It's Still Rock 'n Roll to Me!

Hot punk, cool funk, even if it's old junk it's still rock and roll to me! ~Billy Joel

It's no secret that we love old junk around here! And we know you do, too! But more than the old junk, we love the stories the old junk can tell. Take the Singer sewing machine table in the foyer. It belonged to my great grandmother and could tell some stories for sure! Or the step stool/seat that lives in my kitchen now. It probably helped someone reach the top shelf of a cabinet a few hundred times in its lifetime before I got it!

Then there are my chairs. I told you a while back that I'd tell you the story behind these twins. You see, as much as they look alike, they came from completely different places!

One sat beside the refrigerator in my grandparents' South Louisiana kitchen. If you know anything about South Louisiana in the summertime, "hot" is not enough to describe it. It's sticky. Muggy. Humid. But the refrigerator wasn't the reason I remember it. It was also next to a window that housed the air conditioning unit. Under that window sat a gas furnace. So no matter whether it was the middle of summer or the dead of winter, it was a popular place to stand. I say stand because we didn't usually sit in this chair. I'm sure it got its fair share of use but the way I remember it is with newspapers on the seat. Newspapers that my Paw Paw E D had already read. Funny papers that my Maw Maw Lula Belle was saving for a time when she could enjoy them without being pulled in five different directions by a child or grandchild. Crossword sections that I imagine they shared. And maybe a find-a-word book or two. A notebook of prayer requests my Maw Maw poured over every single day. Maybe a WalMart ad or two in later years when they made their weekly shopping trips into town. I wish I had sifted through that stack of papers more, now that I'm trying to tell you what was in them. I just know they were there. And any time the table was full, you could bet that old folding chair got pulled up and squeezed in with the rest of them!

I just happened to see this tell-tail mark a few days ago. Someone (ahem) wrote their name on the seat back... probably while sitting in a time out of sorts, within reach of Maw Maw as she worked in the kitchen.

This is the easiest way I can tell which one isn't my Maw Maw's. I bought it from a second hand store in Orange, VA.

A few years ago, while picking through an old second hand store in Orange, VA, I found a chair just like the one my Maw Maw and Paw Paw had. It was just like I remembered theirs and with a price tag of $3, I had to have it. You see, when I'm picking out home decor, I don't really mind if it wasn't my family members' piece as long as it reminds me of them. The step stool wasn't a hand-me-down. In fact, it came from that same store in Orange. But it reminds me so much of one my Maw Maw had in her kitchen, and pulled up to reach the high cabinets above her pie safe and over the stove. It sat right in front of the shelf with the Moon Pies and Lance crackers. :)

The same name but with different design labels is on the underside of the seat on both of them.

The lamp on this logo reminds me of some of the Mason symbols. My Paw Paw was a Mason but this chair isn't the one from his house, so it's even more of a mystery.

Maw Maw and Paw Paw's chair had metal rungs.

These wooden rungs are in great shape considering the age they must be.

You see, it's not the items that hold me. It's the memories and emotions they evoke. And as long as I can keep those memories alive and make new ones with the loved ones I have left, it's worth every moment!

I hope you find something this week that reminds you of a time gone by. Because it might be old junk but it's still worth it to me!

Happy Junkin'!
Liz