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Strange Emotions

February 5, 2019 at 9:43 am by Claudia

I apologize for being a sporadic blogger of late. This “whatever-it-is” is taking its own sweet time leaving my system. I’m definitely seeing progress but I don’t have a lot of energy. Still coughing, sneezing, etc., but the chest is clearing and that’s a good thing. Frankly, when it takes all morning and into the afternoon for me to begin to feel halfway decent, the last thing I want to do is take a picture and blog.

And now Don has come down with it. He’s feeling pretty yucky this morning and I’m going to try to muster the energy to take care of him, like he took care of me.

For the time being, the loveseat and trunk are in our storage locker. I had a negative emotional reaction to them the other day – quite a strong one. I don’t quite understand it, and I’m sick, of course, which must have an effect on my emotions, but I couldn’t get everything back in that trunk soon enough. I also couldn’t handle seeing the loveseat in the living room and not knowing where, if anywhere, I wanted to put it. Same with the trunk.

It’s interesting. I’ve known I would have to retrieve this stuff eventually, and I kept putting it off. Most of the stuff in the trunk is memorabilia from high school and college and my time as a camp counselor. None of it symbolized an unhappy memory. But I couldn’t stand looking at it. I tried to articulate it to my husband and he, being the incredibly wise man he is, stepped in and said he understood and did I want him to move them to storage for now?

Yes, I said. So he did just that yesterday and I felt a wave of relief. All of this has been in my friend’s basement since I moved away to go to graduate school, which would have been 1983. Why it’s triggering such strong feelings, I have no idea.

I almost didn’t share this with you but I knew you’d ask me where I decided to put things. So there’s your answer: in storage.

I did keep the Haviland china here. No negative reaction to that.

This is the Pink Roses pattern. It’s Haviland Limoges and it was made in France – at least, the serving pieces have those markings- the teacups are marked ‘Austria.’ I’ll have to do some research into Haviland patterns. Since this was my great grandmother’s set of dishes, it’s from the late 1880s – early 1890s. As with much of the Haviland pieces of the time, there’s a lot of gold on the handles and edges.

I’m going to try and clear a shelf in the china cabinet in the den and display them there, which means I’ll have to re-home some of my McCoy pieces.

Okay. That’s it for today.

Happy Tuesday.

Sneak Peek

February 3, 2019 at 11:13 am by Claudia

A quick post today. We just finished bringing things in the house. Don arrived home around 9:00 last night and we left unpacking until this morning.

Here is the loveseat. As you can see, it’s very Victorian, perhaps Eastlake. Back in the day, I wonder if it was mainly for posing for pictures, the man sitting in front of the high back and the woman in front of the low back. I know I have some photos somewhere of my great-grandmother next to this piece when it lived in the family farmhouse in Canada. When I was a little kid, this was always in an upstairs hallway in my grandmother’s house. I was fascinated by it because of its story and also, it was perfect for a kid to sit on. That’s why I inherited it, I guess. I’ve managed to get by without it for over 30 years, but you can see why I hesitated about donating it. There’s real family history here.

Some of the carving.

And here’s a picture of the trunk:

It’s a deep red and, save for one broken handle, it’s in great condition. I can’t remember when I acquired it, but I do know that it was the first antique I purchased. I’m thinking I found it in Ann Arbor at an annual antique market in the late seventies.

We have to figure out where to put these things – as well as the Havilland China, which I haven’t even looked at yet. There’s another box full of photos and who-knows-what, as well.

Don seems to think we should show off the loveseat downstairs, but the only available space would be next to the armoire, which means the antique dollhouse would go on top of the china cabinet in the den.

I’m still under the weather, so I’ll deal with that later.

I’m glad he’s home safely.

Happy Sunday.

Surreal

February 2, 2019 at 9:48 am by Claudia

Since I feel like crap and the sound of water dripping (to prevent freezing pipes) is about to drive me insane, let’s look at a pretty picture of Paris; specifically, the Seine and Notre Dame. It seems a distant memory right now. I frequently look at the photos from our trip, partly to remind myself that we were actually there, and also to bring a smile to my face in the midst of what has been a surreal two weeks.

Big snow storm, waiting for heating oil to be delivered, running out of propane, waiting for that to be delivered, two quick trips into the city, weather extremes, coming down with whatever-this-is, more snow, polar vortex, still sick….you get the picture. It’s been two weeks that I’d rather not repeat. The night before last, I coughed all night long. Last night, I slept in a near-sitting position and managed to avoid endless coughing, which helped enormously.

Today we’re finally supposed to be in the thirties, which seems positively balmy. I am counting the hours until I no longer have to listen to the drips. Soon. In the meantime, Don (who is a saint, let me tell you) left early yesterday morning in a rented van to drive all the way to Detroit. This morning – actually, right about now – he’s meeting up with my old friends Jan and Joe, in order to retrieve the things I’ve had stored at Jan’s house for over 30 years. Jan moved about two months ago and the new owners will be starting renovations next month, so we were down to the wire. I meant to go long ago, but work commitments kept me from making the trip. Finally, Don said he would go. I don’t deserve him. But Don does like a road trip. He drove all the way there yesterday and will drive all the way home today and I will forever be grateful to him.

There’s a funny old victorian loveseat (not at all sit-able) that has a high back for the man and a lower back for the woman, that was my great-grandmother’s. (I have no idea where we will put it.) There’s a box of my great-grandmother’s Haviland china. There’s a red trunk with a curved top that has all sorts of memorabilia from high school and college and a few years beyond. (I also have no idea where I will put the trunk. Or the china.) There were moments when I thought – briefly – of chucking everything, but I knew I couldn’t. Sigh.

So that’s where we are. I’m slowly getting better – it’s only been 5 days. Remember that I suffer from chronic allergies and sinus problems, so anything on top of that, like a cold or upper respiratory thing, is just that much harder to shake. It takes a while to clear out. Please – no well-meaning warnings about dire scenarios! I don’t think that helps at all, nor do I want to take that into my consciousness.

But it’s sunny out there and the temperature is finally getting out of the teens. Good news. It feels like a Sunday somehow, but I’ve lost all sense of time and what day of the week it is.

I want to go back to Paris. I mean, I really want to go back to Paris.

Happy Saturday.

Strange Emotions

Sneak Peek

Surreal

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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