Isn't It Good Syroco Wood #CherishedBlogfest

Welcome to my entry to the Cherished Blogfest, a three day event where participants blog about our most cherished item. (A full list of participants can be found here).

My mother has been dead for 50 years.  I was 12 when she passed away suddenly.

One of my most cherished memories was when, as a young child, she allowed me to dust her knickknacks.  We had a steam radiator in our living room and she had had, a great extravagance for her perhaps (my parents were never affluent) a covering built for the radiator.  On either end, she had knickknack shelves.

I would take each knickknack off carefully, dust the shelf, and dust the knickknack.

Fast forward many, many years.

I don't have much that belongs to my mother.  That is why I cherish what I am about to show you as one of my most valued possessions.

Front

Back

It is a set of salt and pepper shakers.  Researching online, I found it is a set of "1940's Syroco Wood" Salt and Pepper shakers.

Reading even further I found out more about "Syroco Wood", which I will save for another blog post.  It was amazing, considering that these items may have been made only around 70 miles from where I have lived for nearly 30 years.  They are cracking, but so far, still all in one piece. I'd love to know how to take good care of them.

I will never know where my Mom picked this item up - perhaps in a souvenir shop in Ohio (in the left back, it looks like "OH 1/49")?  I know my Mom and Dad never had much of a honeymoon but perhaps they made it all the way from New York City to Ohio.

The pieces are cracking but may be in good shape, considering they may have been made sometime between 1949 and ? (I was born in 1952).  They aren't worth much (one Etsy dealer is selling these for $18. U.S.) but I don't care.


To me, they are priceless.

The Cherished Blogfest #CBF16

 Hosted by: Dan Antion / Sharukh Bamboat / Damyanti Biswas / Mary Giese /
Peter Nena / Cheryl Pennington / Kate Powell 

Preparing for a Cherished Blogfest

Tomorrow starts an annual event called the Cherished Blogfest.

Do you have an item you cherish?  Would you like to share it with the world (photo optional) in 500 words or less?  Would you love knowing what your fellow bloggers cherish?

It runs July 29, 30 and 31.  You only need to post on one of those days, and it isn't too late to join in.  I am participating with...well, I am not going to tell you.  I will give you some hints, however.

It won't be about my day lilies.  (you knew I wanted to sneak in one more day lily photo).

Only the foreground.  The neat looking garden in back isn't ours, alas

It won't be about my spouse's vegetable garden.

It won't be about zinnias.  Or about you, my faithful readers.  (I would say "valued readers" but that sounds so - corporate.)  Or my houseplants. Or my piles collections of books.

Steamed clams

It won't be about my spouse's cooking.  Or, for that matter, my spouse.  Or my son.

So what physical possession do I cherish the most?  If I was decluttering, what object would I never get rid of?

You'll just have to come back tomorrow and see.

If you aren't participating, I would be curious:  what object of yours do you cherish the most, and why?