Grandma Ruby Neal’s shower gifts to her granddaughters, and to brides of her grandsons, were wicker baskets. Inside she’d added a small pad of paper and a pencil (for grocery lists) and a treated cloth (for dusting).
The right-sized basket with a handle is such a handy thing to have around. Mine, dating from 1966, has been to probably every potluck we’ve ever attended. It’s carried quilt squares and counted cross-stitch, crocheting and knitting projects.
When Guy was in Vietnam and I taught second grade, it went back and forth to school with me.
These days it carries poster holders, pens for autographing, and business cards when I give programs about the Wilson family stories during the Great Depression and WWII, or about the Dallas County Freedom Rock.
It’s still surprisingly sturdy, although the handle wrapping came undone so is now sheathed with fake leather.
The only thing better than an heirloom is an heirloom with a story!
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Oh, the power of story. Me thinks you’re mastering it quite well my friend. Enjoyed as always.
Good morning, JD! Thank you. I’m having fun!
I have a number of wicker baskets. My favorite is the shallow basket my grandmother used for picking flowers and my mother used for vegetable gardening. It holds the dog’s chew bones now (gross). The one I have like yours holds hats and gloves by the front door.
Liz, I love your stories! I wonder how old your grandmother’s basket is.
Thanks, Joy! I don’t know if the basket was new to her or whether it came from the farm in Nova Scotia.
I love the idea of writing stories to pass on family treasure.
Since the next generation doesn’t value what we still do, I’m making sure Dan and his wife knows the stories behind, say, a small advertising crock from an ancestor’s early meat market in Dexter. (They said they’d like to have this one!)
Each heirloom is so precious! Love the story! 🙂
A great basket and a great story!
Recently it went with me when I spoke to the local Kiwanis group, and Sunday carried a bowl of potato salad. to a Super Bowl party!
[…] Grandma Ruby Neal’s Wicker Baskets on Joy Neal Kidney […]
That’s one special basket! Its like you are caring her where ever you went and still go
I should remember that!
My wife has a mixing bowl that my grandmother had. One of our daughters has already claimed it for an inheritance.
I’d sure love to see a photo of that, and stories about what was mixed up in it and for what occasions!