morning thoughts

Having been a voracious sleeper (is that an oxymoron?) all my life, now in my later years I find that I often wake up early, before my alarm goes off.     Usually I just get up, and (you know…) then go back to sleep for an hour or so.        But I have always considered the early rising mornings to be sort of a gift of free time.

This morning it was not quite light yet, the shade still drawn, and it was just six o’clock when my eyes adjusted enough to make out the “6”  on the digital read-out….I lay there and think for varying lengths of time during this free time.   Five is a bit too early, but with the digital it is sometimes not clear if the digit is a 5 or a 6.    My eyesight isn’t what it used to be…or, more accurately…my eyesight never has been that great without glasses.    So while deciding what hour it was, my mind seized the opportunity to do some creative thinking.

The Holidays.   We always have Christmas whenever we can get the most possible number of family there.    With shift-workers…nurses and power company and assorted grandkids with in-law families of their own, it has always been a challenge to arrive at a mutually available date.       So we have  had the December 25 holiday wing-ding as early as the 4th or as late as the 22nd.

Gifts.    This year I did not crochet scarves…not even one…or my version of a hat.    Since I have been busy with my ebay business and online book sales…and an unusual array of doctor visits and insurance company callers and the bank…as well as spending one whole day on helping my son bake cookies (which involved an emergency run to Walmart to buy a new hand mixer)  —something I rarely do now, although back in the day (way back, I did a lot of baking.)  I have fallen behind on my blog…much to the dismay of all two of my followers.

So my extra free hour this morning was spent thinking about gifts for the kids and grandkids (and their kids.)    Since I don’t have any money, which is pretty much my regular lot in life, and because of my sentimental bone that has been bugging me about thinking about what to do with the stuff I have inherited, and/or acquired over the years.

It is time for me to think seriously about disposal of my accumulated treasures after I (well, die.)     Let’s see… there is the assortment of things, mostly china, from my grandmother.    Anything from my grandmother is sacrosanct….I have little notes inside bowls and jars and vases that say “do not sell, give away to non-descendants, or otherwise dispose of this or any other item that was Grandma Piper’s.    Trust me…I will haunt you.”  This includes Grandma’s colander, flour sifter, rolling pin, and easy-release cake pans.

Then there is My Treasure Trove.  Besides assorted rocks that I have collected from every place I have ever been, included miscellaneous McDonald’s parking lots, and a lovely rock brought back by my daughter-in-law from South Africa.      My rocks are really up for grabs…no strings or spells attached.      There is my obsidian frog, from our first trip to Teotihuacan, in Mexico, in 1980.  This frog is unique in the world…as my husband would have attested since he had to accompany me on a subsequent search for an identical (or very near) obsidian frog.    We looked at about twelve million obsidian frogs, but none like mine.   Really.

I have many more treasures in addition to my frog.    At this moment, however, there is no equal that I can think of.

Also among my treasures are at least a thousand books “of my own collection,” which does not include sales inventory.     One of my grand-daughters has already spoken for my books…which truly takes a big load off my mind.

Personal treasures are so subjective, aren’t they?  Is that redundant?    I admit to having the usual collection of items given me by my late husband, one of my kids, grandkids, or their kids… including a pine cone with yarn on it (as proclaimed by my little granddaughter about thirty years ago.)    I thought it was supposed to be a decorated tree, but what did I know?    Also, in keeping with my Christmas theme, I treasure the ornament my little son made me one year…its a plastic bell decorated with pipe cleaners and construction paper, which I call the “German soldier.”  (Yes, it does defy logic.)

Any item that captures my fancy may make its way into my collection.   This includes “the Nickel Bowl,” acquired at a yard sale and to this day treasured for holding gravy.

So much for my on-going treasure hunt.