More sorting and memories
This morning was spent on more sorting; going through the contents of the boxes and deciding what still needs to be kept and what needs to be thrown or given away. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that is worth passing on. The majority is either reaching the dump pile, or finding a new box to sit in for another 10 years. Sad. I really hoped that I could make a decision on a lot of this stuff and not re-box it. Some of the items that found themselves back in storage include old rugby cups of the kids, some of Renee’s early hairdressing gear, ornaments and knick knacks, a box of Stephen’s plates, an old Tilly lamp, a bag of pink bats insulation – stuff that one has to keep, just in case.
But one find I was happy with, was a bag containing three quilt blankets, lovingly made by my mother for each of the children, when they were young. These were beautiful and the kids loved them. From memory, Levi had a clown one, Jason an animal theme and Renee’s had balloons and party images. I don’t know what happened to Michael and Daniel’s. Perhaps they wore out. I had searched for them once before but decided they must have been discarded or perhaps given to the boys. The quilts badly need a wash but I am hoping they will be salvageable for perhaps Levi’s children to use on their beds at night, or for when they come to stay at Nana’s.
I talked about the poor relationship I had with my mother in both of my books, but there was no taking her talents away from her. She was a wonderful sewer and also made beautiful cakes and biscuits. Born in 1922, she was of the generation where sewing and baking skills were learnt and utilised. She made my school uniform when that was introduced, my Bermuda shorts when they became the fashion and her version of the tent frock when that too, became all the rage. Unfortunately, I only ever wanted the bought versions of each of the above, so that I could be like everyone else. And bought biscuits were something we rarely had. I wanted them too. It wasn’t until a friend pointed out to me once, when I must have been in my 20s, about how much nicer homemade biscuits were and I guess that same thing applied to my homemade clothes. They were always beautifully sewn, just different from the shop versions. Once I became a teenager, I was allowed to choose my own material and patterns for my clothes and started making my own once I reached 15.
I continued sewing and would make my children’s shorts, shirts and jackets but stopped once clothes started being made in China and the price dropped considerably. Suddenly, it wasn’t cost-effective anymore to sew them myself and I was busy enough with five children and working on the farm.
Apart from the odd curtain or two, I haven’t really sewn since. It was heartening hearing Rosie say the other day that she is thinking of starting sewing. ‘’I can help if you have any problems,’’ I told her.
As for my mother’s baking, she really was a pro. I think I may have already mentioned in a previous blog, about how she would make a dozen variety of biscuits whenever we had a school gala. My dad would build a flat box for display and she would lay the biscuits out in rows, then cover the box with cellophane. This beautifully presented item was then used for the school raffle, always generating plenty of money for the cause. I was so proud to carry the boxes into the school grounds at gala time. They were always admired.
Seeing my brothers and I all struggling with our weight now, perhaps being a good biscuit-maker wasn’t such a good thing after all, but at the time, it certainly seemed that way. Afternoon tea was always the highlight of my day, along with pudding, when I was a child!
There are still another half dozen boxes to go through, but they can wait until tomorrow. There were plenty of other treasures amongst the boxes. I have shifted so many times in my life, often throwing out items with each shift, so sometimes it is difficult to remember what I do still have, so discovering certain things this morning, took me on a number of pleasurable nostalgic journeys .