Mono Monday - Something I Treasure

It was an early start today, as I needed to be ready for the British Heart Foundation crew who were due to arrive from 8am onwards. After phoning ahead, they turned up at 8.40am, and without any fuss at all loaded the desk, Welsh dresser and hostess trolley onto their lorry. And with that, another bit of Mum and Dad’s life here had been dismantled. So many of these bittersweet moments happening at the moment. A while later, I took some large reference books and the three boxes of Willow Pattern china over to the St Helena Hospice donation centre at their Colchester warehouse. I have to keep in mind how much good my parents are still doing in aid of charities long after their deaths - they would both be pleased about that.

Back home, I carefully researched a solid oak shelving cabinet with glazed doors to hold my collection of rare, vintage and antique books. It’s painted in cream, and is quite tall. I shall be able to upcycle a corner display unit which was Mum and Dad’s to match in with it - this will become my ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ to house objects as diverse as a pewter ancient Roman brooch and a piece of amber containing a fly from 100 million years ago. There was a generous price-drop offer on the solid wood cabinet, plus a further discount for signing up to the company’s emails and 48-hour delivery because the unit was in stock. I’ve ordered it, and it should be arriving on Thursday. I can’t fault the service from the company so far in answering my queries, and it has had unanimously positive reviews on Trustpilot. Let’s hope the furniture lives up to my expectations. Finally, a long-awaited trip to the hairdresser’s this afternoon - lovely Liz has been off work for a couple of months having spinal surgery, which has happily succeeded in removing the terrible sciatic pain she had been suffering for over a year. Glad I helped persuade her to go for it, having experienced the same myself 30 years ago.

My blip for today is a diamond ring which Dad bought for Mum many, many years ago and which she wore a great deal. Mum decided in recent years to personally choose who in the family would have which item of her jewellery. This ring was the piece that she gave to me, so it’s very special indeed.

Thank you once again to Pinkhairedlady for hosting June’s Mono Monday challenge, with the theme this week of ‘something I treasure’.