Friday Show & Tell
Vintage Opal Ring

I'm so glad you could join me for another show and tell sponsored by my friend Kelli.

Today I would like to tell a little bit about my Grammy because she is, without a doubt, the most interesting person I have ever known. Grammy was born in 1906 and raised in North Dakota where she came from very humble beginnings. She lived with her family in a tiny cabin that was far away from any town. As a child I always loved to hear Grammy's stories because they were just like the ones I would read about in the Little House books.

Grammy said that she would have to put rocks on her quilts to keep them from blowing off of her at night when the cold winter winds would whip through the cracks in the cabin. She only went to school during the Fall and Spring because of the high snows and bitter temperatures. In the late Fall she said that by the time she and her pony Snowball had arrived at the schoolhouse her bottle of ink would be frozen solid. When she would arrive the teacher would immediately take her hands and rub them with snow to keep them from getting frost bitten. As I child I loved to hear about the coyotes that lived around them. She tells a wonderful story about a time when she came face to face with one but I will save that for another post!. She would always make sure not drink very much before bed because she was afraid a coyote would get her on the way to their outhouse! I have a lifetime of my Grammy's stories that I love to revisit, it somehow makes me feel like she is right here beside me!

Grammy was a tiny little thing, but make no mistake, she was a real spitfire!! She had such a great sense of determination and she accomplished so much in her lifetime. In order to complete her high school education she moved to town where she lived in a boarding house. Because she wasn't a resident in town she had to pay tuition, so she worked at the boarding house to pay for her schooling, as well as her rent. She was a wonderful student and after graduation she made the big decision to move to Washington D.C. where she had training for secretarial work. When she finished her training she got a job with the government and when she got her first paycheck she could hardly believe that she had actually made that much money!! She had never seen money like that in her lifetime. With that first paycheck she bought a radio for her Mom & Dad in North Dakota and needless to say it brought her much happiness to do so.

While walking down the streets of DC one day she happened to spy a beautiful ring in the window of a jewelry store. Now, normally she would never even think of buying such an extravagant thing but she said she felt like she was drawn to this ring. She ventured inside the store and put the ring on her hand. That's all it took, she was sold!! After that, this ring hardly ever left her finger. It is technically called a precious opal but it is precious to me not because of it's beauty but because of it's owner! I was fortunate enough to be given this ring when Grammy passed away and I will surely treasure it always.



The ring was from the 1920's.....