A tablecloth my grandmother crocheted for me and my mother's treasured crystal bowl.
She was a member of many Seniors’ groups in Vancouver and travelled on the bus to a different one everyday. She especially enjoyed the crafts they did and her place was full of things she had made. She also painted hundreds of Royal Doulton type figures. They were just plaster underneath but all the same they looked almost authentic. She loved giving her family these gifts.
Dolls that my grandmother painted especially for me when I was a child.
She never really had anything of value until she was given a gold link bracelet that had belonged to her mother. When relatives from Sweden were visiting they brought this bracelet with them for her. Since it had a reddish tinge and my grandmother always referred to it as “Swedish gold” we felt it probably wasn’t really gold and we had always heard the stories of how poor they were. One day a friend pointed out the "gold mark" and explained how European gold was often made from a copper base so that’s why it looked different from our yellow gold. Also, that even poor families often had their “piece of gold” just in case very dire times arrived. My mother gave me the bracelet many years ago and I have always treasured it.
My greatgrandmother, Kristina Karolina Munson, taken in 1906 in Sweden
My grandmother had little money but was very generous and made sure there was something for her great grandchildren when she died. It was a significant amount of money for someone in her position to save and was very helpful to the recipients. I know she would have deprived herself of little things to be able to do this; but also I know she would have received great pleasure doing it.
