The little Lake cabins at Minominee Lake.

Just recently I was inspired by my Lovely customer Heather who purchased some 1930s Brass and Jade earrings that were from my personal collection. Because of Heather I took a fun trip down memory lane that I would like to touch upon. 

I feel it is a wonderful thing when our memories get jogged and the memory opens up a doorway to adventures and experiences that were tucked away for a long time, until joggled back to the present and they can really put a smile on your face. Yes, sometimes there are extremely painful memories.

But it is always more enjoyable to relive the fun ones.

Heather asked me if I knew any of the background on the earrings. I would like to share the story because it is a fun one. For some of you it may strike up the question where were you and what were you doing. 

The Year was 1972.

I was going on vacation with My Mom and Pop. My Pop always got 3 or 4 weeks off in the summer so we would head out somewhere new and different to explore. Honestly I do not think there was ever a vacation destination I did not love. So a friend of my Dad at work told him about Menominee WI. There was a lake and cabins you could rent on the lake. To this day I love staying at places with cabins or a bed and breakfast. So before we left on the trip we were making our night before checks on supplies and making sure we had everything we would need. I was in that phase of feeling very grown up and I had just started wearing blue eye shadow and frosted pink lipstick I was finding my style and was on the let me be a grown up search. I told my Dad that I wanted to read the book The Exorcist that was my book of choice for vacation. My Mom and Pop response to that was NO BLOODY WAY!!!!!!!! No and or ifs about it. That was not going to be my vacation curl up in a chair book of choice. You must have another choice Heather, “said my Pop”. The Godfather Mario Puzzo. Knowing what an imagination I had that was the lesser of the two evils. I laugh looking back at this with my Pop. So the choices boiled down to the Devil taking possession of a young girl making her behave and do and say things that were really scary and spooky to all of those around her, or The Devil infiltrating Mob families pitting them against one another committing murder and mayhem in spooky and scary ways. Hey vacation reading. 1972 12 years old and I was growing up.

We arrived somewhere in Menominee late and actually got lost just a little bit. Okay my Mom and Pop very smart people, but you know we had only been in this country (having immigrated from Scotland) going on 7 years at that time. How did we know where Lake Menominee was and all the little twist and turn roads in the dark, back then like we were driving through never ending forest after forest. So a light in the trees, low and behold a little Bed and breakfast we found out later just outside of town. The lady of the B and B could not of been nicer and she had two rooms available one for my Mom and Pop and a smaller one for me just down the hall from them. My Mom had a little trepidation, but, I thought a magic genie was intervening for me. Can you imagine I was going to be staying in a room by myself with my grown up book with my own little terrace. I was in heaven. The Lady of the B and B made us a small meal. We sat and chatted with her and I asked her if I could just look around at all her antiques. She told me that she actually had a small store attached that she would show me in the morning after breakfast. Being a piano player whenever there is a place with a piano I always somehow gain some comfort and homey ness In that. I told her I played and Not to disturb others that had gone off to bed I told her I would be happy to play for her after breakfast. After some nice cups of tea and I was able to take my tea and some bisquets on a tray to my own room, there was no talking to me. I had so many scenarios I had dreamed up for my self. I think my Mom came and checked on me about 10 times before she went to sleep. My Pop had come in and made sure I knew how to lock the terrace double door to make sure it was secure. I know how to lock a door Pop geeze. Okay Pet, (nickname) very British, so okay Pet off I go to my scratcher, to this day that is what my Pop calls his bed. I think it has something to do with the cave man days and mattresses made from hay or something. This is how I kibitz  with my Pop. Some of our jokes we say are chipped in stone. So everybody was secure I fell asleep reading my book to the wee hours of the morning. Being a kid I was up early though soon as my Pop came and woke me up. I was ready to go to breakfast and explore this lady's house of antiques store and play her piano. I remember it was a yummy country breakfast with pancakes, sausage eggs and syrup and butter. To this day I love to have my pancakes sopping with dippy eggs or over easy some may say. But nice and yoky for dipping. I played some pieces I had been working on for the Lady of the house My Mom loved a Strauss Medley of waltzes that I played my Pop enjoyed my Beethoven's Fur Elise. The woman and I made fast friends and she took me into her shop. I remember some of the things that she had from the 1800s bags some jewelry and hair clips that I loved and then I found a pair of earrings that were very interesting to me brass and jade not to over stated dangles. The woman said her sister had purchased them in the orient on a trip she took in the 1930s. Wow the Orient sounded so Agatha Christie to me at that time and you know, it still does. She told me her sister evidently had quite and adventure, she had loved to travel. I loved the brass and jade earrings and added them to my items I was going to get. The woman wrapped the few items that I had in a nice little bag and into a box and then told me she was giving them to me for playing the piano for her and she really had enjoyed my company, she said I had stirred up a lot of old wonderful memories for her. I have carried all these wonderful memorable experiences my entire life. It was Heather purchasing the jade earrings that had stirred up all these wonderful memories in me. Thinking on it now. I am just about the age the woman that ran the B and B would have been. Life has a funny way of doing that doesn't it? Everything in it's own time comes full circle. So, thank you to the Lady of the B and B and her traveling sister. Thank you to my new friend Heather for stirring up a great trip down memory lane.

Best wishes to all, for your own memory lane trips.

Happy trails, Heather