Thursday Show and Tell; Oil lamp

Today I show you pictures of an old oil lamp, made by my great-uncle, one of my grandmothers brothers, at my fathers side. (Well, actually she was my fathers stephmother, his own mother died in 1937 when he was 4 years old.) My great-uncle was a coppersmith in his free time...

I have polished it before taking pictures. You can see it's a little bit damaged, there  used to be an extra layer beyond the spout of the lamb, I suppose to catch oildrops or so.

If you look very well at the photo above you can see that the copper has been forced by beating it, all tiny dents. (in Nederland is de term dan ook koperslager, toepasselijker dan het engelse coppersmith) So it was a very time consuming job, and it had to be done very accurate. Copper is a rather soft material, so it can be bowed.

When I look at it I still remember it hanging above a chest of drawers in my grandmothers appartment, and before that in the beautiful house were she lived with her family, where my father lived since the family returned from Indonesie. My grandmother was a very talented and strong woman, a teacher. Those memories are dear to me. So when my grandmother died, this year 20 years ago, I inherited this oil lamp.

Spring??

Last days I worked some nightshifts in a city nearby. It is cold outside.  Last morning I took some country roads home..

I do love the variety of houses and landscapes, and of snowfal,  on my way home.

Thursday: Show and tell, samplers.

20 years ago I was working, besides my job as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, in a retirement home. I've been working there for over 10 years. I liked both the jobs, and then, in particular, the combination of them. One of the women who was living there was a passionate embroiderer. She was in particular fond of embroidering samplers. Often she was awake in the night, and sometimes I sat besides her to talk a bit. We often talked about our handicrafts like knitting an embroidering, and about her long life and past.  She was the woman I most connected with, not only because of her crafts, but also because her ideas and vieuws about living in general.
At the age of 97 she died.  She didn't have any family  or other kin. After the funeral  I was called to meet the directress, and she told me the woman had wanted me to get some of her embroidered work.  Another nurse and me had showed her that we appreciated this work a lot. I inherited 10 of her samplers!
I'm so grateful, every time I see the samplers they remind me of her, and of my years working in the retirement home. Nowadays they are hanging in our hall.
Which by the way is rather narrow and dark, so it wasn't easy to make photo's. I had to use the flashlight.

This was the last one she made. I still can imagine her sitting in her chair and embroider.

This one was made with different red colors.....

Such little stitches...

I still love looking and admiring them, all those tiny stitches.

Spring

Late in the afternoon I had time for a walk...

In the old orchard near the citywalls the trees are forming there blossoms....

The sky was beautiful blue....

All kinds of bulbs are flowering now, the plants are showing their new leafs, and it all smelled so good. Spring is in the air.