Cameos and DH’s Gibson guitar

 

Hi Folks ~ I hope you all are enjoying cooler temps.  It is still very warm and humid down here in s.e. FL. It is 6:34 EST and 80 degrees. The big ‘low’ for tonight, 76. Fall isn’t quite here yet.  Although, it is much nicer than it was last month and all summer long. The rain is staying to the north of us though, which is a bummer.

Today my cameos, that I ordered last week, came in the mail.  They are made of lucite, so not the ‘real’ cameos. I have two real ones that we bought in a little shop in Florence, Italy in 1973, when we were touring Europe for 60 days before we came home. DH had been in the US Navy, stationed in Rota, Spain for three years and before coming home, we traveled by Eurail, with backpacks, canteens, the book ‘Europe on $5-$10 a day’, and some maps. We bought these two cameos, and I put them in my jewelry box when we got home and life went on, and I forgot about them so we didn’t do anything with them. Now my mind is clicking with ideas.

I got out the little box shown below.

The largest one is a little over 3/4 of an inch. The small one is 1/2 inch.

I googled the name and address and they are still in business. They’ve been in business since 1868. WOW!

Here is a link to their website. G. Ugolini

Obviously, they sold unset cameos, and no doubt, that is what we could afford at the time, fresh out of the Navy, etc.

I got some pics taken from August of this year from Google maps. This from the store front.

It looks like the lady is opening up in this photo.  Look how quiet the street is, amazing. Looking at the angle of the sun, maybe it is afternoon, after siesta time?

See the bridge on the right below?  That bridge is famous and has lots of neat little shops hanging out over the water on both sides. I just did a google search on it and found this info on Wikipedia.

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The Ponte Vecchio is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers.  In fact, I think we bought these cameos from a little shop on this bridge, not in that larger shop, so maybe Ugolini sold in a space there too, since tourists flock this bridge. We were a couple of tourists having a great time.

You can read about the bridge here.

Here’s a better picture from wikipedia.

Florence is a lovely old city and we were thrilled to be there. Two young people, 24-25, touring Europe, in 1973. The memories have been locked in our hearts since then. We went to nine countries on that trip, a trip of a life-time.

So, there you have another little part of our 43 years together.

Now here’s another little story about our life. DH played the electric guitar, he had a black, solid body Gibson that he played for years. As a teen he played the drums, bass guitar, and harmonica, in Spain he bought an acoustic guitar, and started playing to Bob Dylan albums and others. (Rock ‘n rollers at heart). His favorite group back then was the Rolling Stones. Our love of music grew together and he was a lead player and could play some good runs.  I enjoyed listening to him play with different albums through the years. Since he left this planet for his heavenly home, the guitar was just sitting in it’s case. I decided to give it to a young man who plays the electric guitar at the church I am attending. He was thrilled. He ordered classic knobs to the guitar’s year make, 1980, had it rewired and a couple other things, and played it for the first time in the church band this past Sunday. Him telling me what all he did to it and how much he liked it brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.  I told him DH is glad he has it.

Here are pics I took Sunday morning. The band was short 2-3 members that morning but still good.

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OK, here are my lucite cameos, and one cabochon painted with flowers.

Also the little cluster of beads, are fresh water pearls. I got two of each of the cameos, except for getting 4 of the flamingos, and four of the small rose cameos, and 2 clusters of pearls. Aren’t they neat?

This is my latest bracelet that I’m working on.  First you make beaded netting, then the string of beaded leaves on vine, which is not fully tacked down yet. Then you make the little beaded roses, not tacked in place yet either, just there for showing. This will close by two snaps. I’m not sure I’ll use these pink roses, I have another bead in mind, and I want to make tiny flowers to add too.

A few of the commenters suggested looking at thrift stores and yard sales for beads, and I do that along with buying from my local shop, and online.

Well, that’s it for another glimpse into life here at Plum Cottage.

FlowerLady