satin with seed pearls sewn into it along the top and bottom and in the middle where you can barely see two lines.

Grandmother Casper's gown is no longer white, it has become the color that aged white dresses become -- sort of an off white. Shortly after I married a lady in dad's church who was a student at the Philadelphia College of Art asked if she could restore the dress for an exhibit that the Philadelphia Art Museum was putting on. So, the dress is now is perfect condition. All the torn lace frills were resewn and reattached to the dress. And it was exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Museum in the early 70s.

If I think of other things about this dress to add, I shall. However, that's all I can think of at this time.

I hope you enjoy this reminiscing about heirlooms. Let me know what you think.

Family Heirlooms

Facebook.com has been an interesting, getting reacquainted time for me and friends and family. This particular post doesn't really have to do with growing up in Runnemede, but maybe it does. One of my newly reacquainted friends game me a list of questions to answer about the family and since most of the questions are really better handled in The Fat Lady Singeth, I'll answer them on that BLOG, but the question of "What about your family heirlooms, are there any?" has been talked about before but I'll try to add more to it here.

My family -- that means my mom's and dad's family, their offspring, and their offspring are mostly, really into family heirlooms, even now to the point of another group of offpsring -- my grandchildren. (If you're wondering why I didn't make offspring plural by adding an "s", I'm thinking that the word offspring is all encompassing and is already plural, like the word children. If someone would like to chime in on that I'd appreciate it.)

We are fortunate in our family to have many heirlooms, and I think the favorites for me are the picture albums -- there were several. Since my father's uncle was a picture framer/photographer that generation's photos were mostly framed. And, yes, we (meaning me, my offspring, my sister and brother) have those framed photos around our various residences. There were also family photo albums, several, containing pictures going back to the 1850s. Most are well-documented, which is also a help.

My daughter and I have rebooked the set of old albums I inherited -- I didn't take them all. When my mom died, she had at least four albums of her life from the time she was little, until the times of her children's growing up. So, we each took one of those books. And when dad packed up to move to North Carolina, I took my share of albums. And in the past few years I've been very busy at Staples copying those pictures on a color copier, which gives me the same hues as the originals.

So, when I visited my brother a couple of years ago, I swiped HIS album and went to Staples with it, and made copies of all those pictures. And when I visited my sister, we went through a couple of albums and then another trip to Staples. When I visited my cousin Betty, in Tennessee, another trip to Staples. A visit to my cousin Micki in Florida, another trip to Staples (which was a disaster).

So, you see we have tried to keep everyone in the loop with the family pictures. And while my father's family pictures go back to the 1850s, my mom's family immigrated to the USA in 1906 and so that begins any pictures we have of her family. I suppose they either didn't take any pictures in Italy, or they left them there.

So, family members, if you have pictures that you think I don't have, or should have, scan them in and send them over. I'll not only copy them and send them to family members that don't have computers (there are still a few), or I'll make sure everyone who has a computer gets a copy.

I'm particularly interested in getting some wedding photos of your parents and you. I have special ways I keep those photos preserved. School pictures? Hanging around the house pictures? Any pictures at all, either in color or black and white. It makes no difference.

The Drexler-Sbaraglia-Evangelista brood is scrapbooked currently, in four albums. Since I've met up with so many of my cousins, I started a separate album with NEW pictures. The pictures of us all grown up and aged. It's an interesting journey, and I've loved doing it.

So, while this just touches on family heirlooms, I guess I'll have to end this epistle with MTF.