We slept late, then spent most of the afternoon up in the attic (about four hours all told) because it was "cool" today (77°F) and will be in the mid to high eighties for the rest of the week. The attic is really an unfinished second story, and the person who could put some money into fixing the upstairs would really have a nice family house (especially if they fit in a tiny half-bath).

The attic has always been one of my favorite places, repository for the memories of our lives. I would love to go up there on cold winter days and rummage through the box that had the old newspapers in it: there was one that predated the house, of President Franklin Roosevelt's death, and also battle maps of the European front from about three months' worth of 1944 Providence Journals, but my favorite items in that box were the "hurricane book" that the Journal published after Hurricane Carol in 1954, comparing the damage done to that done in 1938 and my dad's photos from World War II (except the one I wasn't supposed to look at, which I didn't—it was of bodies at a concentration camp). Mom also kept the winter clothes up there in the summer and vice versa.

The ironic thing is that Mom actually did some cleaning of the attic several years ago. She told me she was culling things out and did I want all my Reader's Digest issues. I did, but I had absolutely no room for them, and reluctantly told her she could dispose of them. I hated to do it. From our own issues and ones I collected at flea markets, I had issues back into the 1950s; these were the good Digests, not the ones they have now that are lots of pictures and "big colored words." The Book Sections alone were worth the issues.

But there is still a lot of junk up there. I can't believe she made me give up those Reader's Digests and kept a huge, about 30"x30"x30" box full of old sheets, towels, and other raggy cloths! Not to mention my old vaporizer (I had colds a lot as a kid which turned out to be my allergy), ancient plastic flowers and Christmas centerpieces I made that she wouldn't put on the table anymore because they were dirty, old shoes and sandals (I remember the beige ones she wore to the World's Fair!), bank statements going back ten years, and empty boxes for Christmas gifts. Heck, my white robe and mortarboard from high school graduation are still hung up. Mostly what is up there are old clothes and fabrics, and more drinking glasses than any human being should be allowed to have. Back when I was in my late teens or early 20s, I went upstairs to label the boxes so we'd know what we had. I scribbled pointedly on one bag "Even more glasses!"

Now there's some other glass up there that might have been my grandmother's. It might actually be Depression glass. But I don't know.

Of course there's a bunch of my old things up there as well: photos that were on my bedroom wall (Blake's 7's Avon and Vila, Doctor Who things), old fanfiction, stationery, craft items, a Disneyland map from either 1975 or 1978, etc. I threw out a ton of things, but couldn't bear to give up all of it. Don't know what to do about my artwork from school; probably will chuck it. It's not particularly interesting or stunning.

We did find some useful things: more silverware, brand new, and some sets of knives from Imperial Knife, which is no longer in business (my uncle used to work for Imperial Knife).

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:01:00 PM

Comments:

I don't envy you your task at all. There's only a few small things I'll be taking from my folk's house when it's time. I've got a real estate agent's card, and the card of a lady who does estate sales. I'll go through, scavenge all financial records and shred darn near everything in their files. Then I'll get a small piece of railroad iron (a section of tie about a foot long) out of Father's shop, which I want to keep. I might save my parents' state fair awards, and some pictures, but pretty much nothing else. I will turn the keys over and walk away - because if I let myself I could easily become completely bogged down. It will be hard enough as is...

J.

# posted by  Anonymous : 1:52:00 PM

 

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