Playing In Mom's Old Jewelry Box

Don't get me started looking at old jewelry.

I had asked my mom to salvage some old paper jewelry boxes for me, which caused her to pull out her entire jewelry collection (whoops).  Her jewelry is a veritable treasure trove: hidden away, barely looked at, dusty and in need of shining, resembling a simple pile of junk, but filled with plenty of gems.

Whenever the collection surfaces, I can spend forever pouring over it, opening up each box and zippered pouch, pulling out bracelets, single earrings, rings that I try to fit on my fingers.  Maybe because I love jewelry so much myself--I love making it and buying it and of course wearing it--I find such a strong connection to these old pieces, and especially to the people who wore them.

Many of these items belonged to my grandmother.  Though I only knew her for a short time, I've always appreciated her sense of style and elegance.  My mom tells about where she had gotten different items, or what occasions she had worn them for.  The collection also includes a lot of my mom's old jewelry.  Though her taste is a bit more subdued than my own, I am excited to pull out pieces I remember her wearing in my childhood (which are unmistakeably out of the 80s and 90s), and especially pieces from her own youth in the 60s and 70s.

One piece I found that was just too cool to let disappear again into the shadowy abyss of the closet was a lucite watch with a gold bangle band.  My mom laughed when I pulled it out.  "You like that mod watch?" she asked incredulously.  "Of course!" I said.  "It's so cool!"  She laughed some more so I asked why she thought it was weird that I liked it.  She said, "Because it's old! It's from the 60s or 70s!"  My response: "Exactly!"

Sadly, most of my mother's clothes and accessories from that time (which would be vintage gems now) have been discarded over the years.  But I'm excited to have found the watch, and will wear this "old, mod" thing with pride!

What vintage treasures have you found in your own home?  What contemporary items do you think one day our daughters will be excited to discover?

What a Medieval Handbook Taught Me About Sex

I happened across another fascinating find in my endless sorting of art transparencies at work this week: pages from the Tacuinum Sanitatis.  The Tacu-what? you may ask... Well, I had no clue either, but after a couple of days steeped in images of medieval illuminated manuscripts, this one caught my eye (obviously).

Even better, the caption reads:

Coitus. Nature: It is the union of two for the purpose of introducing the sperm. Optimum: That which lasts until the sperm has been completely emitted. Usefulness: It preserves the species. Dangers: It is harmful to those with cold and dry breathing. Neutralization of the Dangers: With sperm-producing foods.

Seriously, slightly risque nature aside, this was just too precious not to share. You can prevent the dangers of sex with sperm-producing foods? Good to know.

Of course, after my discovery I immediately looked up the Tacuinum Sanitatis, which turns out to be a handbook on health and well being. Included among this entry are others on various fruits and vegetables, herbs, flowers, and foods, and information about when they are good, what they are good for, and whom they are good for.  Warm water, for instance, apparently has a cold and humid nature and is particularly good for cold temperaments, old people, and in cold regions. Roses are good for inflamed brains, but can cause headaches in certain people.

Even seasons are represented.  Here's an appropriate entry:

Autumn. Nature: Moderately cold in the second degree. Optimum: Its central period. Usefulness: when one proceeds gradually toward opposites, as for example, toward warmth and dampness. Dangers: It is harmful to moderate temperatures and to those predisposed toward consumption. Neutralization of the Dangers: By the application of moist elements, and with baths. Effects: Increases melancholy humors. It is suitable to warm and damp temperaments, to the young and adolescent, in warm and damp regions, or in temperate areas.

I don't know much about health and medicine, but as silly as some of these descriptions sound, I wonder how much of it is accurate, or close to it.  These statements must be at least partly based in effects that people experienced, even if the causes were attributed wrong.

What is fascinating to me is that even if completely inaccurate and quaint, there is a universality to this way of thinking, as a way to understand our bodies and nature.  Don't we still have sorts of guides like this today?  That tell us to eat a certain food or the benefits of certain activities.  If anything, we've probably taken simple everyday things and broken them down even more and made them more scientific.  Makes me wonder if 500 years from now someone will unearth a copy of the South Beach Diet and wonder, what the hell were those people thinking?

Anyone else find this stuff interesting?  Any other health advice of today that you think people will look back at and laugh?