Another Birthday . . .

This past 14^th of July was my birthday. As for my age, I agree with Mark Twain: “Age is a matter of mind; if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” With that said, I would like to share my birthday with you.

The three of us; Charlie, Tiffeni and me, took a ride to Irvington, a tidewater town in Virginia. It took us a little over an hour to get there, driving on many country roads and crossing three rivers: The York, The Piankatank and The Rappahannock, as we navigated the way to our destination: lunch at the Tides Inn.

Last time we were there was in 2007 when Charlie was 7 years old. He actually recalled the place and had a great time visiting. What he remembered most was the 127 foot yacht that was built in 1926, The Miss Ann. When we were there, we went on the Miss Ann and Charlie was able to steer the ship’s wheel, with help from Capt’n Ken, of course. In the early days, the guests at the Inn registered to take a three hour luncheon or dinner cruise. On Saturdays they might sign up for a “whiskey run” to another town called Urbana. Tide’s Inn was in a dry county, Urbana was not. Which leads me to what I remembered most of our first visit; the unique wall of little wood doors with keyholes and plaques with numbers.   

In the early days, due to local liquor laws the restaurant and hotel were not able to sell alcohol to guests. However, because private clubs were not bound by the same constraints, the Chesapeake Club was formed, a name still used by the hotel. Yachtsmen and local patrons were invited to join and paid a nominal yearly due. Transient guests could join during their stay for $1 extra per day. Inside these tiny liquor lockers was enough room for a couple bottles of booze. Today, most of the doors don’t open. The one I was able to open had a box of straws in it. FUN! After a lovely lunch we walked around the property. The day was hot, so we left and continued on our journey, stopping at the Steamboat Museum. Again, Charlie couldn’t resist turning the ships’ wheel.

Then we went to the Kilmarnock Antique Galley. Like most of these emporiums, it was chockfull of objects to peruse. I appreciate the effort taken by those who manage these places and how the vendors who supply the merchandise organize and display their wares. However, I can’t help but feel sad at the memories lost by the family or individual who gave up their heirlooms and the memories therein. Nevertheless, I feel proud of my Family Museum and of having the foresight to hold onto and protect and display my family heritage. Hopefully, others will do the same.

Back on the road and crossing this very long and high Norris bridge; 350 ft. high, then onto home.


We had a quite family dinner and then I was presented with an ice cream cake and presents. Perhaps some of these presents will go into the Family Museum and years later, I can appreciate that day and time again.
Age, it really doesn’t matter!   

Birthdays . . .

Last week Thursday was my birthday. I always said that someday I would go to Paris to celebrate my day because they have fireworks and more, commemorating Bastille Day. But alas, I did not go to Paris, but I had a love time celebrating my day with my family and friends. We went out to dinner and while waiting for our food, I opened my presents. Lots of books, including this cook book. Can’t wait to try out the new recipes.

So what do birthdays have to do with a Family Museum? Plenty! When I look into our museum, I see a few precious birthday present’s given to me. It really is a wonder that I still have them.  Here is one of the earliest pictures of me sitting at the head of the table for my third birthday. There is another picture of the part and I am holding a white stuffed kitty, but this critter is long gone.

As I grew older I guess jewelry was the gift to give, so I received a blue rhinestone pin of a ballerina, and charm bracelet spelling out July, and a watch. All of these pieces are in a shadow bow with an assortment of trinkets.  

 I loved paper dolls and the Lennon Sisters were my favorite; 4 dolls and lots of clothes kept me entertained for hours. I love Nancy Drew Mysteries and when I was about 12 year old, was given my first book. Now I have a good collections of her books, movies, even a jigsaw puzzle.  That was a real challenge.

Talking about challenges, the hardest one I have had is coping with the far-to early passing of my dear friend Barbie, who would have been 57 years today. So I take a moment on this day to send her a birthday wish, hoping that she is at peace.

And as a tribute to her, Barbie was with me when I went up into my attic to find all the boxed stuff that eventually made it into our Family Museum. When she asked me what was I going to do with all that stuff, I jokingly said, “Maybe I should put together a family museum.” The rest is history, our history, and you and your family should be saving and displaying your history, too.

Birthdays in the Family Museum

Today is my daughter’s birthday.

We are going to celebrate it with all the traditional features: Birthday cake – she made a wonderful gluten-free Hummingbird cake (Southern recipe) and put as many candles as the cake could accommodate, however, we ran out of candles. Beautifully wrapped presents have been sitting on the dining room table, all with little clues as to what is in the package. Our family started putting clues on our Christmas presents and because they are so much fun to write and figure out, it adds another dimension of anticipation. For dinner, her father is going to grill some spare ribs. During cocktail time, she will open her gifts. Then we will have dinner and watch Dancing with the Stars, one of our favorite TV shows. Then we will light the candles, sing Happy Birthday and devour the cake. It will be another fabulous birthday and we hope to be able to celebrate every one of her birthdays.

So how do birthdays relate to a Family Museum? It is a great place to display and protect as many past birthday presents everyone received. Like most things that sadly disappear over the years, presents; birthday, holiday, Mother/Father Day gifts, graduation gifts, etc., are victims of taped-up boxes, given away and tragically trashed. My family is just as guilty for disposing things that we should not have.

But we did save quite a few, so here are some pics of some of those wonderful gifts that survive today and hopefully will be given as presents again.

Sesame Street just came on television, so when I found these adorable toys, Tiffeni played with them for years. The Playmobile dollhouse was a great gift and she played with it, adding floors and furniture. When Little House on the Prairie was all the rage, I found these little rag dolls that proudly grace Tiffeni's side of the museum.

So when you receive a birthday gift and any other gift and you don’t want it or use it anymore, don’t get rid of it. Keep it in your Family Museum as a reminder of happy times.

Holidays

Adding to the past posts about Mother’s Day & Father’s Day, and The Fourth of July, Birthdays are personal holidays deserving recognition. Therefore, today’s post is about my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIZ!

So what does a birthday have to do with a family museum? Everything! Such as? You may ask. The place to save and display all the gifts, keepsakes, cards and such that you and your family members have received for their birthdays.

Perusing our museum, I was amiss at finding out that there were not many things saved from my past birthdays. I couldn’t even begin to recall the gifts I received from only a few years ago, nevertheless 40 years ago. However, there were all those greeting cards saved, so I took out my card box and picked out a few.

 

 

 Sadly, there were no cards saved from my childhood.   

The oldest card was from my parents given to me 44 years ago. I turned twenty that year, was a new bride and mother. I guess that was enough to garner a card-full of emotional sentiment.

Two cards from my daughter, Tiffeni. The tiger card was dated 1993 telling me that I was one terrific tiger and a note about a trip to Chicago. The card with the cat in the glass dated 2000 had a really great quote. “Age is a matter of mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!” The card with the cat licking her chops was from a dear friend who shares my Chinese zodiac sign. What I find most interesting about these cards is their common denominator . . . CATS! It’s really great to know that my friends and family see me the same way. Hmmmmm.

As for birthday gifts, every birthday from ages 10 to 14, I received a Barbie doll or clothes. I had amassed quite a collection by time I became of that age when I was told to put my dolls away. And away they went for 50 years. Can you believe that!

A piece of jewelry was always a gift. What was saved I gathered and displayed in a shadow box along with other miscellaneous bubbles. The shadow box is available at http://www.michaels.com. The blue rhinestone ballerina was one of my favorite pins. I wore it often. The baby bracelet with charms spelling out my birthday month of July and a baby ring of a duck I can’t recall wearing them nor how they even got saved. The other pieces I will explain later. They all have their own stories to tell.   

So, today is my birthday. I will spending it with hubby Keith, Tiffeni & Charlie. There are many presents on the dining room table waiting for me to open. And you can be assured that I will save them all and put them in our family museum.

 

Note: The birthday cake art piece is compliments of Google. Thank you Google.