Sears Box

I'd had this old Sears gift box for years.  It held cards and notices and pictures from long ago.  I'd brought it with me from my mother's house when I left for college and shortly thereafter when I got married.  I'd been organizing pictures and this was at the bottom of a cedar chest.  I don't remember all that was in it...probably letters and cards from those early years; some of my school papers from high school I think.  I kept those and tossed the box.

Memories from Spain

Back in the 90's I attended a meeting of the International Standards Organization in Madrid, Spain.  I was the editor of the ISO 8583 standard that defines how to exchange credit card messages for authorizing and settling transactions.  The meetings lasted a week and as was my practice, I would fly in the weekend before to do some touristing.  This trip I traveled to Toledo (Toe-Lay-Doe) where I wandered narrow cobbled side streets of tiny shops.   

I bought a set of steak knives that I still have, as Toledo was supposedly known for its cutlery; I would never have been able to bring those home on the plane today.  I paid a pretty penny for some saffron spice too. There's a frilly fan on my bookcase and the usual bookmark and thimble I would collect when I traveled.  We toured the Prado Museum in Madrid where I saw original El Greco and Picasso paintings in brilliant colors and have the book to remember them by.  

I picked up the sunny blue and white sundial tile in the picture because I liked the message, Carpe Diem, and the colors and the multi-purpose use as a decoration and a sundial. I put it in my courtyard out front and it eventually ended up by the backyard fountain.  It was trampled a couple of times and is rusted and cracked and is being trashed.  Goodbye good memory.