I missed out on the last few prompts on "The Sunday Creative", mostly due to my lack of creativity and time. However, this week I really wanted to try to think of something. So, I continued to think of an idea while I went on with my daily routines and worked on my various projects. I just couldn't come up with an idea I was happy with, my creative juices just haven't been flowing like they should. Then yesterday, while the boys were napping I started to search for something to use for my picture of the day. I sat outside and patiently waited for some dragonflies to land on a near by plant again, but they never did. Then I went in search for flowers, luckily the tiny yellow flowers in my flower bed have some how figured out how to beat the crazy heat. I got a few shots of my flowers and also tried out using a background behind them instead of the natural background, they turned out ok, but, I'd like to keep experimenting more with the background. After going back inside, the boys were still asleep and I had to time to take more pictures. While searching for a subjects, my eyes found my Nannie's (my great grandma's) teapot. Then an idea sparked and I was digging through old jewelry boxes in search of my other great grandma's pearls. Pearls and china what is more traditional/classic than that?
After taking my shots I put them on my computer to view them and started thinking about the word traditional and it's relation to my pictures...Pearls and china are traditional, but THESE specific pearls and pieces of china speak tradition to me in many other ways. The actual items themselves are not part of my memories or traditions...they are just the pieces of property that were handed down to me after my great grandmothers passed aways. It's the women who use to own them that speak the word tradition to me.
The China: Sunday drives after church to visit my Nannie and Poppie are a very prominent childhood memories. Laying on her lap while she scratched my back. How soft, bright and breezy her living room was during the day. The little notes she sent me while I was off at college. The joy I felt that she was able to see our first born grow well into his first year and how blessed we were to have five generations. Her beans, her cornbread, all those little plastic bags she saved, oh and her roast! Her hair, the stockings she always wore, the house shoes she left by the front door that never stepped foot outside. These are the many memories and the little traditional things about my Nannie, Betty Jo, that wonder around my mind and resurface when I look at the things I have that once belonged to her.
The pearls: Laying in the floor watching afternoon game shows with my Great Grandma Marcie is one of my biggest childhood memories of her. I don't know if I remember her ever wearing these pearls, at least not when I was around, but she did always have a necklace and matching earrings on. I do remember the walks to convenient store down the block with my cousin and her letting us buy those candy cigarettes (remember those?), I remember sitting on her front porch covered with the fake green grass and aluminum chairs. I remember her house and the mermaids in the bathroom and no slip decals in the tub. I remember feeling the rooms always seemed a little mysterious, but yet I felt comfortable. I remember the metal address book and running the slider up and down the capitalized letters. I remember my grandma quiet, tall, thin, and frail looking, but yet she always seemed to portray quiet strength.
I don't remember this china ever being used or seeing these pearls worn by my grandma, but, I remember the women. These are the piece that were given to me, that they wanted me to have and that I cherish because of the memories they hold when I think of the women who owned them. Maybe I can pass them down to my boys and hopefully they will keep the tradition and keep them in the family.
