I've finally found a little time and motivation intersecting in the same Venn diagram simultaneously and at once, and at the same time altogether to allow me to hang a couple of instruments.
A few more to go!
I am reclaiming my space.
That dobro did once hang more or less in that spot many years ago but was gone for a time.
It happened like this.
About five or more years back, herself needed some dental work and we were pretty short of money. I took the dobro off the wall (and a Gibson ES-165) down to the local music store to sell them for quick cash.
I had bought these instruments decades ago when they were fairly new.
The music store was interested at once! They took my instruments in back and were gone with them for an uncomfortable amount of time.
I wasn't troubled by it. I knew that if some rando turns up in their store with instruments, that they'd run the serial numbers on them through the local police to make sure they were not stolen. Probably were running my name as well.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what they did.
Anyway, they came back with money that was of course less than I knew the instruments to be worth, but I didn't have the time to sell them privately and get top dollar.
Never the less, I was happy for the money and went home to tell herself tl schedule a dental appointment.
The next evening, a bit after sundown, herself stepped outside to retrieve a food delivery and came back in with a guitar case.
"What's this?" She asked.
"It must be that beater acoustic I lent to my nephew Ray a few months back. Guess he returned it, and with a case no less!
When I opened the case, inside was the dobro.
As it turned out, an old high school friend - whom I hadn't even seen in over twenty years - was a cop on the local police force, and the music store's inquiry about my instruments came across his desk.
He cleared my credentials with them, of course, but steeped in the fond memories of us hanging out, playing music, good times, and the instruments, I owned back in the day, he raced to the music store as soon as he could get away to buy the instruments.
The Gibson ES-165 had already sold by then, I am sorry to say, but he bought my dobro, and left it by my front door as a gift returned to me with a kind note.
The instrument might not be magic.
A sincere friendly gesture spanning decades of time is.
This instrument will NEVER leave me now!
There's a story with the huge tree photo too, and the banjo, but neither are nearly as interesting 😆
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Lori
That's such a lovely story! I'm glad you got your dobro back. And I'm glad you get to hang it back up now! 🥰
💖💘💜💙🧡💛
by Cranky Old Witch
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medeuxsa
That's amazing!
Thought to answer the question you asked you asked in my bulletin here rather than there.
There's no story with the tree. There was, but not my story. I'll get to that.
It's the picture that's sentimental.
Yes, trees are my friends and so were they to my mom as well.
In fact, she quite admired the photography of Ansell Adams, but especially his tree photos.
This is not an Ansell Adams photo, however.
But it was a tree story.
The photo originates from a local story in our local newspaper about a local tree. I don't know the story, as I hadn't read the article, but yes, there was a story about the tree. You'll have to forgive me that I'm not sure if I ever knew the story at all, as it was at 'east twenty, and perhaps more like twenty-five years ago.
My mom, who had an eye for such things, saw the article and fell in love with the photo. Something about the off-center asymmetrical framing of the tree and the vaguely foggy atmosphere pleased her to no end. I must admit, I like it too.
Anyway, she had cut out that photo and tacked it to a board so she could look at. But she like the photo so much that she wrote to the newspaper to inquire if she could buy a print of the actual photograph so she could have a nice, frameable copy, and asked them how much they should like to charge.
The paper sent her the original photo for FREE. All nicely rolled up so it wouldn't be damaged.
She then has the photo professionally enlarged to the massive size you see above. Her intent was to hang it above the mantle in the familial estate (read: Broken down old farm house of a half a century of my family's existence).
I was a woodworker at the time, so she asked me to make the frame, which I gladly did.
The photo hung over the mantle for a number of years until, my father already passed, and her empty nested in this big old farm house that was already a maintenance nightmare, she sold out and moved to an apartment.
She hung the (framed) SMALLER photograph in her apartment, but couldn't part with this large one, so she stored it.
And so it sat until she passed away a couple of years ago, and thus I've finally now hung this in my living room. For her sake, and because the photo even on its own merits pleases me too. Like mother, like daughter.
Addendum: I have the original photo from her apartment. It's sitting on my dresser, and I think I'll hang it today in my bedroom.
by Cranky Old Witch
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Wow, that's an incredible story indeed!!! I bet the smaller picture will look lovely in your bedroom :)
by medeuxsa; ; Report
Hung it today. It does cheer me a bit 😊
by Cranky Old Witch
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Kayla⟡
wow what a cool story :)
Just a magic little story 😊
by Cranky Old Witch
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Genxennial
Wow that’s awesome!
💙💙💙
by Cranky Old Witch
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Witchy Cuban Crocodile
Wow!
And I just took it down again, gave it a proper cleaning and put on new strings (thank the gods when I out away my guitars seven or eight years ago it was with extra strings for most of them!).
Then I ripped into a couple of delta blues tunes and realized I can still play the thing!
Even Bill popped his head in and said "Wow, mom, that sounds great!" He did not say that about my banjo playing 😅😅😅
by Cranky Old Witch
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Oh, my gods! I bet you sounded great!
by Witchy Cuban Crocodile; ; Report