Artifacts

We spent our weekend sorting through Nana's things and cleaning out her house. As I said before, she wrote notes about everything. We found them everywhere. Bits of history, dates, family news written on scraps of paper, the backs of pictures, on the bottom of furniture - like she is still telling her story. A lot of it was passed down through oral tradition, but it was obvious that there were things so important to her that we needed to know it, even if she wasn't there to tell it.

These are some of my favorite things.

This first picture was actually from her house in Ensley, where she lived for 30 years before moving to Gardendale. When we were dating, Dave took me to the house to show me these footprints in the sidewalk. They are his. He estimates that he was about three when the city poured the sidewalk and Nana helped him make his footprints in the wet cement. The day after she died, we went back there and I took this picture.


He still has square feet. So does Ella. 

Nana's sister-in-law, who apparently only went by the name Big Sister, was a ceramics artist. We found dozens of ceramic pieces that she made, all of them with her mark on the bottom. Some of them have stories, and some of them we just kept because they were around for forever. No one knows the story about this Native American woman, but she lived in Nana's house for as long as Dave can remember. I especially like her because she is wearing her baby. I wish I had asked Nana if she wore her baby.   

Papoose

Big Sister also made this frog, and it lived in Nana's bathroom with its mate. Ella always tried to put its pipe back in its mouth. She was fascinated by the frogs. When I asked if I could bring them home for her, I found out that it was Dave who originally broke the pipe off of his mouth. I unpacked them when we got home and showed them to Ella; I asked her if she wanted to keep them on her bookcase in her room where they wouldn't get broken. She told me, "No, I think I'll just keep them in my bathroom like Nana kept them in hers." I'm on assignment to find a shelf for them so they will be out of reach of little hands.

He reminds me of The Wind in the Willows.

Meet Agatha Peabody. She was Dave's mother's doll when she was a little girl. I do not know if she named her Agatha Peabody or if the doll came with that name. That's another question I wish I had asked Nana. Miss Peabody has been around since the 1940s and Nana made the clothes she is wearing. Ella used to play with her at Nana's house. She has a porcelain head and limbs, so we made a place for her on the dresser. Ella understands that she might break and has already asked me who made the little chip on the bottom of her shoe. I didn't know the answer.

Miss Agatha Peabody

I took a few pictures of Nana's journal entries, namely the ones that mentioned my Round 5 meltdown and her phone call that lifted me up. Also, notice her notes about the Braves game.

Nana's July 6, 2012 Journal Entry

Dave found this baby picture of himself in a box today and brought it to me with Luke's 12 month picture. He couldn't believe he was making the same face that Luke made in our favorite picture of him. Didn't I tell you our children look like him? The only thing they got from me was slightly lighter hair.

Luke at 12 months, Dave around 12 months

Finally, I leave you with this horrifyingly funny bit of ceramic. I don't know if I should laugh or run screaming from it. I'll opt for laughter.

Scary, laughing elf?