Nan's 'treasures'

Once again thank you all for your very kind comments.  I feel blessed that you take time from your schedules to read and comment on my blog.  You're all wondrous beings!

A few weeks ago, I spent the evening with my dear ole Mum.  We had a great time looking through some old boxes of papers and items salvaged from my Nan's house when we cleared it.   Poor Mum.  She's had a real rough time of it lately.  My brother has been going through an extremely messy divorce and has had to take some tough decisions, I have experienced my bout of ill health, and, whilst I was in hospital her beloved dog became very ill and had to be put down last Wednesday leaving her devastated.  It has been a very trying time for her and, as she worries for England even when there is nothing to worry about, you can imagine how difficult this last few months have been for her.   Love you Mum - hopefully these next few months will bring less trying times for us all now.

But I digress..... back to the subject in hand.

Nan wasn't a hoarder as such, but she loved to keep mementos of things dear to her.  We rifled through her Father's (my great grandad's) discharge papers, birth and marriage certificates from ancestors who have long departed, a lined exercise book filled with neatly copied favourite poetry which begins as very precise and neatly scribed handwriting and, rather poignantly, ends with the spidery faint scrawl of an elderly hand.

I was fascinated by these postcards which were sent by the Salvation Army to my Mum for her early birthdays.  The colours are still very strong some 70 years later.

Such a sweet little face!

Shaped ones too! 

Bizarrely - an unopened packet of my Grandpa's Woodbines!  The last packet purchased before he passed away some 30 odd years ago!

I remember seeing the little horse from the pattern made up out of scrap fabric many years ago.  I wonder what happened to him?!  The pattern pieces are all still intact, neatly folded inside the envelope.

This old shopping receipt is great!  Look at how much you got for your money in 1928!  Butter, belly draft, cheese, sugar, tea, Rinso!

'Blue' for the washing, 'Lead' for the grate.
2oz of Pepper!

And note the foot note at the bottom of the bill!

Check out these old silk handkerchiefs.  

I doubt that she ever blew her nose on Queen Liz!

I remember this one being safety pinned around her purse - for what reason I shall never know!

There were lots more 'treasures' in the box - I'll try to post more soon!