A little bit of the past

Do you  enjoy things from the past?  Stories, music, collectibles??  Sometimes we acquire things that hold a special place in our heart.

Years ago my hubby and I would drive up to Cedar Key, a little fishing village on the Florida Gulf coast.  My hubby had been going there since he was a teen.  His Dad knew a family that lived there and would drive up every year to hunt in the deep wild woods.  The family lived in an old clapboard house. A typical Florida wood home with just four rooms, windows on all sides to let the breeze pass through.  By the time I came around, Mrs Dorsett and her disabled son had been moved into a trailer just a few yards from the old homestead.

We would often grab a bite to eat at one of Cedar Keys famous seafood restaurants.  We would always try to stop in and have a little visit with Mrs Dorsett and her son, Alf.  She would welcome us in and Alf would tell all his latest news.  Mrs Dorsett had grown up in Cedar Key and would update us on her two spinster sisters who still lived in the "big" house down by the water.  At that time they were well into their 90's.

There were stories about the pencil factory that gave Cedar Key its means of work for those who lived there.  There were lots of headstones at the old cemetery dating back from the 1800's.  There also used to be an annual pine sapping and we often found old clay pots that were used to catch the sap from the trees.

Once Mrs Dorsett asked my hubby to look for something out in her "barn". While he was rummaging through there, he came across this old piece of furniture.

 
 Now mind you, it did not look at all like this.  It was painted with a milk paint and the screens were all torn.  But we asked about it and Mrs. Dorsett said if we wanted it we could have that old thing.  She told us it had been a wedding present when she got married.  But she wanted us to know that "it had been used" when it was given to her!  She had married quite young (maybe 15) to the older Mr. Dorsett.  She was in her early 80's when I met her and that's been almost 40 years ago.



My dear hubby and a carpenter friend took this old pie safe apart, stripped down the milk paint and sanded, sanded, sanded.  The front is a beautiful oak, but the backboad is pine.  We were told that many of the older pieces of furniture used cheaper cuts of wood on the backs.

I have so loved and enjoyed this Pie Safe over the years.  It has held teacups, china dishes and even my quilts.

There is a story behind every old thing I own.  It reminds me of people and places.  It's like stepping back to a simpler time.  Sitting on the front porch, sitting in a rocking chair and sipping a cool glass of lemonade as you say "hey" to your neighbor as they pass by.

 "While friends are near us, we feel that all is well.  Our everyday life blossoms suddenly into bright possibilities."  Helen Keller

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