What does one do with a framed honorary degree when my mom didn't go to the college but was generous in giving to the school? I can't even begin to say how many plaques I threw out. What would I do with them?! If I deemed it worthy of saving for some historical family pass down, then I saved it. Clearly my parents were movers and shakers in their social time, yet to hold on to these framed, engraved, and even a statue, I had to draw the line. I'm proud of all the honors bestowed upon them, I just can't have it become needing of it's own trophy room.
With months going by and my wandering in the room occasionally, I have had the chance to think about whether to keep the tall, single, glass, candle holder. Today I decided to let it go. It is lovely but doesn't go in our home. Still it has taken me nine months to make the decision. I wish I had kept the decorative asian brasier I sold because I didn't know where to put it in our home. She would put orchids in it but wouldn't it have been entertaining to have used it the way it was meant to? No I kept the stupid tall glass candle holder. Those rapid fire decisions we had to make when her home sold with a 30 day closing still haunt me every once in awhile. Then I sweep the thoughts away knowing they were just material items without any family heirloom title of how they came to be in her home.
With Thanksgiving mere months away, I'm determined to get the dining room emptied and cleaned. Polish the silver that has been slowly turning blue-grey. That will take some serious time to bring back to a sparkling clean. Speaking of silver, what does one do with unwanted silver? I have too many large trays. I mean LARGE! Who buys this stuff anymore? Who uses this if they have it?! The silver will be the next project of what I will keep and what will be sold. Then E. will have her room back. I laugh about this as I still label my children's rooms even though they don't live here. I should say, we will have a guest room back that one won't trip over the multitude of boxes under the bed and around the room. The closet will be another project if I don't forget what is in there. I sort of have.....
I thought I should check the boxes on one side of the bed and low and behold I found a box full to the brim with table linens. I thought I had absorbed it all with my linens. Clearly not. I put the lid back on and pushed the box under the bed. It can wait. I brought two more boxes, filled with wine goblets, that I placed side by side with the other boxes with the last available space. My conclusion being that wine glasses always seem to break and I can just replace as needed with these.
The Asian clock is keeping me busy. It doesn't like to stop. If it stops and I rewind it, it gets goofy by being off by 15 minutes. Even without fiddling with the pendulum. I correct the hands, making sure the hour chime is right, only moving the minute hand, and it still will be off. It takes me multiple times of correcting and finally changing the pendulum to have it working perfectly. I had no idea it would be so fussy. No matter, I do have a fondness for it and the quirkiness of it is probably why. A couple of weeks ago the hour hand had come loose and was just swinging if touched instead of being firmly attached to the small square piece that it and the minute hand are attached to. I sort of panicked, fearing I might break it if I pushed it back on. I let it sit a day and then decided that I'm in charge of this clock and I will fix it. I can do this! Carefully I pushed it slowing and tentatively back in place. It held! Bless my mom's housekeeper for keeping that clocking working all the years it was in her home.
And so it goes on this beautiful Indian summer day. Trying to empty out a room and resting off and on to hopefully get rid of a lingering virus.
