Thursday, September 18, 2008

Treasures

It being Spring, a little cleaning is in order. Cleaning, I might add, that should have taken place some… time ago.

Beneath the stairs has been a storage area since my parents moved into the house, um… a little over twenty years ago? Yeah, I know, but no-one – and I do have five siblings – actually got to it. Until now.

Now, I need the space and it seemed like a good idea… at the time. Man… the dust and cobwebs; a real big ‘ick’ there.

Under the stairs I found a couple of boxes. Inside those boxes were memories mixed in with old kitchen stuff; a pair of Russian tea glasses for example, bought for my mother for Christmas one year. Nearly a dozen soda bottles. Ahh, yes.

I can recall sitting near my Dad, in the kitchen on a hot Summer's day, as he poured in a little flavouring and then put the bottle into a Soda Stream – metal, in those days – and a ‘tssssst’ noise coming from it. He took the bottle out, and voila, fizzy drink! I have no idea what happened to the actual Soda Stream machine, maybe it’s hiding somewhere else in the house.

A heat lamp for when my sibs and I crashed and burned on some sporting field and needed some tlc for strains and sprains; still works, too.

Small toys that various nieces and nephews dropped through the steps, and a real treasure, wine!

Tragically, some of the corks leaked on the 1970s reds, but there’s wine from the ‘60s and one – I kid you not – from 1959; it’s some years older than me. Whether any are drinkable, I’ll leave to my brother/brother-in-law. There’s port, too. Unopened Hanwood and Galway Pipe, and a commemorative 1983 bottle, also unopened. Further rummaging revealed Black Douglas, Vicker’s Gin, Glennfiddich and still wrapped in paper, Dom Benedictine. There is also a mysterious substance in two cordial bottles – my mother thinks they’re home-made cumquat liqueur, but isn’t brave enough to try it; neither am I.

I can only think that since my mother isn’t a drinker – a sip or two is her limit – that the bottles have lain undisturbed since my father died eighteen years ago.

But, it’s all clean. Now, I have to vacuum and it’s ready for more storage – stuff that won’t lie about for another twenty years.

It’s good to de-clutter, to clear out stuff that hasn’t been used, and never will be used to make space available.

Hmm… try the wine or wait? Try the wine or… wait…

3 comments:

Pandababy said...

New Year's 2010 -- a wine tasting party to welcome in the New Year, invite all the relatives and friends? just a thought...

But the port, hmm. I've read that port usually improves with age (wine, maybe or maybe not). So maybe save the port for after a very special dinner party?

What fun to find all that.

Jaye Patrick said...

Amazing. I've walked past all these treasures for years thinking 'I should get to that' but never did.

I'll just have to be patient with the siblings before I can open any though - they might get bent out of shape if they miss out!

Anonymous said...

Its not that we would think we would be missing out on anything. It is that is was mum and dads and it is mums house and mums things!! Last time I looked she was still alive!