Oh What the Heck

Let's finish this tsatske project and be done with it. Here are the last two shelves.

It's actually one long shelf and here is the left end of it.

The little bell on the left was given to us by Suzanne, a woman from Switzerland who stayed with us for awhile. She was amazing. She wanted to buy a car and rode one of our bikes from Davis to the far side of Sacramento to car-shop, and then had us drive her back to pick it up the next day. I believe Jeri visited her in Switzerland that year.

Next to the bell is a thing that looks like a hockey puck. That was a gift of appreciation given to all of us on her committee from Joan Sallee to thank us for working on her campaign for School Board.

There is a jester ceramic mask-ish thing that I bought as my souvenir of New Orleans when we went with the jazz choir to be a chaparone. Next to that is my prized "cuteware" box, by Davis artist Heidi Bekebrede. I got that at one of Walt's office White Elephant games at a Christmas party. I couldn't believe someone wanted to get rid of it.

Behind the cuteware you can make out a silver statue of a horse pulling a wagon load of hay. That also came from Suzanne in Switzerland.

To the right of the wagon is a little vase that I bought on an Apache reservation we were driving through. We stopped to look at all the vendor stands and I stood there waiting for Walt to go back and get money. I still remember the stoney face of the woman and how she never even looked at me during that awkward period.

The two copper things, a tiny teapot and a little vase-like thing, came from a guy from Chile who stayed here. I'm not sure about the two glass things (one a vase, one a glass). I think they both came from Cousin Nora in Ireland, but I'm not sure. The dark statue on the left was a gift from Walt's mother after she had visited Thailand. The two beeer steins were from another of her trips, this one to Germany.

This is the other half of the shelf. There are two plain ol' plastic water bottles, one from Weathervane Playhouse in Ohio, where Jeri worked summer stock for a couple of years, the other from Kilbarri park in Australia, where I visited with Peggy. The last bottle was from our friend Eric's wedding to his wife Nan. Behind that is a square thingie which, I believe, came from Chile, though I could be mistaken about that.

The photo frame shows pictures from Walt's surprise 50th birthday party.

To the right of that is a Mexican chocolate stirrer, which a guy from Mexico (from the town where XX beer is made) brought. To the right of that is a glass from New Orleans, which held my Hurricane (drink).

The cool mask is something Paul made. It was a school project and it fit his head. Doesn't come close to slipping on my big head.

The candle in front has no significance, other than I put it on the table as a decoration one Christmas and somehow it just never got packed away again.

And there you have it...all the stuff on our glass etageres and the stories behind them. If we ever get to all the rest of the junk around here and puttin them back in their place again, I will do another record.

The Oz Shelves

You'll be happy to know this is the pentultimate tsatske entry. Today I'll deal with the Judy Garland (more accurately Wizard of Oz) shelves. The thing is that I've been a lifelong Judy Garland fan, but never really a big Wizard of Oz fan, but it seems that lots of people give me Oz stuff. And, in truth, I have even bought myself Oz stuff. So here is that collection of stuff. It occupies not one but two shelves on the etagere.

As I look at this shelf, the embarrassing thing is that I don't really remember who gave me most of these things. That glittery ruby slipper in the back was the "box" that came with a Wizard of Oz watch that my mother gave me one year. The star isn't technically anything having to do with Judy Garland or Wizard of Oz. My friend Ann gave it to me one Christmas many years ago. It has glitter in it which floats around when you turn the star upside down. It just seemed the right shelf for it.

I think I bought the water globe myself, but it may have been a gift and if it was, I abjectly apologize to the person who gave it to me!

I do know that the picture at the back of the shelf...

...was the only one of those "put your face in here" souvenir pictures I have ever taken...but how could I not? This was taken in the tourist trap shops along Waikiki Beach on a trip Walt and I made with a couple of Brasilian couples.

This is the second shelf.

That Dorothy doll that is on the left is one that Jeri made for me and you can't see it, but at Dorothy's feet is a little brown Toto. I know I bought the two plates, and I don't remember who gave me the two little sets of figurines that line the "Oz" bell. I also don't remember who gave me the Dorothy box on the right.

But I know where I got the framed card in the middle.

It was a birthday card given to me by Ned's friend Brendan (who died in March of last year). He was afraid I might be offended, but it was the only card I think I have ever framed, and it's had a place of honor in the living room ever since.

Naturally the inside of the card says "Toto--I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

What's missing on these shelves, which must still be packed away somewhere, is my Dorothy cow that Tom gave me--a cow dressed in Dorothy's gingham pinafore and ruby red hooves. One of my favorites!

Time for More Tsatskes

When I was visiting my mother the other day and she was talking about the difficulty of getting rid of all of the "junk" on her shelves (very, very, very few), I was telling her of my own difficulty getting rid of mine (lots and lots and lots) and how few things I was able to actually throw away and I told her about my project of photographing things, posting them here, and telling the stories about each thing.

It reminded me that I haven't done that in awhile, so here are the next two shelves.

The figure on the far left is stamped "Jamaica," so it must have come from Walt's mother's house. It's one of the few things I have kept. It reminded me of someone dressed for Carnaval in Brasil and I just liked it.

The bell next to her was given to us by a friend named Susan Ware, whom we knew from Tiny Tots nursery school in Oakland. We had given a dinner party at our house in Oakland, some time before 1973, and she brought this bell as a hostess gift.

Next to that is a little Liberty Bell, which I bought when I spent a day touring Philadelphia. The silver cup has a crab engraved on it and I think Walt brought it back from one of his trips to the DC area. The bell next to that is from Boston and again, I'm not sure but I think I bought it in the shop which supposedly stands where Paul Revere's shop did back in the day.

The two black figures are models of terracotta warriors that I bought in China, and next to them is a Pilgrim couple that I bought in Salem just before Thanksgiving one year.

OK...going to the back row now, the blue vase is a lovely vase that was given to us by the proprietors of the wonderful Maxfield Inn in Naples, NY when they learned that it was our anniversary.

I can't remember where the rose vase came from, but I kept it because I liked it. Next to it is a square vase which can't be used as a vase because it's cracked, but it was made in a special class by Celso Gutman, a friend of our Brasilian son Eduardo, when the two of them were living in Davis in 1981 (Celso lived with a different family).

Next to Celso's vase is a statue of St. Anne and Mary, who would grow up to become the mother of Jesus. My godmother gave this vase to me, because my middle name is Anne, when I made my first communion.

There is a black statue of St. Brigid next to St. Anne. I bought it at a convent we visited in Ireland, because I went to St. Brigid grammar school.

In the middle are two little Wedgewood dishes that I bought in England. I decided on our first trip that I wanted to "collect something" and I decided to get an affordable little plate, but somehow that resolve disappeared by the time we were making our third trip to England.

I'm not as good at identifying these as I am the other stuff. The top shelf is the "box shelf." I don't collect boxes, but people give them to me. The one in the middle is a box Gilbert decorated with green mosaic tiles. It holds the stereopticon slides of the Palace of Fine arts for the viewer on another shelf. To the right of that is a box I bought at the Library of Congress and to the left of it is a box I bought at the Philips Gallery in Washington, when I was working there. Left of the Gallery box is a small container made out of an animal bone with a wooden top and bottom and a shell on top. The other box is made of marble, I think. It came from someone from Chile. I can't remember where the boxes in the back on the left and right came from, but I kept them because they were so pretty.

On the bottom shelf, the first two clay things on the left were made by Walt when he was in school, the yellow bowl was made by Tom and I don't remember who made the round head (I hope one of the kids will tell me!). The wooden shoes were brought back from Holland by Walt's mother.

(We're almost finished with all this stuff, you'll be happy to hear!)

Tsatskes and then some

After reading my entry yesterday, Lisa wrote that I should explain what is on all of those shelves.

Well, that is overkill, to say the least, but I have long thought that I should have a record somewhere of what is what and why I have it, so perhaps over the coming weeks I can make that record here, a shelf at a time. Perhaps one a week or so. So let's start with the middle shelf on the left. This is the left side of it:

OK. Lets start with the back. There is a glass dome jar which Walt's mother once bought for him so he could put his father's (or maybe grandfather's?) watch in it. He never did and I had a little kangaroo left over from the souvenirs I brought back from Australia, so the kangaroo now lives in the dome jar.

Next to that is a ceramic Santa. It's a Christmas ornament which Walt's mother gave to us in 1985 (the date is printed on it). Santa has a camera around his neck and a boombox up to his ear. I also presume that the Beefeater is from England, and something else Walt's mother gave us after one of her trips. The two bottles next to him are sand art from Brasil. I think that Ned brought one home from his year there and a Brasilian guest brought the other. Or perhaps guests brought both. Pretty amazing stuff, anyway.

In the middle on the left is a little figure of the entrance to Hampton Court, Henry VIII's former home. I bought that when we visited Hampton Court with my CompuServe friends. Next to that is a blue hippo that I bought at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. And then there is a set of salt and pepper shakers that I bought in England somewhere. Sadly, I can't use them for their original purpose because one is cracked at the top.

To the right of the shakers is my little Viking that I bought in York. I saw it the first time we were there but didn't buy it and always regretted it, so when we went back the second time I remembered where the shop was and found it still on the some shelf and bought it. You can see it better in the next picture. Next to him is a Chinese Santa which Walt's mother brought back from a trip to China.

In the front, on the left, is a model of the York Minster, which I also bought in York because I wanted to remember the glorious evening we spent listening to the choir rehearse Christmas music.

Next to that is a little thing that I think someone gave me...it represents all the people who have lived with us.

Then there is a little Taj Majal which Walt's mother brought to us from India, followed by a tiny little black bull on a ribbon, which was attached to some bottle of beer that one of our foreign guests brought. I think it was someone from Chile. and finally there is a little adobe church which I think also came from one of the guests, thought I'm not sure about that.

The right side of that shelf is here:

You can see the sand art better, and also get a look at the Viking and Chinese Santa. The boy at the back was a gift from my friend Pat. It is a music box and plays "The Happy Wanderer." I don't remember where that white shell-like thing with my name on it came from, but since it has my name on it, it made the cut.

In front on the left is one of those Pueblo story teller figures. I bought that somewhere, but I don't remember where--I always wanted one because it reminded me of me, always covered with children. They are usually quite expensive, but this one was reasonably priced, so I was happy to buy it.

Next to her is a decorated glass votive candle holder filled with two Wisconsin cheesehead erasers. Don't ask me why!

And finally there is my favorite thing on my shelf, a delicate little unicorn figurine that broke once. Jeri painstakingly put it back together again. I love it because of the care that she put into getting it as right as she could

So there you have it. Shelf 1. I will do more later, but not right away. As you can see, my tsatskes are all cheap trinkets, but they have meaning to me.

This doesn't take much explanation.
They are papier mâché figurines which my friend Olivia
brought back from Mexico for me.
They have their own shelf.

Delicate Pooh is Home Again

You would have thought that with the new Pergo all in and installed a couple of months ago that we would have quickly put back the furniture and all the stuff was in the living room.

Unless, of course, you have been reading this journal for any length of time, in which case it will not surprise you that none of that was done until today. (In fact, if you have been reading this journal for any length of time, it might surprise you that we started putting things back as early as today!)

It took awhile for Ned to have free time to help Walt move the furniture back in, but he did that the day they started working on the puppet stage for Brianna.

But even with the furniture back, we didn't exactly leap up instantly and move all those boxes back into the room and start putting all the tsatskes back on the shelves. In truth, we were enjoying the unusual stark, Ikea-like feeling of the room.

In fact, everything might still be in boxes in the guest bedroom but I suddenly realized several days ago that we are going to Santa Barbara for Christmas and that Ashley and her dogs are going to move in here. And at the moment there is no place for her to sleep, and you can hardly even walk through the bedroom, much less lie down (glass shelves rested on the bed). It brought a sense of urgency to the "put the stuff back" project.

I couldn't do anything until Walt moved all the glass shelves down and put them back in the Gilbert's etageres. That in itself was a monumental task, which involved moving nearly 20 heavy glass shelves down from upstairs, cleaning them off, and putting them back.

But when that was done, I started with the first box and returning stuff to the shelves. I plugged in my iPod and started listening to a new book as I worked. My idea was to throw away some stuff -- anything that I had no sentimental attachment to -- in the hope of reducing the clutter, somewhat.

I remembered when Walt started packing things up, I was very efficient and photographed all the shelves, to make it easier to put it all back when the time came. But when I checked my camera, I could not find those pictures, so I just started working away, box by box, hoping to approximate what had happened before. This was complicated by the fact that when we put the etageres in here originally in 1986, one of them was put in upside down and we didn't notice it until all the shelves were filled--it didn't really show, so we just left it. But now I wanted them both to be right side up, which changed the configuration of the shelves.

Anyway, I started working and was soon hopelessly lost. I knew what some shelves should look like, but I have so many little tsatskes that I couldn't remember. I took a break for lunch and drove Polly nuts. I was eating cottage cheese in the living room and Walt was eating his lunch in the kitchen and Polly kept racing back and forth between the two rooms, hoping for a treat from one of us (I don't think she got one for either of us.

I finally decided to take a break and see if I could find some pictures anywhere with a picture of the etagere, which would help me somewhat.

Well, kudos to me. Not only did I take pictures of the etagere shelves, but I actually made a special file on my computer to put them.

With the help of those pictures, which I copied onto my laptop and put in the living room as a guide, I was able to almost effortlessly put back all the stuff.

I got about 2/3 of it done before deciding to call it quits for the day. But the important part was done: Delicate Pooh was back on his perch on the top of the etagere.

I still have a bit more to do tomorrow and then tackle the bookcases and all the junk that goes there, but it's staring to look more like it used to.

Oh. And I decided to keep the punch bowl after all.

I need to get some SuperGlue so I can put the fruit back on her head. Oh, and that other sculpture is one of my uncle's monsters. We each got our pick of the work he left behind after he died.

(I should also add that I unpacked 6 of 9 bankers boxes and discarded the equivalent of half a box. Well...it's a start, at least!)