Mystery Keys

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. This week’s prompt: Key

 

Twenty years ago, my husband and I cleared out my in-laws’ home, barn and workshop – to prepare the property for sale. It was a long, labor intensive and sometimes emotionally exhausting process. The home and out-buildings were at least 60 years old, predating my in-laws’ ownership.

The workshop (or “shop” as they called it) was attached to the old style garage and contained all my father-in-law’s tools. As well as the freezer that held blueberries & strawberries left over from his massive summer gardens. That my mother-in-law had prepared and labeled in identical plastic storage containers. Neatly stacked and ready for her cobblers and pies.

My father-in-law was not one for organization. And the shop was no exception. Tools were mixed in with nuts, bolts and nails. Stored in rusty coffee cans and mayonnaise jars on a long homemade wooden workbench. Stacks of ancient National Geographic magazines grew musty inside an old cabinet. Dozens of hammers, screwdrivers and wrenches hung on a pegboard attached to wall studs. Lumber scraps were stacked along one wall…covered with cobwebs. Right next to 3 metal garbage cans.

We found new homes for most of these treasures, but a ring of skeleton keys caught my husband’s eye. He had no idea where they came from or why his dad kept them.

But we both agreed they were very cool.

keys one

We never found anything on the property with locks that fit.

However, we held on to them…just in case.

keys two

In the meantime…the mystery continues.

Lock

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Lock

 

As I was visiting my daughter this week, I noticed my old black trunk nestled in the corner of her dining room. Topped with my grandson’s toy trucks parked in a neat row along one edge.

I had filled that trunk with bell bottoms and books to bring to college. To my first apartment. To my internship. Often covered with a cloth and used as a coffee table. A bench. A shelf.

It came with me to the home where I raised my children. Where it was stored in the basement for years.

I passed it down to my daughter when she went to college. And she has been using it ever since. Its lock is now loose. The key…probably long gone. Not really necessary anyway.

The mechanism…barely holding on.

Lock

 

Now an antique…
…but what tales it could tell.

Overhead

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Overhead

 

During a recent visit to the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester, NH, I noticed this steel sculpture next to the front entrance.

Its moving parts caught my attention in the slight breeze…

overhead 2

as I stood underneath to catch them in motion…

overhead 1

 

steel art
Side View
info sign
Sculpture Artist

Rectangles

Inspired by the Dutch goes the Photo Challenge: Rectangles

 

One winter day, I was enjoying several hours visiting the “Ansel Adams in Our Time” exhibit at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Along with my husband and two dear friends.

Taking a break at the museum’s cafe…a hot cup of tea in hand…I looked up and was treated to…a ceiling view deserving of its own exhibit.

rectangle ceiling

 

 

 

 

Sculpture

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt:  Sculpture

 

During my visit to the Shelburne Museum (in Shelburne, Vermont) last month, I was blown away by the circus exhibit. Or rather…the entire building full of circus exhibits.

Upon entering the Circus Building, a large glassed-in area displays an entire three-ring circus of tiny hand carved wooden sculptures. The photographs below give just a hint at the genius and beauty of this vast work of art. I highly recommend viewing it in person.

The official description:

The Kirk Brothers Circus is a miniature three-ring circus, complete with an audience, comprised of more than 3,500 pieces. Edgar Kirk fashioned the figures over a period of forty years using only a treadle jigsaw and penknife.

 

circus one

 

circus 3

 

circus two

 

 

Hill

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Hill

 

The hills in San Francisco are daunting…which we discovered during a vacation in 1979.  Cable cars became our preferred method of getting around the city.

Why? They were efficient, fun and fast…

As one hill led to one after the other…

1979 hill030 copy
San Francisco (35mm film)

 

1979 hill029 copy
San Francisco (35mm film)

It sure beat walking!

 

 

Wall

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Wall

 

wall of leaves
Wall of Leaves

 

One November day last year, I caught the last colors of nature…holding on tight… before winter arrived…

…and erased them from the landscape.

 

Outdoors

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: Outdoors

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Tree Farm 2008

 

Outdoors…

Where my family of 4 played, walked, explored, planted, vacationed and amassed countless memories.

We also discovered…it was the only place where you could carefully pick out a Christmas tree.

From many tree options.

And cut it down yourself.

For 28 years we piled into the car and drove the few miles to a local Christmas tree farm. Usually in early December. In later years, when the kids were in college, we went the weekend after Thanksgiving – so they could both participate.

It began with just my husband and me. Then with our daughter. Five years later our son completed the family group. His first visit, at age 4 weeks, was in a front pack I wore close to my chest.

Up and down the paths we’d search. The kids running ahead. Often in different directions (hence no photos from those years)…Here’s one! No, here’s one! Look I found it! What about THIS one?

We hunted for just the right tree. Tall, but not too tall. Wide, but not too wide. No big gaps (or gapes as they used to giggle) between the branches.  We also learned to avoid the blue spruces with their prickly needles. Sometimes it took a while for nature to cooperate with our requirements. And often there was snow to tromp through…adding to the adventure and challenge.

We’d agree – finally – on the perfect (or near perfect) choice. Cut it down. Carefully tie it to the roof of the station wagon. And bring it home.

If we weren’t buying it that day, we attached a tag with our name written on it to the top branch. Nearer to December 25th, we’d return – with our handsaw. And hopefully remember where our tagged tree was!

Once our children stopped coming home for Thanksgiving to participate in the weekend tree tagging, this tradition came to its natural end in 2009 – our last family trip to the tree farm.

 

2004 copy
2004
2003 tree027 copy
2003

 

 

Radiant

This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Radiant

 

Version 2
“Barbra: The Music, The Mem’ries, The Magic”
Boston, MA

 

“The Three B’s”
Bette (Midler), Bonnie (Raitt) and Barbra (Streisand)

My concert bucket list…
For over 30 years.

Bette…check!
Bonnie…check!

The last holdout?
Barbra.
I figured I’d never be able to check her off my list. Sigh.

Why?
She rarely, if ever, toured.
Tickets would be horrendously expensive and impossible to get.

August 16, 2016 changed all that…when I received an early Christmas/Birthday gift from my daughter, son and son-in-law. Thanks to my daughter’s herculean skills at navigating multiple internet browsers. To score tickets. The instant they went on sale.

Floor seats to a Barbra Streisand concert extravaganza in Boston. Complete with a light show beyond anything I had ever seen before. As cliché as it may sound, I was transported by the music, her one-of-a-kind voice, the showstopper after showstopper. Including my favorites – which was just about the entire set list – the super fan that I am.

Radiance on all levels.

One of my all time bucket list dreams finally came true.

Check!

Trail

This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Trail

One year ago, my daughter, son-in-law and 2 year old grandson came to visit. Grampa and I babysat for two days while his parents went to a wedding.

Perhaps babysat is not the most accurate term. Very little sitting took place.

A walking trail encircles our condo building. The builder never finished grading it properly…forcing us over-55s to step carefully along the uneven gravel surface.

However…the two year old dynamo in the Washington Nationals baseball cap had no trouble at all. With only one year of walking experience under his non-existent belt, he was fearless.

And fast.

June 2018 trail

Grampa, on the other hand, had to pick up the pace to keep up.