I'm documenting my work here, for myself perhaps more than for anyone else. The top of this cabinet was covered in papers, dog medicines, receipts, a dog brush even for the longest time. Yesterday, I cleaned it all up. And purged my jewelry box.
When visiting Christina and Inga's country place in Sweden, I went under a birch tree and took this green picture. I look at it fondly when nature here dries up and turns brown. The girls are my great-nieces when they were younger. They are older now, Jasmine is in Junior High and Jackie is eight. The Dobermans are Gypsy and Red, the first two dogs of the ten we lived with during our marriage.
The lamp was my grandmother's. My mother as a young woman and my two cat angels, Samantha and Sindbad.
Errol and me on our boat and in Mexico, where we spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun. Pedro, the guy whose land we stayed on, gave Errol the horse. Errol named him Renegade and was a wild rider, bareback always, with just a rope around the muzzle. Not my cup of tea, having grown up riding English saddle with all the appropriate gear. Pedro gave me a saddle but no bridle or anything just the rope. Since the horses were as mellow as Pedro, only problem I usually had was to get a horse to move at all.
I have this huge jewelry box, someone gave to Errol and he gave to me. I never thought I would fill it up, but somehow I did over the years. I don't wear jewelry much here, and had no idea what was in it. I sold my good stuff years ago when the economy crashed and gold was valuable. I have a few good things in my box at the bank, the rest, was in here.
Those of you who have read Marie Kondo's book or seen her Netflix show about the magic of tidying up, know that the criteria for what to keep is this: An item must "Spark JOY." I'm using that part of her method here, but not taking it too seriously. Though it is helpful.
The little round box contains a small gold four-leaf clover that someone bestowed on me when I was baptized. The Tiffany thingy and the red box are empty. None of this sparks any joy, so probably should be gone. But at least it's empty all around.
The large chunky necklace was a surprise. No idea where that came from. It may look OK on me, but no sparks of joy are flying. The one next to it I love and wear often. The other things are some pins that can stay and a couple of rings.
The elephant earrings have a story: Errol and Glenn had a small construction business, while I had a good career at UCLA. Sometimes, usually depending on the economy, we had little money. At one such point in time, Errol decided, unbeknownst to me, to take what little money he had left and drive to Las Vegas to see if he could win some more. Most such wild ideas don't end well and this one didn't. So nearly broke, he spent his last money buying those earrings for me. I don't remember if I was angry or not, but I will never part with those elephants, that I know for sure.
I'm packing up some of the things I'm getting rid of and sending them to my great-nieces. They can either wear them or Jackie can play with them, dressing up her Barbies.
The rest goes to our Hospital Guild thrift store in town, where someone else can pay $1.00 and enjoy my old custom jewelry.
Finally, it brought me so much JOY to post again, to visit you, and to hear back from you my dear blogger friends. Buttons and Feral Woman too!! Friends bring more joy than all the stuff one ever will accumulate, for sure.....
