Postings from Germany

Cleaning Out

Mutti had the Spring Cleaning bug this week - she just had to clean out a few cabinets.  We understand that of course, currently in the middle of spring projects ourselves.  But what it means for Mutti is that WE have to clean out the cabinets for her!  Hey, not a problem.  When you're 93, you get to ask for help.

And at 93 she frequently says  I don't need it anymore - throw it out!  Well, our recycling tendencies come into play and we can't just throw it all away.  That curling iron - wow!  We'll take that to Paris.  Same with the portable hair dryer.  The old cotton flat sheet is exactly the right size for the base for the new bed skirt.  And that carved wooden tray, umm.  Well, maybe that goes in the flea market box (not all that cute).  

And then there was the "rag" - Oh I cut that up sometime to clean up with - just toss it. I don't think so, Mutti.  It's an old hand towel.  I'll do something with it - lavender sachets maybe.

At home on closer inspection, we saw a small monogram and then saw that there were other letters woven into the fabric.  It was an old damask-weave hand towel, probably intended as a guest towel or one to hang as a decoration to cover the ones that were in use. (It's actually bright white, but I had to play with the contrast so the initials and weaving showed up).

I called Mutti.  

Who's EB, Mutti?  Oh, well that must be my grandmother. She died at 82 or so in 1942 or so.  She was born a Behrens and then she married a Niemann, my mother's maiden name.  

Good grief.   So sometime around 1880 or before Mutti's grandmother embroidered her initials into this cloth and then more than 100 years later, Mutti cuts it up to dust?  Oh well, to her it was just another cloth.  To me it is a bit more. 

The saying is:  Denke edel, handle hilfreich.  Roughly translated:  Think nobly, act accordingly. Or:  Think nice things, then do them!  One hundred years later, it sounds like something we could still aim to live by. 

It'll become a pillow cover.  The part that's left, that is.  Maybe I'll over-embroider the saying.  I'll let you know.