G'ma's Jewelry

One consequence of Queen T's Great Garage Clean Out was the discovery of my mother's jewelry.  Don't get too excited about that - the real stuff is subject to another post (one which will probably never be written) - this is sentimental, bought on a vacation, given on a certain day jewelry.

It was really fun to look at it through my daughter-in-law's eyes.  She's a classy, sassy, girly-girl, who likes her sparkles as much as anyone I know (except, perhaps, FlapJilly).  My mom was the exact opposite.  She was functional rather than glitzy, reserved rather than explosive.  I learned early on that she was an unreliable source for fashion advice.  She thought I was beautiful no matter what I wore.  That felt good, but wasn't very helpful.  

The pieces were attached by staples-on-steroids-with-long long long-legs to styrofoam hexagons, backed with black velvet.  This was my mother's idea of the easiest way to move and examine her treasures.  The jewelry she wore more regularly lived in a small chest atop her dresser.  What we uncovered were memories.

A Mexican beaded necklace.  Israeli street pieces, $1 a piece American.  Necklace after necklace bought at Macy's or Fortunoff's on a Saturday afternoon when it was raining outside and shopping seemed the best way to get out of the house.  Many of these necklaces resemble teeth - black ones and coral ones and lots of off white and blue ones - which led to some interesting conjecturing as we put them into the Clothing Bank pile.

Daddooooo was friends with a silversmith in Greenwich Village.  He made several pins for G'ma, and some of them appeared that afternoon on my kitchen table.  After some polish, one was so pretty that I wore it on my sweater today.

I took pictures of the things I didn't want to keep for myself or FlapJilly and sent them to the family.  Choices were made and packages were prepared and mailed.  

Little bits of my parents are traveling around the country right now.  I hope they are having a good time.