Monday, May 11, 2015

Mother's Day and Family Treasures

I finished this today, one day late for Mother's Day. There is a back story, of course. Years ago, when I was, maybe 9 or 10 years old, my mother announced that she was getting "The Spice Rack". She was very excited. It seems the rack belonged to an aunt and Mom was promised that it would go to her upon the aunts passing. When she brought it home, my dad mounted it to the kitchen wall, where it hung until 1971. That's when the story takes a tragic turn. 1971 was the year of the Sylmar earthquake. The spice rack did not fare well. Most of the jars fell and were shattered into hundreds of pieces. Mom was devastated. She had only a few prized possessions and it was, probably, at the top of the list. When she died in 1996, I was given many of her belongings. I didn't realize that a few jars survived. She had, carefully, wrapped them up and put them in a box. Now we fast forward to the 21st Century. I was able to go online and after several years of searching, I found a few, matching, jars. I now had enough to arrange them in a symmetrical, balanced display. Originally, there were quite a few more jars, perhaps 10 or 12 of the large ones and 16 or 18 of the small ones. Knowing that finding more was going to be difficult, I used what I had. Some, notably, the oil and vinegar bottles are chipped. I'll think of them as battle scars. I made up this shelf to display them. They will also hang in our kitchen. This time, I will use liberal amounts of museum putty to secure them to the shelf so, when the "Big One" hits, they will stand a chance of surviving. I wish I had been able to do this while she was still alive but I'm sure she would love it

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