Wednesday 13 November 2013

Candles and Poppies ... Rememberance...


Hello there...

Ooo its feeling really wintry here ... cold and windy with dreary grey skies.

Now .. I know I'm a bit late with this Poppy thing ... but I'm quite pleased with this idea .. so I thought I would share...


 It started off with me being a bit bored one day whilst standing around at work ... waiting for/or hoping for customers. So I found a nice bit of wool and decided to crochet myself a poppy and just pop a donation into the 'Poppy Box'.

The above pic is of my poppy on my furry hat.

I got such a lot of Ooo's and Ahhh's ... could you please make one for me .. so the Thursday before Remembrance Sunday ... I started crocheting like a mad thing.



 I took some wool home with me and thought I really must have everything else I need stashed away ... after all it all about Make Do and Mend!


 And you know what .. I had no black buttons ..
I sell bucketfuls of buttons each week .. I have loads of them at work .. all colours ... all sizes ... buttons that look like Toadstools ..
 but not a black button to be found at home.

So needs must ... I cut um off Hubby P's coat ... small cost to pay for remembering our soldiers who died that we might live in a free world ..


 I got a few made ... and took them to the car boot sale on Sunday ... and I sold them all in no time ... £20 .. all money to the 'Poppy Box'.
It felt nice ... so next year I will start a bit sooner and make a few more.

At home ... time to dig out the Winter Curtains ... I've given up trying to pretend winter's not here yet ... time for the thick velvet curtains.


 They are nice and thick with good linings ... no double glazing here ...


 Whilst I was at it ... washing the lightweight summery curtains and putting them away ... wiping down the window frames ... chasing away the spiders!
I took down my dingly dangly sparkly bits and gave them a wash .... I like all my bits and bobs that reflect the light ... especially when there is not such a lot of it in the wintertime.


 It could be why I so love a little candlelight ..
 I have a little candle on the windowsill and I like to light it in the evening when I have a chance to sit and enjoy its warm bright light.
I light it in remembrance of my loved ones .. 
the ones that have gone ahead of me ...
 I suppose the warmness of the flame reminds me of their warm and gentle love ... I have my memories ... as we all do ...  
thank goodness.



Alongside the candle is this old copper cigar box .... I have had this for years ... I remember as a very small child going with my Dad to a job ... 
At the time he had his own business selling and repairing TVs ..
 I use to go with him on repair jobs and be spoiled rotten by all the old folks ... 
they would feed be cake and sweeties and amuse me whilst Dad fixed their TV.
 One had a Mynah bird that could 'talk' ... don't think I have ever seen a Mynah bird since.

Back to the cigar box .... well one old Gent ... he had come to this country from Jamaica I think .. or that part of the world anyway ...
things were bad .... bit like today 
money was scarce .... poor old chap couldn't pay his bill for the repair of the TV...
So he gave Dad the box ... I remember Mum wasn't too thrilled.

I suspect we too were struggling along financially ... and a cigar box wasn't going to buy us groceries ...
Dad didn't have the business for too long ... he wasn't a business man really ... he went back to working for someone else ...
But he held on to the box ... 

Dad was a nice guy ... when he left us to go ahead he was only in his fifties ... far too young to die.

And so I light my candles ... and  remember my loved ones.


What it it stirs the memories for you?

xx

15 comments:

  1. what beautiful curtains, so elegant!That lovely box holds lots of memories for you, its lovely, i have an old china cat that does it for me,

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    1. Elegant and warm too! Of course they came in a cheapie box fom the carboot .. as one big one I think .. and I cut it up to make two smaller pairs ... elegant and cheap!

      Vicky x

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  2. It's usually music or certain smells that make me remember people and times from the past.
    I love your deep rugged window sills, lovely to display your treasures on.

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    1. Windowsills are only small but make nice little areas to gather a few bits together ...

      Vicky x

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  3. Love the cigar box, and how homely your window looks with the winter curtains and the candle for remembrance.

    I think some of my mum's old glass bowls (she was a terror for breaking china, so not much of that survived!) bring back memories of childhood. Whenever I make a trifle I use her Best Glass Bowl, with the feet, and I am taken back to Sunday teatimes.

    I only have to smell bruised Bracken and I am back in the camps we used to make amongst the bracken.

    Well done with the poppies, and what a great idea. I hope your husband has a set of replacement buttons now!!

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    Replies
    1. I just love trifle .. especially in anice glass dish.
      No .. Hubby P still hasn't any buttons ... its an old coat in the wardrobe .. think I may just 'weigh it in' he hsn't looked at it for months.

      Vicky x

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  4. What a lovely post. A friend made some of those poppies they are indeed popular. I wish I could crochet. I have books from my childhood. They bring back the memories in bucket loads.Or should it be shelves full.

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    1. Isn't it funny how you just have to open a book and read a few lines .. and you remember if you have read it before ... the mind is an amazing thing. .. And the smell of them ... I ahve some from childhood .. school books and I swear they smell of school dinners!

      Vicky x

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  5. Love the poppies too, they look wonderful on a dark background.
    I'm a bit of a sentimental thing. I have bits of furniture that were my mums favourites (not my Dads, but that's another story!) We bought our multifuel stove with money when my mum died, as the years go by it feels nice to light it and feel the warmth, and think of nice memories.- much like lighting your candles.

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  6. What a lovely post. I enjoy having special things around me all the time, in fact everything that we have left holds a memory or two.

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    1. God gives us memories that we may have roses in December ...

      Vicky x (not that I am particularly Godly!)

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  7. Love the poppies. What a great idea.
    I have many special things around me. In my 'work room' I have a bunch of flowers made from sweetie papers and wire, made for me by DD.
    Love from Mum
    xx

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    1. Ooo the flowers sound fab ... you will have to show us a pic.... everlasting flowers ... what a good idea.

      Vicky

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  8. Lovely thought provoking post. I crocheted Poppies at the last hour too all 10 of them after I had made a good donation to the Poppy Appeal. I will start early next year and make some to sell for the appeal. You have a whole year to be on the look out for suitable black buttons:-)

    My grandma's green fluted glass dish always comes to mind if I open a tin of pears or a tin of salmon, she always used this dish for one or the other for Sunday tea. The pears were always served with Carnation milk and bread and butter the salty thick dark yellow kind, the salmon was broken down and seasoned with salt and vinegar. Sadly this dish is long gone but the memories will be there forever. xx

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  9. yes yes .... my Grandparent too ... although it was often tinned fruit salad with bread and butter (and carnation milk) ... and the tinned salmon ... like you say .. no one today would dream of eating like this.
    mind you .. I can't afford tinned salmon these days ... shame ..I do love it with lots of vinegar.

    Vicky x

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