My Inheritance

I realise that it is unusual to get your inheritance in advance, but that is sort of what happened to me today. My dad has been slowly transitioning to living in the UK permanently over the past couple of years, all in the name of love (which is really, really nice). This year he emptied his flat in Canada, and had the items he wished to retain shipped over here to the UK. Only he does not have room for all these items and has chosen to give some of them to my brothers and I now.

When I was growing up there were a couple of items that I loved, and one in particular that it always was said would be mine some day. Well some day happened today. Now this item might seem rather odd to many people, especially for a ten year old girl to fall in love with. Be that as it may, I am really happy to have it in my home now.

Doesn't everyone want a copper and brass mainmast lantern salvaged from a sailing ship?

It stands about two feet tall, and can be taken apart, as you can see in the photos above. I used to polish it when I was younger and was enamoured with the fact that there was still a wick in it. But to answer the question, no I never filled it with kerosene and lit it. And yes, the girls are already asking if they can do that. I suppose I will have to give it a polish again. Not sure if I am going to enjoy that bit as much as I used too.

The next item was my grandmother's and I fell in love with it when visiting her in my teens. My grandmother told me she had promised it to a friend, but that turned out to not be true and it went to my father, and now it comes to me.

It is a sewing table, and it isn't in great shape. There is damage to the wood, and some damage to the interior too. But I don't care. I shall see if there is anything I can do to help keep the wood from drying out any more than it already has so that it doesn't lose more of its inlay. I am not sure where I am going to put it, as we are not big on space here, but I do already envisage keeping all my perle in that big conical compartment in the middle.

There were more items, all of which I had no idea I would be getting today.

From left to right: 9" candlesticks made by my great-grandfather, ivory dominoes that were mysteriously stored in the sewing table, two snuff boxes (the top one I loved when I was a child; it is incredibly tactile), and glassware that was my grandmother's. The top ones are so thin, and have a wonderful shape. I want to fill them with chocolate mousse. The bottom ones have been hand painted. (There are more of both these glasses but I didn't unpack them all to show you. I believe there are six of each.)

Finally, there were items that I had given my dad over the years, mostly from my travels, which he no longer has space for. These were a nice trip down memory lane for me as I often bought for other people and then after the fact wished I had bought one for myself as well.

Clockwise from top left: A bent wood box from Alaska, a spice holder from Madras (Chennai) India, a birch bark wood container from British Columbia, a completely random huge 15" hoop my dad had and we have no idea where it came from but I will have it, thank you very much, a box with a silver panel from Kusadasi, Turkey, and a hand painted little bone container which I think I bought in either Yalta or Odessa, though it might have been Bulgaria. Who knows!

I shall potter about in the next few days and find homes for many of these items. I would like to have enjoy them, not have them remain in boxes in the back of some cupboard. I hope the girls develop their own favourites amongst the various things. I think that passing down items that invoke memories is the nicest of things. If these items have a family history that is all the more special. So a huge thanks to my dad today. He's brought back lots of happy  memories in me. It's a good feeling.

Susan