RUNNEMEDE REMEMBERED

Growing up in a small town in Southern New Jersey


Monday, February 11, 2008

Treasure Trove Trunk

How's that for alliteration?

Well, in our basement there was a HUGE trunk. It was a treasure trove of trinkets (another alliterational phrase) which came from dad's family. Some of the items could be dated back to the mid-1800s. One of the prize items in the trunk was the Family Bible. The Family Bible (my daughter Becky is the keeper of that treasure) was last updated when my grandfather Drexler married his second wife, Anna Mack. So, my father's birth was listed in that book.

On rare occasions, after begging, pleading, and cajoling my dad, he would take me down to the basement and would open the trunk. Oh, my. I just know my eyes lit up with anticipation each time we perused the contents.

In this trunk were Christmas decorations that had to go back to the late 1800s. Real glass trinkets, made in Germany.

The truck also housed a hefty amount of cut glass bowls and pitchers. There was a set of glasses (cut glass), and several salt cellars. Dad used to laugh about going to the cellar to see the cellars!

Another treasure was porcelain ware from Bavaria, beautiful pieces which now are scattered among various family members.

I have to admit that my favorite thing in the box was the Bible. It had pictures in it. Pictures of family members long gone. Also in the trunk were piles and piles of framed pictures of the Drexlers, and dad would patiently tell me who each person was. Many of those formally framed photographs (another example of alliteration? -- stretching it with the "f" sound in photograph) are in my home today.

It seems Uncle Harry (the one who lives to be 105) was a photography buff whose vocation was framing pictures. So, we were so blessed to have so many of the family photos framed to perfection for hanging on the wall, or walls. Believe me, there were enough framed images to fill walls. I know, because I, alone, had a wall full of these pictures in my previous abode. These photos are also in my sister's home, my brother's home, and my daughters' homes.

Well, I think I've spoken enough about the treasure troves of the trunk, and the fabulously framed photos that were in the trunk, so I'll sign off for now.

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