Precious pimentos

23 November 2019, 01:21 PM

wtg

Precious pimentos

That's what Mr wtg and I call those stupid things you hang onto because you remember them from your younger youth. They have an emotional attachment that goes beyond any monetary value. We've gotta million of them.

It's feeling like the right time to start letting go of a lot of this stuff. It's kind of the Great Purge, and I ain't referring to prepping for a colonoscopy.

Thought I'd memorialize some of them here before they find new homes. These seemed appropriate because they are tied to holiday memories.

The Reed roaster that Mom cooked our holiday turkeys in. I remember her getting up before dawn to put the turkey in the oven so it was ready for our 1 pm dinners...gawd, but she hated cooking for the holidays....

And a couple of heavy duty aluminum Dutch ovens that belonged to Mr wtg's mom and grandmother:

Feel free to post your Precious Pimentos and share your memories!

23 November 2019, 01:36 PM

Steve Miller

In the "Tidying up" thread I read where someone had replaced any number of "precious pimentos"

with photos of them. These photos went in to a scrapbook which she found more enjoyable to look through than owning the objects themselves.

Greeting cards, children's artwork, favorite shirts, dishware, even automobiles and houses can be stored this way. I think it sounds like a great idea!

23 November 2019, 01:39 PM

Steve Miller

As a tip, the PVC cement you show in the last photo will last a lot longer if you store it with the can upside-down.

Or take a picture of it.

23 November 2019, 01:49 PM

wtg

Actually, that cement belongs to Mike, our handydude. I'll pass that tip along to him when I return it to him...

23 November 2019, 02:02 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
The Reed roaster that Mom cooked our holiday turkeys in.

Who knew there was so much to know about roasters!

The part about the Chambers range was interesting - I did not know about their retained heat feature. Jon, do you still have the Chambers range that came with your house?

The cleaning part was interesting too. I suspect about 1/4 cup of ammonia left in the roaster overnight with the lid on will make even the oldest stuck on stuff come off with a paper towel.

23 November 2019, 08:08 PM

wtg

I found some family history in the boxes in the basement.

My mom's family fled Lithuania and went to Germany at the beginning of 1945.

Here's my Mom's German travel pass. She would have used this for the few months that she was in Germany before the Americans occupied the area she and her family were in.

From some website that sells these kinds of vintage documents:

quote:
Deutsches Reich Vorläufiger Fremdenpass with photo.

These are scarcely encountered passes, issued to foreigners who temporarily visited Germany. One could compare it with a temporary passport

After Germany lost the war, Mom worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) helping other refugees and doing general office work.

Here's a letter of recommendation from her boss. I don't know if it's readable, but the last paragraph was poignant.

edit: Here's what it says:

quote:
We shall miss her very much in every respect - but in saying farewell she takes with her our love and respect and the great hope she is now shipping out into a bright, new and happy future in a free country after so many years of dreadful conditions during and after the last war.

Mom and her brother setting sail from Bremerhaven, en route to New York.

Not getting rid of the stuff (there's lots more), but will ultimately need to find a home for it as I have no one to pass it on to. I'm pretty sure there are historians that are interested in post-war Germany, especially the displaced person (DP) camps.

23 November 2019, 08:16 PM

ShiroKuro

Wow, WTG, these are some amazing pieces of history!

quote:
will ultimately need to find a home for it as I have no one to pass it on to.

That's my situation as well. It's an odd feeling...

23 November 2019, 08:54 PM

Steve Miller

Very cool!

24 November 2019, 08:03 AM

Mikhailoh

That's really something, and stories I had never heard from you. Yes, that stuff should go to historians if no relatives.

Love those aluminum dutch ovens. I would bet you could get a decent dollar for all that stuff online.

We are in the same boat. I urged my closet this week and MFR finally emptied out her four drawer lateral file when I found a scrapper to come and take it.

Damn scrapper never showed up, but at least all the crap is out of it and it's ready to go.

24 November 2019, 09:13 PM

wtg

The ship that brought my mom, her brother and their parents to the US was the General R.L. Howze.

My grandfather wrote on the back of this picture, "Our ship, on which we sailed to America." (Actually, he wrote it in Lithuanian -

.) An American soldier who was sweet on my Mom took the photos and sent them to my Mom in the US.

This website describes the troop ships used to transport refugees to the US, and how they were greeted when they arrived. Apparently the webmistress also came to the US on the Howze, though I have no idea if it was the same crossing as the one my family was part of.

http://www.usmm.org/dp.html

I think I know where to turn to with my documents. There's a Lithuanian museum in Chicago with a permanent exhibit on the Displaced Persons, and there's also a research organization that seems to maintain archives.

https://balzekasmuseum.org/displacedpersons/#facebook

http://www.lithuanianresearch.org/

You know, Rainman might be interested in the Balzekas thing....he's Estonian, isn't he?