Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Show Me: Front Door and Something Sentimental

Robert at Thoughts of a Father is trying his hand at a photo meme. He has named it Show Me and each day he will ask us to "show him" a specific place or thing. Today is Day4 and the theme is "something that has sentimental value to you." I'm also posting my front door since I skipped yesterday.

This is my front door from the inside. It is one of Angel's life dreams to escape out this door. This means that I keep a small window screen across the bottom to make sure she stays in. So far it has worked, although it makes coming IN rather inconvenient for others. The mask on the far wall is a special treasure I got when I visited Jamaica many years ago. The butterfly on the other side, I got in Aruba, though I think it was made in Venezuela.


Oddly, I'm having a hard time with finding something "sentimental." I used to think of myself as very sentimental, but I'm really not so much that way any more. Maybe it's an age thing. Maybe it's because when I was forced to move 5 times in 5 years I had to let go of a lot of things. Maybe it's because the little knick-knacks and things that are special "treasures," are physically difficult for me to maintain these days. They feel less like treasures than they used to, more like dusty things that make me ashamed of my inability to care for them. Here are a few of them, though.

The little lamb is almost as old as I am. It's kind of ugly, but I've had it since I was a little child back in the Dark Ages. Next to the lamb is a Thai Demon Guard. It was given to me by a friend of mine in New York after she returned from the trip of a life-time to Thailand. You're supposed to hang in facing the front door and it keeps demons out. Seems to be working. It's been watching over me and mine for about 25 years now and is one of the first things I hang when I move into a new place. Below the little lamb is the only one of my mother's Hummel's I've kept. Back before my sentimentality began to wane I had about 11 of them. The rest (she had quite a few) were shared out to my brother and my sister's children. This little angel has a broken wing but I'm very fond of her anyway. Next to the angel is an eskimo carving that my sister's children pooled in on many years ago. Besides the fact that I like it, it's a gift from the three of them and that makes it special. The elephants on the bottom row belonged to my mother too. She loved elephants and this is one I gave her... mother and child. What I wanted from my mother but never quite got, I guess. The last item is a little ornament. I'm not sure where it came from. It's a lute, but it makes me think of my father who played the mandolin. A big part of my relationship with my father centered around music. I would sit at the piano and play and sing and he would play his mandolin. He was often drunk for these sessions and there was a lot of complex family drama around them, but they are none-the-less among my happier memories. I really miss having a piano. So that's my journey into sentimentality.

17 comments:

Kimmie said...

Hi Raven,
All your treasures are beautiful. I am especially fond of your little lamb. :-) Hope you are feeling better. I read your post at Dianne's and I have been feeling the same way. I will say a prayer for you. :-)
Hugs,
Kimmie

tt said...

I love the stories behind your treasures. That's what makes them special.
{{hugs}}

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your treasures and story....

Kaylia Metcalfe said...

I love the butterfly in the door pics... and the angel with the broken wing is priceless.

Beautiful as usual! Hope you ar feeling better!

Dianne - Bunny Trails said...

Your door is sweet to me, because it's the same as my parents'. I like the art around it.

Your mementos are so precious because of the memories associated with them. Thanks for sharing your treasures.

Carletta said...

So are you feeling better?
You came back big time with this post.
Great angles on the door pics and the two collages today are really nice.
It was hard for me to pick what to share today. I love all these little things of yours. Your collage is like a little shadowbox of stories. Each a precious little memory.
I'm so glad you posted today!

Jenny said...

I absolutely love your treasures and the stories behind them! Your door is the same as the house I grew up in, it brought back a lot of memories! And the little lamb is adorable! Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

My mom collected Hummels too...I have three of them. You might not have a lot of sentimental things, but looks to me that those that you have are precious!

Anndi said...

My daughter was fond of elephants from very early on and I think it was the first animal sound she made. Complete with trunk wave.

Thank you for sharing your treasures...

Dr.John said...

Loved the door. We had a door like that in our last house.
I think your objects are woonderful. I like the lamb best of all.

Robin said...

I really like the Thai god. We have a matted print of a different Thai god hanging in our bedroom. I have no idea what he's supposed to represent, but I like him.

Thank you for sharing your special treasures with us Raven.

Jeff B said...

By seeing your post, I'm assuming you're feeling a bit better. Hope so anyhow. Thanks for the view of your memories and treasures.

Gattina said...

I am relieved to see that I am not the only one who changed with the age concerning sentimental objects ! My favourite "object" in all what you are showing is you cat !! she looks so pretty !! You probably know that I am a cat lover and have 5 !

Dillo said...

Raven,
I'm really likin the elephants! Cool collection of 'Stuff' overall though.

Robert said...

Not being cluttered with lots of stuff is a good thing. You still found some wonderful contributions. I loved the door picture with Angel. Such a pretty kitty.

Linda Murphy said...

I enjoyed reading about all of your little treasures and seeing the photos too!

My favorites are the Eskimo and the Thai guard.

I have been a lot less sentimental as I get older and I don't like a lot of stuff around. But there are one or two things that I have kept-but tucked safely away until the boys are older and don't destroy them. :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry I am late. I like your challenge posts. Many years ago I worked for a housekeeping service, and I was sent to clean the home of a medical DOCTOR and the kitchen was covered in slime and mold. Some quivering mass I took to be decomposing jello salad lunged at me when I tried to scrape it of the shelf. THAT was disgusting. Your kitchen is not.

I likr the door collage. I wish I had more energy, but until we move to town and I no longer commute 5 hours of each day (there and back) I won't be enjoying many leisure time activities.