Keepsakes and Remembering

This blog post was inspired by one of this week's Life Book lessons. The lesson is about making a Prayer Altar of some sort - it could be about family, or to set your intentions, or about anything special in your life. Not really my sort of thing, BUT... today I was dusting and realised that I already have a sort of family altar set up in my living room.

On the shelves of a large wall unit are photos and keepsakes going back as far as 1888. Across three shelves, I have photos, hand-painted china, shells, a music box, my great-grandmother's photo album and a set of encyclopedias from my father's childhood. In other areas of the house, I have wooden and papier-mache boxes, several candlesticks, and yet more photos.

Plus I have lots of "stuff" from my travels around Australia and the world - keepsakes and photos scrapbooked into albums. I have rocks collected along the way, a piece of pottery, a bullet casing (from when I got to shoot an AK47!), books, ornaments and lots of tourist paraphernalia collected on my travels.

In these days of minimalism and de-cluttering we often forget that keepsakes are a way back to the past, to honour our ancestors and are a great memory jogger for family get-togethers. I can't tell you how often my great-grandmother Montagnat's photo album has been pored over by cousins and aunties; or how often I have been asked about different keepsakes around my house. 

My home is certainly NOT minimalist and I love having these objects around me - reminding me of my parents, grandparents, and other relatives whose stories I have been told. While you don't have to go overboard, it is nice to have a few things to display like family photos or other memorabilia - that way when something catches your eye you get that nice, warm remembering feeling.

Stuck to my computer desk with a bit of washi tape is a picture of my Mum - leftover from a Documented Life project in 2015. It's not much, but it is  nice photo of her and I often look at it, smile back at her and say hello. I don't see it every day, but when I do it makes me happy.



Some of my memorabilia


Cup & saucer painted in 1888 by my mother's great uncle, Poppy vase painted by my mother, music box with dancing dolly from my great aunt, glass cup from my great uncle, wooden cigarette holder belonging to my Dad

Photos of both my nephews with their father's baby photo behind. Photos of my niece, my parent's wedding, my Nana in her best coat. Shells, pincushion & candlestick in front.

In pride of place on one wall is a large (20" x 24") portrait of my Nana and her two sisters taken around 1900. The rather solemn girl to my right is my Nana Eileen, the middle girl is my great-aunt Margarita (Rita), and the cutie on my left is great-aunt Angela (Angie). As we have a couple of picture framers in the family, I am assuming that the frame was made by a relative.

Footnote

Quite coincidentally, my sister-in-law has to go to the cemetery where my parents are buried and rang today needing a lift (she has busted a couple of bones in her wrist & cannot drive). So tomorrow, while Cheryl discusses recovering her father's ashes, I will make a visit to Mum & Dad, as well as Auntie Angie (music box) & Uncle Jim (glass cup) who are buried nearby. And I will probably say a prayer while I am there!

First Week of Life Book 2019

I am absolutely blown away by what is on offer in the first week of Life Book 2019. I haven’t set paintbrush to paper yet, but I’ve watched the warm-up painting videos, watched Sarah Trumpp’s art (but not the yoga yet), looked at both of Andy Mason’s offerings, and listened to Tamara LaPorte’s wonderful meditation.

The meditation just blew me away. I did not listen in optimal conditions – I had two noisy neighbours who kept intruding into the soundscape. But I persevered and even though I didn’t really see a symbol on my robe, once I opened the door, I got a big shock. There was my mother welcoming me and I walked into her arms and was enfolded in such warm light and love. It was amazing and totally out of the blue – so nice to sit in her arms for a while - she's been gone for so long.

I already had my word of the year “TROUNCE”. I picked it because it kept coming up in crosswords and puzzles in December. But the visit with Mum, gave me “OPEN HEART” and a symbol I can use. My animal is a “scaredy cat” – this came from an exercise I did as part of Alexa Cohen’s Awakening Through Art.

Then today, I looked at Andy’s videos – they too were a revelation. I loved the concept of the Parental messages and Child feelings that keep us hooked to behaviours or reactions. I will certainly be looking more closely at developing my Adult consciousness to counteract what I think are some 60-year-old hooks. Amazingly, I had recently come to the realisation that some of my problems might be related to a childhood illness and the associated ongoing problems while growing up and even now rearing their ugly head.

But… best of all were the links between my words when I looked at the feelings that they gave me. TROUNCE is about challenge, discovery, freedom, order, space, inspiration. It’s about beating obstacles, pouncing on life and letting the scaredy cat go – with my aim being clear-headedness. OPEN HEART is about acceptance, belonging, community, warmth, inspiration, discovery. It’s about letting things and people in – the aim is to be interested.

So, there are two clear double ups in my needs – inspiration and discovery – both of which I’m sure, will be more than adequately met by Life Book 2019. I am so looking forward to the journey.

Thanks Tamara, Andy and Sarah - I can't wait too see more.

And if you would like to join in, the link below will take you somewhere so you can have a look:

https://www.willowing.org/product/life-book-2019/