Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene
my reminder was no reflection on your posts/memories..just didn't want my entry getting lost..
my maternal grandfather never wore a pocket watch but I do have his old pen/carving knife he used when in the Timmins bush and finding us grandkids branches to use for roasting marshmallows in the firepit on the beach. and for killing the odd snake that wandered too close to us..lol
i have his wedding ring from his 50th wedding anniversary ceremony and a plaque from the prime minister and certificate from the queen.
i also have a few pieces of 'fools gold' brought up from the gold mine where he worked.
and most important - i have his name - Charles..
i have my paternal grandmothers hand made leather wallet with her initials on the front. and i have many old, old pics from both sides of the family-many from italy and some tintypes. i have no idea who most of the folks in the older pics are. certainly some dour looking folks tho! |
Charster - WOW ! That is IMPRESSIVE - not at all in a braggadosio way at all - but fascinating and special to you, fortunate 4 U ! . Your grandpa must have been an important man to have a 50th-Anniversary plaque and all you described from the Queen !!?? Holy Cow !
I wear a 70-something year old 'canteen-watch' in my snapped-tight Railroad Vest pocket. Dad came across in the Korean war in.. Korea! in a 'sell anything/anyone' stores - they had stopped and put ashore in a shallow keel Rube-Golberg'd very small ship inteneded/built to patrol the inland rivers for genuine modern pirates ! by a simple village, along a river they patrolled for the 'Pirates' - no joke ! and he said he entered the hut/store by gunpoint first- a sad state of affairs there, that 'women' were actually sold in there - 10/12 years old and up , so sad.
But, aside from the depravity which sickened Dad when they offered - what to me is a 'little girl' for sale to him.......he was so saddened for the girl - 11 maybe - he wanted to 'rescue her' but regulations prohibited non-military personnel as cargo by the Navy.
Nevertheless he saw 2 lucky finds after waving away the man proferring the girl to him - he wanted to knock that guys teeth down his throat he told me, but those under his command were with him, and well you know..... Anyway - he did find the usual war-scarce items - soap, TP, chocolate of unkown character lol..even ladies' nylons for port hony's (frown) or to bring home to wives - stockingS made of nylon were a petroleum-based martial-commandeer'ed commodity in the Korean 'Conflict'/War in the US.
His amazing find I'll pass on to MY one child (27..lol), Mamie -on two items -a 'canteen' leather-covered Swiss pocket watch dating from around early WWII in neutral of course Switzerland - civilan mandatory service for
all 'army' -issued watch for men, don't know what they issued to women...- who had to serve as well. The two finds that Dad could
bear being in their for, in a depraved situation, included also a "find of a lifetime" he found Mom an incredibly-beautiful deeply carved 'bas-relief' (artists in the room ?) teak chest, stoutly built and thick wood - I believe mahogany in the carved areas - much softer wood than the ship-worthy teak, in a mixture of lighter-colored wood in the carved area.. Magnificent. Even the handles on the end were wood-and part of a 'peasants-dwelling' scene - the handles were the "arches" in a bridge carved on both sides ! Absolutely amazing, And it still shines -it became Mom's hope chest after the Korean War - Dad's second hitch as an officer - and truly a gentleman.
I got the watch which (!?) pleased Dad so much to give when he could no longer talk, Parkinsonian, and he handed it to me to give to me with a big old smile- and gestured with it to keep... I wasn't sure - so he gestured to mom to give it to me in his way, the canteen watch - it has a leather outer case that completely encloses it except the face - where a long-time missing old 'celluloid' clear view was at one time, pieces here and there. It really does look like an old western wool-covered canteen !- to dip in the stream and evaporate while you rode would cool it (a real canteen that is...lol metal/wool), but the watch....Swiss made, and it STILL WORKS 4 me ! Incredible, It had an alarm- mechanical - that does not work.
I dare to risk carrying it in my Woolrich 'Railroad Vest' its been called for over 150 years - you can still by them by catalogue or on line - I have 3 darker colors to roughly match what I'm wearing - and I snap-pocket the watch in - and like you said - Dad's pen knife he pocket-ed to diddle with his Pipe, scrape the bowl, clean it up, etc. When I got it, I swear it even smelled of his pipe-smoke, when he passed. Such treasures I could never sell...they mean so much to me. When Mom passes (she had a scarey test today for the big C), Gord forbid, as I am executor to her will and codiciles, and I am really scared for her - my last link to my family's past; & she's willed the 'Teakwood chest' -as she always called it, to me she announced last week, scared. I never asked for it, thought that to be in poor taste on a Romantic item. When in her ALR residence - you do NOT stub your shoes even near it !
She keeps as her 2nd most precious memory from/of Dad' giftings - 1st of course her wedding/engagement set. I'd better stop - I'm doin it again ! Back to entries in gaming ! Thanks, Char, your...kind words made me feel much better, for my letting such deep/warm/hard/better now memories pour out as they do at times. I am still resolved to not do it in here, but I appreciate your warm words offering of
your memories - so 'Char' ('Charlene'?) is your feminine given name version of Charles !
Ihave to admit Dad's pen-knife was never used in the timmins bush land, not to kill snakes with..lol.... but a warm memory of Dad all the same - him and his pipe - a single image together in my mind always... but your
items - no matter the nature of, but the memories, right ?
Thats very cool...all such memories -
and this weekend I get to OPEN Dad's lower right bottom desk drawer - and center top both locked, he gave me the keys before he died, I was instructed to open them after he passed by him in barely readable scratch. I'm proud to look at that canteen watch, and use his pen knife. Thanks for lettin do this long heart-warming (to me lol) and ...er..longer posts.
Back to Biz !
Back to Biz !