Precious things

(Before I begin I'll start with an apology for the one appalling picture- it snowed, it didn't get light, I was rushing....enough. Sorry)

Every now and then I like to step back into my old life.

By that I mean I take a trip through memories that don’t surface very often. I have, ahem, several memory boxes. I remember seeing Anthea Turner (Perfect housewife – does anyone remember that? Grief I didn’t know whether it was aspirational or a comedy programme…probably a bit of both for me) suggest that in order to minimise clutter in your home you should have one small box for memories. 

Ahahahahahahahahaha….if only…

So now I have several, smallish, boxes. (Pictured is just one stash of boxes- don't look in the loft)

Cards, letters, tickets, pictures, receipts (yes receipts!!) …you name it it’s in there. All telling a story of a day or a time that was and still is, important to me.

Now my latest addition to the box pile is possibly my most precious…it’s the boxes full of my children’s drawings. How do you know which to keep or not? Big R is a prolific artist and scribe. This has only been enhanced since she started school. Now LittleR is following in her footsteps. What to do with it all? Every now and then I have a cull but it makes me feel guilty…but when we’re getting through a ream of paper every month …

Included in these boxes are something that won’t be culled. The girls’ wristbands from their births. My Mum still has mine and my brothers…truly a precious thing.

You can read about more precious things from

Sarah at Mitenska

Leanne at Today’s Stuff

Bea at the Linen Cloud

CJ at Above the River

Precious things (4)

Although this is a physical object the precious thing contained within is not. I love all types of glass. This is not really very useful with two small children around the house. We should invest in some very high up shelves, especially now LittleR is perfecting her skills as a mountaineer.

That aside, I still love glass. This glass bottle was sent to me by a very close friend. She moved to New Zealand 10 years ago. I have no idea where all that time has gone. In the most recent of times our phone calls have dwindled. It’s hard to keep that connection when there’s a 13 hour time difference and you have so much happening in your life; me managing family and work  and she managing building her own home.

Our friendship is more than phone calls though. I know that if I needed her at any moment to listen or to vent to, she’d be there. Contained within that bottle is our distilled friendship. Last month, Sarah talked of transient treasures, which made me think. This precious thing cannot be seen but is there. She’s often in my thoughts and every time I pass the front door, in or out of the house, I see the bottle and think of her and her friendship.

You can see others’ precious things here:

Sarah at Mitenska

Leanne at Today’s Stuff

Bee at The Linen Cloud

Precious things (3)

Once upon a time I went through a period of illness. It was a very long time ago. Even now though, moments of that experience stay with me and very occasionally I think back to that time and how it partly moulded me into the person I am now.

During that time when I thought all the things that I have subsequently achieved were unlikely to happen I was given a stone…a small piece of green adventurine by a good friend who’d just gone to Uni. I carried that stone me with for ages and collected a few more along the way. In theory, adventurine is a stone that brings good luck – I guess it did for me. Every type of stone has a meaning – you can see what they mean here.

I chose most of mine for their colours and the way they felt in my hand rather than for their meaning.

Interestingly, when I was pregnant with both my girls I felt drawn to seek out my stones again and carried a piece of rose quartz in my bag. Rose quartz is a stone of unconditional love.

Every now and again I seek out my stones, for me they are a precious thing.

You can see others’ precious things here:

Sarah at Mitenska

Leanne at Today’s Stuff

Bee at The Linen Cloud

Precious Things (2)

I love stationery and the associated bits and bobs. I’m not really fussy, a beautifully fabric covered notebook, or a moleskine or even a plain Staples exercise book will do the trick…

One of the things I love about stationery are the pens or, more specifically, Fountain pens. I love the idea of the ink, the sound of the nib on the paper. The colours of ink available...I flirted with purple and turquoise and green.

My first fountain pen was bought by my Grandparents when I started Secondary school. It was a plain Parker fountain pen that could take ink cartridges or be used with an ink filler and a bottle of ink (not recommended for a clumsy 11 year old). You were expected to write in pen now not in pencil as you’re ‘grown up’ (times have changed they are encouraging children in BigR's school to use pens so they don’t have to press as hard to make a mark as you would with a pencil!). 

This pen saw me through my GCSEs and my A-Levels. Came to Uni with me and through my PhD. I had the nib and barrel replaced about 2 years ago when it had to be sent to the pen museum (oh the shame) for replacement parts (OK, it is 30 years old).

So when I finished my PhD, I was surprised but so pleased to be given a pen and pencil set by my PhD supervisor. This is the grown up Fountain pen – it signed the papers for our house, it signed my lectureship job contract, it’s signed hundreds of Christmas cards from us both not just me. 

Although on a daily basis I’m using whatever lidless ball point pen I happen to have at the bottom of my handbag, I love both my pens.

I‘m still using cartridges though - more than a bit clumsy at 41 too!

Joining in with:

Sarah at Mitenska

Leanne at Today’s Stuff

Bee at The Linen Cloud

You’ll find their Precious Things there.

Precious things

I’m delighted and really exited to have been asked by Sarah at Mitenska to become part of this blogging collaboration. Sarah asked what are our precious things? What would we save from a burning building? It’s really made me think about the things I have and what I would miss. Perhaps things I see and use every day and yet don’t always register.

This small postcard sized ink drawing in its dusty (and cheap) frame is my first item. It sits amongst the toys on our living room fireplace. It was one of many pictures that sat on the hearth, initially to cover the horrendous fireplace (we changed that) but we’re now down to two. It’s an ink drawing street in Monmartre at night with the Sacre Coeur in the background. I bought this in 1998 when I went to a conference in Paris.

This was a significant trip for me, although at the time it didn’t feel like it. It was the first time I’d travelled alone. It was the first time I explored a city alone and entirely able to do as I pleased. It was the first time I’d had to present and defend my work to a (pretty big – eek) audience. I walked and walked and walked and walked. Along the Seine. Through Monmartre. Around La Defense. I went to the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay. I ate steak and chips alone in a restaurant served by a surly Parisian waiter. It wasn’t the romantic trip lots of people have to Paris. It was an international conference on obesity and my head was full of genetics and the work presented there was a chapter in my thesis. It was when I felt like a real academic. When I felt that I was contributing to the world and I wanted to remember this. I looked at the pictures the artists had on display on the streets, thinking I’d like to take a little piece of this with me. It took me ages to decide which to have. Something about this one, drawn and coloured on a piece of brown paper, spoke to me. Now it reminds me of a time when my work was most important, when the Rs weren’t even considered and when I was building up to be who I am now.

Joining in with

Sarah at Mitenska

Leanne at Today’s Stuff

Bee at The Linen Cloud

You’ll find their Precious Things there.