The Gallery : Vintage

Through the marvel that is Twitter, I found an open invitation to take part in The Gallery. It's a great blog where the blog owner invites people to post photographs to their own blog on a theme that she sets every week.They then in turn get added to The Gallery post. It was the theme of Vintage that caught my eye. I'd actually been meaning to write a post about some of my newly inherited items, but hadn't got round to it. So here it is.

To say it's hard when you lose a loved one, has to be the biggest understatement ever. When sorting through the possessions of my parents with my sister I found myself wanting to keep everything. Clearly this was not possible or practical. But it seemed to me that so many items had fond memories attached. Memories I didn't want to let go. We really couldn't keep everything, so I decided that anything I kept would have to be something I would have out on display, or something that I would use often. Otherwise I feared I would literally box everything up and fill the loft. I needed to be disciplined.These are some (but not all) of my cherished items.

Carnival Glass

This dish is Carnival Glass popular from the 1920's to the 1950's. With that in mind it may have even been my   Grandmothers depending on how old it actually is. All I know is throughout my childhood this dish was kept well stocked with a variety of wrapped toffees and boiled sweets from Woolworths Pick 'n Mix. It now sits on the side in my lounge and I try to keep it stocked with sweets. (It would be easier if people didn't keep eating them!)

Complete with it's original glass stopper

Next up are these two little glass bottles. I believe these were my Grandmothers, but they always sat on my Mums dressing table. The one with the sliver lid has a couple of little dents but they add to it's character. The one with the stopper has a silver and tortoiseshell lid, also very slightly dented.
I have inherited my Mums dressing table and once I can bring myself to clean it and place all my own belongings in it I shall have these in pride of place.

This Little blue glass basket is one of those items that was just always there, either on a window ledge or Mums dressing table. It used to house odd earrings or tangled necklaces. I have it sitting on the window ledge on the upstairs landing. 1) because it's one of the first things I see as I come out of the bedroom in the morning and 2) because the light shines through the beautiful coloured glass perfectly.

This pink serving dish has seen many a trifle or salad over the years and since coming to live with me has been used most weeks. I have no idea where it came from or how old it is but using it reminds me of family gatherings.

Vintage Jars

When clearing the larder and the kitchen cupboards we came across no less than EIGHT jars and containers of mixed dried fruit! It made us smile or actually laugh every time we discovered another one. It was unbelievable and we could only guess at how old some of them must have been as my Mum had stopped baking a good few years before we found ourselves clearing the cupboards. Christmas puddings, wedding cakes and of course Mums famous Bread Pudding were all made in the tiny kitchen.
I saved only the vintage storage jars. They keep my cupboards in order and one will always contain mixed dried fruits as a tribute to my dear old Mum.

My Dads book. Up To Date Confectionery dated 1948

These are the kind of cakes my parents were known for.
Mum baked then, Dad decorated them.
They made a great team

This book is a bakers Bible of it's day. It makes fascinating reading. It belonged to my Dad and now it belongs to me.

I found it hard letting go of some of the things we just couldn't keep and someone said "Items don't store memories" But I don't agree. All of the above are steeped in memories and when I look at them or use them (I have lots more kitchen items) the memories come back and I hope they never fade.