My Mother's Treasures Pt 3

These are the ones that terrify me:


I was mistaken. The ballernia head sold. This one did not. Hold me.


This is still on display on the coffee table in front of the TV. (I took a better picture last year.) I just can't understand why. Especially considering how much fun I make of it every Christmas.

My Mother's Treasures Pt 2

These are the ones I remember fondly or should want because they are akin to family heirlooms due to their age:


The wooden calendar was in my father's "office", or small room off the front hall filled to the brim with every single magazine he subscribed to going back to 1970, every encyclopedia set he purchased (there was more than one), and every CD, tape, vinyl record and piece of stereo equipment to play them on he owned. No one ever changed the date but me and I only did it every 2 years. (It now sits on a shelf in front of one of his sets of encyclopedias that surprisingly made it to Florida.)


This was also in my father's "office" and I loved it. I knocked it off the pedestal many times trying to rock it too hard. There's something very soothing in the teetering of a metal stick figure on a horse with big balls for hoofs. (Pictured here now also in front of yet another set of encyclopedias.) I often wonder if my dad had any part in the decor of his "office".


These three figurines, another picture my mother told me I should take, are old. I mean early twentieth century old. Apparently one was owned by my grandmother, another by a great aunt and the third by a great uncle. Which belonged to who (whom? - sorry, too lazy too look it up) was not discussed...Weird! I just had a memory flash of this little glass case in my grandparent's old apartment in which these three figurines sat for years. Or at least the cat. I kinda sorta remember the cat.


The coi. I can't remember a time this was not on the wall. Which wall is what escapes me now. Was it in the downstairs bathroom? Was it over my father's bureau in my parents' bedroom? Quite possibly both at one time or another? It was just always there. Every day. A little piece of Asian decor that survived the great Native American refurnish of '88.

My Mother's Treasures Pt 1

These are the ones I want:


The brass ducks are gone. Or so she thinks. There's a slight possibility they might be packed away somewhere still. They are actually in an episode of Freaks and Geeks. There's a scene where Lindsay walks by a table in the den where I could swear the mama and baby brass ducks I so long for are placed...Perhaps I could get them from the props department. IF all are gone, these wooden ones will have to do.


This metal cat sat on the ledge in front of the fireplace for as long as I can remember being alive. After they moved down to Florida it found its home here among the borrowed books shelf. When I finally have a fireplace this cat will be near it. It's like my familiar. Or something.


My mother made me take a picture of this. She told me it was painted by my grandmother in 1972. How could I resist that?


This is the Caribou my brother and I will not fight over because I'm extremely generous and will let him have it. It's pretty cool though, no? Sans Christmas cat of course.

A Small Preview

The monkey was moved. I almost had a heart attack because it wasn't where I expected it to be. Alas, it has not yet been sold.

Childhood Things

Before my parents retired and moved down south, my mother's ebay addiction took a turn. For once, instead of buying boxes of crap from other people's garage sales to sell, she began emptying her own house. If only I had known...
A couple years ago I asked her where that little statue of the goat boy was.

"Pan?" she said. "Oh I sold him on ebay before we left."

"You what?" my brother and I shouted in unison.

"Why?"

"I wanted that!" we both shouted in unison again.

"What? That thing? It was awful looking!"

"But you painted it!"

"That's why you want it?"

"Yes of course!" (That and it was a statue of Pan! Hello!)

"What else have you sold?" I asked. "The vase with the Asian face on it that used to scare me?"

"Sold."

"The warrior?"

"Sold."

"That black velvet painting of a naked lady I used to tell everyone was you?"

"Sold."

"The caribou?"

"That's in your father's room."

"That one's mine."

"Nooo! Fine. I want the brass mama and baby duck."

"I think I still have that somewhere."

"You better! I told you I wanted that LOOOONG ago!"

"What about the horrible ballerina head from Rita?"

"No! I've tried to sell that 3 times! No one wants it!"

"Surprise. Why don't you accidentally drop it?"

"Rita had horrible taste, but she had expensive horrible taste! It's worth too much!"

Oh mom. How could you sell Pan without telling us? We lectured her on how she was not to sell any more of our childhood memories without first getting our approval. This year I'm going to go around the house and take pictures of all the items I want. Morbid? Possibly. But mom's ebay addiction is still strong so I must take note. Last year I made sure to get the monkey statue in all the Christmas pictures just in case it was gone this year.

Next week...it's a full on treasure hunt.