Not until we arrived back home, did we realize just how many gifts we had bought for friends and relatives. As the years passed, many of these gifts found their way back to us.
Some we still have, but many items such as lamps and carved figures have long since been discarded.
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There were two jewelry boxes bought for our fathers. This one cracked as the teak wood dried out.
Most wooden gifts were bought in the area south of the East Compound where many merchants had galleries of things for sale.
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When it came to jewelry, there were so many places to choose from that we eventually decided that buying at the PX would probably insure quality as well as a reasonable price.
We didn't want to mess this up as earrings were bought for our mothers and grandmothers.
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One grandmother actually took her set to a jeweler to have it appraised.
After we arrived home, she told us the appraised value and that we shouldn't have spent that much money on her!
What if we had bought them on Haggler's Row? I don't believe she would have called us cheap.
Eventually, all the pairs of earrings ended up back with us.
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These two wall hangings were for another grandmother.
She received many comments and compliments on the variety of jade and other stones.
The black lacquer frames have faded with time.
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So, today, you can see one of the jewelry boxes. All the pairs of earrings sent are in it.
The wall hangings are in our bedroom and the scale of the objects can be easily seen.
Funny how so many gifts, given, made their way back to us.
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Update: After this posting, my wife found this old boy at the end of a closet shelf in a box titled "cups and saucers."
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Update 2012: Well, we just seem to keep finding these remembrances. My wife bought this apron at the Officers Wives' Shop in the West Compound in 1969.
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How true it is. I purchased a beautiful green marble fruit bowl that had a 2 or 3 inch stand, looked sort of like a short wine glass, but much sturdier. My Dad sent it back to me a couple of years before he passed. It's still in my china cabinet along with numerous other odds and ends.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Taiwan in 1969. My Dad was stationed there. He got me a jewelry box like yours. I was 12 at the time. The carving is a little different. I still have mine. I have always cherished it.
ReplyDeleteLibby, Thank you for the comments. I am also still using my jewelry box all these many years later. Remembering the sweet aroma from the boxes are similar to the open door wood markets.
ReplyDeleteJohn has passed, but I am keeping his blog open as he asked me to do.
You made my day... Linda