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Dear Reader,
Whenever I want to get in touch with my past I visit antique stores. As I'm walking through the different sellers' booths, I find myself thinking, 'Oh, I remember that.' Browsing in antique stores triggers wonderful memories from days gone by.
The red-and-white flowered, tin bread box in front of me, it's just like the one that used to sit on our kitchen counter when I was a kid. See that black poodle over there with the gold chain on it? My Grandma Tindell collected poodle figurines. The black poodle with the gold chain sat on a white doily on top of Grandma's television set--I wasn't allowed to touch it. There's a set of dishes in booth Number 5 that look like the ones we used when I grew up. (I had to wash those dishes every night before I could go over to the neighbors and play ball.) When I was a kid, they were just dishes, no big deal. Now they bring me comfort.
Oh my, look at that slightly rusted wringer washing machine. I can see Grandma Hale in her basement doing the laundry, holding a wooden stick in her hand to help push the clothes through two wringers that clamped down tight on top of the machine. "Keep your fingers away from there Suzanne, or they'll get caught in the wringer," Grandma warned, "Always use the stick."
My husband is amazed at all of the things I recognize and the memories that come flooding back when we walk through an antique store together. He says he must have had a deprived childhood, because when we're "antiquing" together and I say for the tenth time, "Oh, we used to have that," or "Grandma used to have one of those," my husband can't understand it. He doesn't see anything that reminds him of his childhood.
It's even more amazing what those familiar things from my past would cost now if I wanted to purchase them. Jewelry boxes, princess style phones, shoe racks, and a Barbie's pink convertible car--which come to think of it, is still a sore spot with me. My mother used green stamps to get me a Barbie car, but she wouldn't go to the store and buy a Barbie doll to ride in it. Now explain to me, what good is a Barbie car with a stuffed bunny riding around in it?
I may be 64 years old, but it's still not too late to buy a Barbie. This girl's going to the toy store to get her own Barbie, and then I'm heading back to the antique store to buy that pink Barbie convertible.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
** AUTHORBUZZ **
THE GARDEN OF BLUE ROSES (Thriller) by Michael Barsa
Milo is wary when his sister Klara hires a gardener for their run-down estate. The man is eerily reminiscent of the villain in
their father's most famous horror novel. Can it be? Milo's not sure. Then the gardener uncovers something startling in the woods.
Go to: AUTHORBUZZ click on THE GARDEN OF BLUE ROSES to read more and to email author Michael Barsa, you'll get a reply.
* This month's Penguin Classics book is AMIABLE WITH BIG TEETH, by Claude McKay. I have a Penguin totebag to share with a lucky reader. Start reading this month's Penguin Classics book by clicking this link, and enter-to-win for your chance to win the adorable totebag.
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