![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A gift to myself for my birthday
Apr. 9th, 2010 04:13 pmThey are our times I think I'm out of another era.
I learned to sew when I was a kid, not a major surprise given that both my grandfathers were tailors. My favorite of the three machines I have is my treadle (circa 1914). For gods sake, the thing will sew through leather, and works whether we have power or not & given where we live, where electricity can be spotty during the rainy season, that's a good thing.
I grew up very close to my grandparents. Now while none of them were Luddites, they did not jump to new technology if the old stuff is still working functionally. I don't think any of them ever replaced the ancient heavy Bakelite wall phones in their apartments. My father joked they constituted a defensive weapon. The image of my 4'10" grandmother, turned Valkyrie, handset swinging by its cord above her head is something I've never ever been able to shake out of my head!
In our family milestones were often marked by a like a fine pen or a gold watch. When my folks got engaged, mom's parents gave my father a gold Longine, which he wore the day they got married (and which I wore when LJ and I exchanged our vows). My uncle gave me a Cross desk set when I finished college and my parents gave me a Mont Blanc rollerball when I graduated from medical school.
( behind the cut, unadulterated pen geekery, including photos )
I learned to sew when I was a kid, not a major surprise given that both my grandfathers were tailors. My favorite of the three machines I have is my treadle (circa 1914). For gods sake, the thing will sew through leather, and works whether we have power or not & given where we live, where electricity can be spotty during the rainy season, that's a good thing.
I grew up very close to my grandparents. Now while none of them were Luddites, they did not jump to new technology if the old stuff is still working functionally. I don't think any of them ever replaced the ancient heavy Bakelite wall phones in their apartments. My father joked they constituted a defensive weapon. The image of my 4'10" grandmother, turned Valkyrie, handset swinging by its cord above her head is something I've never ever been able to shake out of my head!
In our family milestones were often marked by a like a fine pen or a gold watch. When my folks got engaged, mom's parents gave my father a gold Longine, which he wore the day they got married (and which I wore when LJ and I exchanged our vows). My uncle gave me a Cross desk set when I finished college and my parents gave me a Mont Blanc rollerball when I graduated from medical school.
( behind the cut, unadulterated pen geekery, including photos )
