A Story with Every Item.

Carolyn was down today to take some pictures of our Piano that she used in listing it "For Sale".  I felt it appropriate to remove the rubber hose tied to the piano leg that provided me the "basic equipment" for doing a series of exercises. This was most important for building strength during my golfing days. I have taken pictures of other rooms from various angles to record "the way it was" before we start making changes. A picture like this enables Elaine and I to remember the stories that go along with every item shown. An example is the Tambour Mantel Clock shown on the top of the left end of the Piano. This was a gift from Andy Kmetz, an old SCS friend in Illinois, who carried it home in pieces from the Czech Republic several years ago. It is a Swiss Made, BUREN 103434. I had it serviced by a Lincoln, NE Clock Shop a few years ago and they wanted to buy it by offering a good price.  I wind it once a week and it keeps great time. It will continue to be part of our prized possessions. 

Another prized possession is the JFK style wooden Rocking Chair shown in the back part of the picture. It was after the death of President Kennedy that we were in North Carolina, where Tim was in college,  and came across a small furniture manufacturing shop that specialized in "custom made" JFK style rocking chairs. We made the deal. They measured my height, etc. and we picked it up the the next time we were down there from Arlington, VA and have enjoyed it for these many years.  The old "Grandpa Walker Chair" is barley shown behind the TV and that too has a long history. My memory of it goes back to spending a few days at their farm when I was about 10 years old. I remember Grandpa setting in the chair and reading the morning mail while Grandma fixed lunch. (We called it dinner) The "rest of the story" on the chair involves my Mother inheriting it, being in storage at my folks place for a number of years, and our hauling it back to Arlington, VA from Seward. Then Carolyn refinished it, put vinyl on the seat and back, with Elaine's help, and we bought it back to Nebraska in 1980 where it has been a part of our living room ever since. It will continue to be so.