Living Vicariously Through Inanimate Objects

 

Do you have a collection of items from days gone by? A historical set of buttons or coins? As our regular readers know, I was given a box of jewelry making items by my step-daughter, Mallory. She was actually embarrassed to hand me the box that had been sitting in her laundry room for so long. She thought of the items inside that gift box as being trash; I think of it as a gift. 

Since Mallory put the box in my hands, I have dug through all of the crafted jewelry, the single beads, and the other old, mostly tarnished items. These gifts were either purchased or made by her great-grandfather in the 1930s to the '50s, when he was a jewelry enthusiast. 

With that being said, each and every piece Mallory pulled from the box to show me, she apologized for what she thought was trash. Each piece, she reiterated, "Mom, if this is garbage to you, I can take it back and dump it," or, "Please don't be offended by this stuff. I am seriously not trying to bring you garbage." But with each item she pulled from the box, my eyes lit up with joy. I ran my fingers across each and every stone as if I wanted to put it into memory. 

Some pieces were made by Navajo silversmith, Francis M. Begay, from the Navajo Nation, which was his home during the time he crafted the beautiful, stunning artwork. His family passed on the art of silversmithing through the generations. 

Begay's intricate pieces combine silver and turquoise, and the jewelry he crafted stunned the world. Collectors look for the "F.M.B" or "F. M. Begay" across the back of every bracelet, belt, necklace, and every bolo tie they run across. His work can often be spotted by the intricate silver frame, handcrafted first, then all of the pieces of turquoise he places into the bezels in the well-known design, as shown in the photo. I only learned all of this after cleaning the jewelry up a bit, revealing the F.M.B. signature on the back. That led me into the world of researching every item I picked out of the box. 

The next couple of weeks (and still going), my office space became a jewelry and accessory clutter of boxes, beads, and pieces lying about, with my desk as an examination table. 

I found so many interesting things, including a simple rock that said, "1946" on the back. But why would someone label the rock? It's a rock after all. After research, the rock is a large chunk of red jasper. Jasper is one of my favorite stones, although this is a large chunk. It went on my shelves with my crystals and other rocks. 

Next up? I pulled out a large rock with turquoise running through it. Gorgeous!

A large stone with turquoise throughout

The large stone between the gray stone and the spoons is the piece of red jasper. 

All of this was wonderful; however, the next piece I pulled from the magical box was a necklace that appeared to my untrained eye to be something like white agate. The beads or pieces that create this necklace had an odd shape to them, sort of like what a necklace would be like if you strung teeth or bones along a wire and added the clasp. Research had to be done on this one!

This is another angel skin coral necklace in a photo by someone else. I put this in to show the variation in colors of the coral and the shapes in another necklace. Imagine the long "tubes" of the coral placed on a table, and slicing them into these smaller shapes. 

Since the beads are shaped the way they are, and the color is what it is, this was found to be made from what is called angel skin coral. I had never heard of angel skin coral before. In fact, it sounded sort of gross to me. 

The pieces strung on the beading wire to form this jewelry come from the coral being sliced, keeping the odd-looking shape to each end product. There are round beads made and the like, but the natural stone is perfect for me. It's raw and in its original condition, and that means a lot. 

Angel Skin Coral, a rare light pink variety, primarily comes from the deep waters around Japan and Taiwan, with some sources mentioning Hawaii and the Philippines, though its harvesting is now heavily restricted due to overfishing. It's a prized, natural albino form of Pleurocorallium elatius, found at significant depths (150-300m). 

Key Origins & Characteristics:

• Primary Sources: The main regions are the seas off Japan and Taiwan, also known as "pelle d'angelo" in Italian.
• Rarity: It's a natural, albino variation of precious coral, making it exceptionally rare and valuable.
• Depth: It grows in deep waters, requiring difficult and dangerous harvesting.
• Color: Ranges from pale pink to orange-pink, with uniform color being the most prized. 

Harvesting & Availability:

• Restrictions: Due to its rarity and past over-harvesting, obtaining new, natural Angel Skin Coral is extremely difficult, with much of the available material being vintage stock.                                                                               ***

Because of the story of the gorgeous coral necklace and the color, which is one of my favorite colors, I am keeping this specific piece. The original clasp and original design are going to be kept intact, just the way I received it. 

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Red and white jasper, in its natural form, and a heishi bead necklace with pieces of turquoise came to me in the special box of fun, along with many other items. I have to say, I have been in seventh heaven. Something about touching items that come from days gone by excites me.    

Running my hands over the large turquoise and silver piece, I could almost picture the hard work Francis Begay and others have put into the jewelry from the past. They made this jewelry from scratch, heating, bending, and molding the silver the way they wanted, and then adding the turquoise to complete the project. It's a wonderful thing. 

I have always had an attraction and pull toward things from the past, whether it be houses, jewelry, cars, or even old letters. Pictures of housing and people hard at work when things were not quite as easy as they are now seem to really interest me. It may sound silly to some, but I have, at times, lived vicariously through people of the past, if only in my mind. It's a beautiful thing. 

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And, speaking of the beautiful coral color, who brought the paint brush to color the sky tonight, and did you bring enough for the rest of the class? Oh, how I love this color. Each time the sky lights up in salmon orange or coral, I stop in my tracks. Mother Nature is perfect in every way. 

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One of the gifts my husband gave to me is more fulfilling than three French hens, four calling birds, or even five gold rings. I received a six-horsepower, silver tank, suck the air out of the environment shop vac. I am in love. This beauty was purchased to blow my husky's coat and to vacuum up the fur he leaves behind on a daily basis. Like I said, I'm in love. 

It's not only a convenient tool, but it also has a shiny container to catch all the nastiness. Very sparkly. Very shiny. Rain Man is a happy camper. This little cutie sucks so hard that I had to put a foot on the couch and pull the hose and attachment as hard as I could to release the cloth on my furniture. But, by God, the dog hair was gone. Who needs cloth on the frame anyway?

Togo is yet to be introduced to the strong suction power of this beauty. The main reason Terry chose the six-horsepower unit is to blow our husky's coat. After having to battle it on the couch, this could mean our Siberian husky could become a Xolo, or better known as a Mexican hairless. We will then have a Siberian hairless, a new species. Poor Togo has no idea what is coming. 

I was going to bathe him outside, but it's only 54 degrees Fahrenheit at this time of year. Huskies can handle subzero weather, right? I researched the act of spraying my baby outside with the hose, but found out it's not a good idea. There is a difference between his double coat keeping him warm, or wetting him down where he is cold under all that fur and against his skin. So that won't happen. He will either have to endure a bath in the bathtub, or I will have to take him to the tractor store, where I can shower him in their tub, then bring him home and blow his coat with the vacuum. Oh, the fun we will have. 

As you can see, our baby loves his bath. 😕😟😟😜😒😏

***

Terry and I have spent some time watching shows on the television we enjoy, and spending time together. Our weekends may not seem really exciting to most, but we do like taking time out of busy life to enjoy time together. One thing we do like to do is go out to eat once in a while. The other night, we chose Sizzler. Terry thought steak sounded great, and I can always figure out something to eat that sounds good. I do know that a baked potato sounded yummy. 

We giggled as we took this photo. Not giggling at each other, but snickering at the shape of Terry's steak. It was thin and oddly shaped. He did enjoy the strange steak, but it started out as a different-looking piece of meat. He has named Chicken in a Biscuit crackers, "Anorexic Chickens." Now I have seen what an anorexic cow looks like. 

I ordered the herbed chicken and wow! Was it tasty! 

The lemon slice on the right-hand side of the plate was first served on top of the chicken, but I removed it. Lingering was the bright, fresh citrus flavor of the chicken, blended with an earthy taste of rosemary. There were spices and herbs under the rosemary, too, creating an amazingly great-tasting piece of chicken. Very moist and bursting with great flavors.  

Going out to eat at Sizzler was another way to embrace the fact that we can now relax and celebrate the release of our responsibility of owning the Kia. The lawsuit created a chance to breathe again and to release the stress of paying for a car we weren't even driving. The stress and anxiety were subtle but remained in the back of our minds for months. It does wear on you. It's exhausting. Now, we are free! We also have a vehicle that we are enjoying to the fullest extent of the definition of "enjoying." 

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I do believe I will end this here. My husband is happy, and I'm my usual fat, sassy self. We are good. I find myself smiling more each day of my life. There is so much to be thankful for. The holidays are definitely upon us, and that alone can bring joy to our lives. We are happy, all is well, the fur babies are doing well, and our home is comfortable. Life is good. I am grateful for all that we have, for receiving all that we need, and all that we are. I am grateful for us.

Until the next blog post, thank you for reading the blog. We enjoy sharing our memories with all of you, and keeping them safe for our own enjoyment is very important to us. Take care of yourselves, friends. We appreciate you and wish you well. Each and every day is special, so let's appreciate each step in our journey. Bless you and yours. 

Terry & Vicki Macrae,

Just old people enjoying life

Kit Kat, our Birman kitty. The cut ear is how the local shelter marks spayed and neutered stray cats. Yes, they ruined the appearance of his ears. He is our beautiful boy, though, and we do love him dearly. Terry adopted him a while before I met him.