Photoessay #81 - Items for the ages

Another blogger Purple Chai was reflecting on items that she has had since she was married 30 years ago. When we were watching the old slides a few days ago, my mother looked at a picture of herself in 1963 and said "I still have that purse". White purse with multi-colored piping, I have vivid memories of it myself.

What about me....and my stuff? I've been married 31 years, do I still have some of the same things? Even though we are TERRIBLE about purchasing consumer items, I was surprised that we don't have much that we had then. My mother in law was an antique and collectible dealer and she often supplied us with furniture. She would say 'I know just what you need right there' and soon she would show up and put it in place. Good thing that I wasn't sensitive about my mother in law rearranging my house. She was MUCH better than I in that sort of thing.

Two things come to mind, still in daily use, that I used the same way in 1976 as I do now.

Item #1 - Checkbook cover. Dennis' friend Doug (who we've lost track of but is likely around) had a brief career as a leather tooler in southern Oregon. He presented me with this hand-tooled checkbook cover around 1975. I still use it, I am rather attached to it. In the photo, it does look pretty worn.

Item #2 - Blanket. My husband's grandfather gave this plaid blanket (whew, those colors, was that the 70s or what?) to him for a birthday present. We've used it our entire marriage. I've sewed the satin binding onto it numerous times, the last time Naomi did it with her sewing machine. It's literally part of the fabric of our life.