Heather Marie Wells

In previous posts I’ve talked about how I actually use some of my heirlooms or in other cases I wasn’t sure what to do with my heirloom .   Today I want to talk about another way to use an heirloom or a keepsake. I recently found a favorite childhood necklace of mine. You can tell it’s been well loved from the stains and fraying of the ribbon.  Again this is not something that has monetary value, it just has sentimental value to me. I loved ballet as I child. I read every ballet book in my elementary school library. I watched ballet as often as it was on the local PBS station, mostly The Nutcracker at Christmas. I dreamed of being a prima ballerina, but sadly lessons were never available in my small community. But somehow this necklace always made me feel special. I don’t remember where the necklace came from - the store, who gave it to me, or if it was given to me on a special occasion. But I remember the feeling it gave me every time I wore it - like my dreams were still possib

I love this time of year, there’s just something about Halloween through Epiphany that speaks to my soul. Halloween is just good fun, we get to shed our daily personalities and be what we want for an evening. Then Thanksgiving really is a time for me to reflect on what I’m thankful for and at the heart of that is always my family. I always think about them in a more pressing, way if that makes sense, starting in November and through Advent and into Christmas. The past years of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals tumble through my mind.  I think of how we’ve grown and aged. I remember and re-mourn those we have lost. I delight and rejoice in those we have gained. When Advent comes I love getting out the decorations and ornaments as they bring back old memories to life - as you know from my past writings this is particularly true of my handmade ornaments . But I have another collection that comes out of storage this year that also means a lot to me. My Christmas cards.  You might be ask

This time of year excites me for so many reasons. I love the holidays. I love spending time with my family. We get together and eat wonderful food that’s been passed down for generations and afterward most of the menfolk nap all around the house and the women and kids play board games. Although these last few years playing board games has been more difficult with so many toddlers!    Once Thanksgiving is over, Advent and Christmas decorating, and preparations begin! Some say I go a little crazy decorating – yes, I even decorate my bathrooms. I don’t know maybe its because I’m the daughter of a second generation real bearded Santa or maybe it’s just because I still have a childlike heart when it comes to the magic and wonders of Christmas, but either way no surface of my house goes undecorated. I’ve been known to have seven trees of various sizes up during a season. And that’s when I get to see some of my most prized possessions after nearly a year in storage. Handmade ornaments. These

I often get asked about what supplies I keep on hand at my own house for helping me organize and care for historical objects. I’ll confess I’ve not been the best at keeping them organized but I’ve recently been inspired to get my tools more organized. But I’ll share with you some of my top tools and you might be surprised at how many you might already have too. A #2 mechanical pencil - We try to do no harm to what we’re taking care of and that also means that the majority of things we do needs to be reversible. Hence pencil not ink. I prefer #2 pencils because they tend not to smudge. A gum eraser - Mistakes happen. I prefer gum erasers because they are softer and tend to cause less damage. The last thing you want to do is rub a whole in your photo or document while you are trying to erase something. But they are messy so be prepared for that with brushes, a trash can and a handy vac. pH testing pe

  Well, I’m still looking for the interview tapes of my grandfather and my mother-in-law. In this round I’ve learned not to trust labels. I found a commercial tape in a “homemade” cassette holder. That prompted me to go back through all my commercial tapes and look in the cases. I found some home tapes in them and got all my commercial tapes back in their cases. I found a tape that was labeled with my husband’s name, but I listened to it anyway. It was an accompaniment tape from my voice lessons. I updated the label. I found another tape that was labeled Heather’s Birthday Present. I listened to it. Turns out it was my birthday present TO my husband. I updated the label to be more precise.  So what did I uncover in this round of listening? Lip Sync contest tape from Elementary School. I still can’t believe we didn’t win with Ghostbusters. But also on that tape was my sister singing, and the B side was some square dance calling. I’m going to have to ask my parents if they recognize the

  Like a lot of people, I have heirlooms in my collection that I have no idea what to do with. The best example is probably something most people wouldn’t be able to identify by looking at it. It’s the steel toe from a work boot. In fact it’s the steel toe from one of my maternal grandfather’s work boots. My sister has the other one. Grandpa didn’t give them to us. In fact no one in the family gave them to us. My sister built her house on an acre of land next to where my grandparents lived, close to where Grandpa’s work shed had been. Our best guess is that these were from a discarded pair of work boots he wore while working on the railroad. The leather from the boots probably long since decayed leaving the steel toes. The archeologist in me kind of wants to dig around some more and see what else might be found, but I’m not sure my sister would appreciate turning her flower beds into a muddy mess. So in the meantime, I’m going to be using a soft bristle brush to get rid of any loose di