Thursday, September 30, 2010

it pays to snoop!



This is my a chest.  A cedar chest.

It belonged to my mother's step-mother, our grandmother. Ruby.

Jason and I bought my grandparent's home from my mother and aunt and the cedar chest came with the house.  It's always been in our bedroom and honestly, I've never paid that much attention to what was stored inside.

Normally, framed photographs (and other random "stuff") sit upon the ol' cedar chest. Today, I decided to clean it off and take a peek inside. 

Let's have a look...



Blankets. Not too interesting. Wait, I see something...




Look, a new pet! 

Hey, PETA!  Look at my new pet!

My grandmother's fur cape. Smashing!  Our dog BB has a new playmate!

Help me out here, Mom. Is it real?  What kind of animal is this?

 Every Southern lady should own animal fur...after all, it's only 100-degrees in Florida and if an animal can run around in fur, so too, a Southern lady! 

Yes, I can use it. Perhaps as an accent rug...?





My mother's father served on the Jacksonville Police Force. 

This is an ID card, stating his rank of Uniform Captain. He also was an Inspector and rose in the ranks to Assistant Chief. He coined the phrase:

 " I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he fire six shots or only five?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow you head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"

I jest, I jest.



Grandpa's police hat. 

He was an imposing figure. Tall, dark, methodical. Smart and inquisitive, we all know where our brother Tom inherited his love of books.

Upon Grandpa's retirement from the police force, he went back to college and earned a degree in education.  He taught little inner-city school children in the '70s.  Imagine, from a tough cop to a school teacher of little elementary school children.

I'll have to do some more rummaging around in the cedar chest. 

One never knows what one might find at the bottom...

Perhaps another animal skin?

Or inspiration for yet another Dirty Harry quote?

2 comments:

Thomas Fleming said...

Holy cow, Pat--how did you manage not to look inside for 16 years? I would have done that the day I found it! And how COOL to have found Grandpa's police hat! That's something to treasure!

J said...

You could always have the fur cape made into a Teddy bear. ;0)

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