Summers Past and the Stash

As you know, I’ve been cleaning things out. I’m actually making steady, if slow, progress. It’s been fun to uncover treasures from my youth. I greatly enjoy the old photos I’ve been sorting. Thought I’d share with you.

Having totally forgotten about this little treasure, it was a delight to come across my truly tiny tea set. To give you some perspective on scale, the plates are about an inch in diameter. I happen to remember exactly where I acquired this. My parents took me to Catalina on the Big White Steamer one summer. Here we are with their dearest friends, the Josephs and their son seated in the front row. Yes, that’s me standing in back. The trip was memorable for several reasons. I believe it was the first time I’d been to the beach! More on that below.

I enjoyed searching for shells and going in the ocean. At that time there was a famous bird zoo we visited in Avalon. I don’t remember the birds so much as the lovely walk to get there. We also went on an evening boat ride to see flying fish. The little dishes served as my souvenir. I must admit a tendency toward souvenirs rather outside the limits of my parents’ planned budget. Being unable to come up with a single alternative to the tea set, I prevailed. Persistence was a youthful lesson well-learned. Does that little girl in the photo appear spoiled? Probably.

How fortuitous that I selected a tea set. No one I knew drank tea. I’d never had any myself. Yet, later in life, it became a much-enjoyed pastime and my beverage of choice, whether hot or iced. I decided to display my find in the sewing room where I can see it every day. After all, why pack it away when I can enjoy it?

Yet another activity I still enjoy is collecting. I started with glass animals. Unfortunately, I ended up breaking most of them because I actually played with the fragile pieces. Here’s a couple of miniature sets that stood the test of time. They now reside in the sewing room, as well.

When recently searching for pictures of my family at the beach for a newsletter (sign up for my mailing list on the contact tab above), I came up relatively empty, but I’ve since hit the motherload. In the 30s, my mom and dad, their parents and every single one of their siblings moved from Nebraska to California. The beach was a big draw for recently resettled mid-westerners. But the lure of sand and waves dimmed by the time I came along. This is why I was never introduced to beachgoing until the trip to Catalina.

Here’s a vintage Charlie Brown unearthed in our closet stash. I do believe I gave him to my husband as a gag gift back in the day. He looks like he’s seen better times. Not sure exactly what to do with him, but I think he’s a keeper. As you can see, he came equipped with a scarf and ice skates. I never experienced snow until a youth group weekend when I was well into my teens, even though it’s only a short drive from Los Angeles in winter. After growing up in Nebraska, my mother never wanted to see snow again. Because snow is rare to me, I still find it fascinating.

Well, that’s enough for this trip through the closet stash. I’ll leave you with one last treasure.

This is a picture of my Dad’s car taken in 1931. Pretty snappy, huh? He turned 20 that year and still lived in Nebraska on his family’s farm.

Hope you’re staying healthy and well in these days of pandemic. Soon, we’ll all be traveling and shopping and enjoying tea parties together.