From left to right the first box pictures a piece of
my husband’s grandmother’s “good” china, Havilland & Co. Limoges from
France. At one time I had almost eight
place settings; unfortunately most of the pieces were chipped. I saved a few to decorate with to remind me
of the generous gift from his mother of her mother’s china. Sitting on the plate is an antique china vase,
a gift from long ago from my brother, which is signed by the maker but
unreadable. I have always been drawn to
light, graceful paintings especially those with shades of yellow. A tiny ceramic dish with legs and removable
top holds my P.E.O. pin. The top is
adorned with a marguerite, the organization’s flower. This was a gift from one of my chapters after
serving as president for two years. I
served as president of a chapter seven times; so I’m not sure when or where I
got the box.
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| Helen Halverson |
In front of the box is
another oval-shaped china box, also yellow.
On top is a petit point original needlework designed and made by Helen
Halverson who was a founding member of P.E.O. Chapter AB in Winston-Salem, NC. She gave me two china compotes, this one and another
much larger one upon my leaving North Carolina and moving to Tennessee in
1996. Helen published eighteen books of her
needlepoint creations as well as left all the beautiful creations she herself
made when she passed away in 2013. Next to the plate is a yellow luggage tag I
used when I traveled for P.E.O. while serving on the State Board in the early
90’s.
The yellow bar on the insignia tab
with my Girl Scout pin, First Class Award, World Association Pin, and
membership pin – 25 years and counting signifies that I am a current volunteer
leader. It reminds me that being a
leader now to my granddaughter’s troop is more important than earning my first
class pin, which at the time was the highest award a girl could earn. The yellow lemons in this picture and the
dinner plate in the bottom right picture were part of a collection my
mother-in-law had and which I received when she passed away in 1997. Under all these pictures is a yellow flower
printed cotton napkin which I handstitched along with 49 others in assorted
colors for my son’s wedding rehearsal dinner.
The next picture is one of a water color painting made by Elaine Bryan a friend and artist when I lived in Houston, TX. She had painted a picture of a Brownie Girl Scout which was gift to me from the local GS neighborhood in Kingwood - (999 – girls, yikes) - and I loved it so that when I saw this magnolia at an outdoor arts festival, I bought it.
The top right-hand picture of the three pears is a painting I did with my daughter-in-law Laura and her dear sweet mother Carol Crouch. Laura treated us to wine and art at a studio in Roswell, GA on one of her mother’s visits in 2013.
Underneath the pears is an unfinished patchwork quilt that was made by my husband’s great-grandmother, Annie Ardis Richardson. We were visiting the home of my husband’s grandmother, Rachel Richardson Metcalf in the ‘80’s. She and her twin sister, Leah Richardson Duvall had passed on but Leah’s son Bobby Duvall still lived in their home. His only claim to fame was father of actress Shelly Duvall. On this trip, he invited me and my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law to go outside to the garage and look in some old trunks. Here we found some old quilts and popcorn squares already finished but not connected. We each came home with three of the popcorn squares and I came home with two huge quilts. I had every intention of quilting them one day. That never happened but still they hang in every home I’ve lived in since that weekend. They remind me of times gone by and the love it took for my husband’s great-grandmother to stitch the pieces together.
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| Ralph Shartle, far right, sitting in his green chair |
The picture on the bottom top is a botanical print I
bought in Winston-Salem to hang in my blue living room. A friend who was an interior decorator came
to my house and helped me pick out the colors of my drapes and upholstery of
the chair pictured in the next picture.
The chair was originally green Naugahyde and was my father-in-law, Ralph
Shartle’s favorite chair. I had it
covered in a heavy yellow silk flowered pattern which has endured without stain
or problem these past twenty-two years.
But I still see him sitting in the chair when I walk by it, remembering
he was gone before we knew it.
The last picture is one of ceramic yellow roses in a
milk glass vase which was given to me the day my second son, Daniel was born,
from my parents. My mother wanted me to
have something permanent to remember that day.
It was a crazy funny day and very quick delivery with almost no problems. Delicate and hard to clean, I’ve never let
them be put away and today they stand next to a picture taken by my
brother-in-law, Kenny White at that same son’s wedding in April 2001.
Now I’ve opened my eyes to my senses and experienced
feelings of contentment, joy, sadness, beauty and especially love. Thank you, Susannah Conway for giving me the
push to explore. Now one with the next
step – looking for my initials and heart shapes!
