52 Photowalks - Week 6

For this weeks photowalk, I decided to walk my way through my curio cabinet.  It's full of so many momentos I've collected through the years.  Some of the items are there because I think they are beautiful.  Others are there because they represent important times in my life. 

My very first piano teacher brought all of her piano students home a stone elephant from Mexico one year.  That was only about 30 or so years ago.  I still can't believe to this day, that I ever kept track of it that long.

This beautiful angel came from my first (and only) trip to Mexico with my parents and sisters.  I fell in love with it the moment I laid eyes on it.  I can't even remember when that was, but it was the longest five days of my husbands life as he stayed home with our kids.

Can you go to Mexico and not bring home some of these fun little bobbing head turtles? 

The pottery we purchased from the Polynesian Cultural Center on our first (and only) trip to Hawaii. 

I don't even know what this is, but my sister in law brought it back from her first (but not only) trip to China.

My inlaws brought back this beautiful marble chess set from their first (and only) cruise to Mexico.

Then there was the time my mom and sisters went back east without me... okay, that happened many times, but that's what I get for having babies while their kids were teenagers.  Mom brought me back this cute little knick-knack from Niagra Falls, I think.

Speaking of my babies... ah... cute little munchable baby hands.  Okay, nobody wants to munch on a plaster baby hand, but awww... I sure miss those itty bitty fingers...

And toes... awwww....

A couple of years ago, I helped my in-laws move into their new house.  They were going to toss out this porcelain LDS temple, simply because they received it at a wedding of a cousin that had long since fallen apart from infidelity.  I always loved it, and wasn't too familiar with this cousin, so I asked if I could have it and they gladly let me.

And to thank me for gladly helping my father in law clean out cupboards and drawers in their old house (while my mother in law was at work) that hadn't been touched in years (that was an... interesting job... ewww), they gave me a beautiful willow tree figurine. 

She's just one of my eight willow tree figurines, most of which I can't remember where I got them or why... except this one which I bought in memory of my dear friend Kylie who lost her life a few years ago to depression. 

Speaking of dear friends... my dear friend Roberta used to make porcelain before she got into making beads.  I took advantage of her porcelain making abilities and filled my cabinet with some of her best pieces. Including this Angel Moroni...

a 17 piece nativity set...

And my favorite... a Christus statue. 

There is a second angel Moroni... what's left of the cake topper from my wedding 18 1/2 years ago.  Sort of.  That's a long story I'll save for another day. 

And finally... my only red dish.  My mom has in her curio cabinet, a most beautiful set of red dishes (a tea set) made of Cranberry Crystal that has been passed down through the family for several generations.  Everybody in the family thinks they ought to be the ones to inherit the beautiful red dishes.  Well, dad decided that he would put an end to the fights by buying everyone their own dish to have.  Didn't work because they weren't the red dishes from mom's curio cabinet.  So, he bought MORE for mom's curio cabinet.  Still didn't work.  Needless to say, mom and dad have finally made their decision as to which child gets those red dishes... and lets just say, I'm going to have to make room in my curio cabinet someday for those red dishes.  But, I hope not for a very long time. 

There's many more pieces in my curio cabinet... aren't you glad I didn't show you them all?