February 29, 2016 ~ Family Love Tokens

Every time you smile at someone, 

it is an action love,

 a gift to that person, 

a beautiful thing.”
~Mother Teresa

One of my FAVORITE pieces of jewelry is a necklace I had a silversmith friend of mine make for me from my daddy’s family’s love tokens.  During the 1800’s,  people would deface one side of a coin - mine happen to be dimes - and engrave initials, dates, and pictures on the that side. They also placed engravings on rounded pieces of silver.  I have been struggling for years trying to identify the initials and have been successful in some cases.  All of them come from my father’s side of the family. The Hornot’s were French and lived in New Orleans.  A number of years ago  - before Katrina - I spent a week in the genealogy section of the NOLA Pubic Library researching family history, and that is where I was finally able to identify some of the dates and initials. This necklace is another one of my Hornet family “treasures.”

 The following are the pieces that “responded positively” to being photographed!  Many of the tokens are inscribed on both sides. In other words, I couldn’t get the other shots to come out clearly enough to post. I am still having trouble with the silver. At least these will give you an idea of why this necklace is so full of meaning and sentimentality for me.

I am adding one more NEW treasure to this post, and it is a picture done by my granddaughter, Eloise, for her art journal. I gave her one for Christmas 2014, and ever since I started mine I’ve been sharing with her my sketches hoping that she would catch the bug and start sending me some she has done. Well, Saturday she sent me her first and I about flipped out I was so thrilled. I do not know if her mother took a photo of her or she was sitting with her back to the hall closet mirror, but this is of the back of her with her LONG hair that she will cut in June for Locks of Love. Since it is going to continue being a treasure to me - especially since it is her first sketch she has shared - I thought it would be OK to post it here. Oh, I asked her if it would be alright if I posted it on my blog and she said “yes” and  was thrilled to death. It made her so happy...and me, too. She is now 10 years old, and I am smiling at her now.

This post is linked with Tom’s Tuesday’s Treasures.

February 23, 2016 ~ My Daddy’s Pencil & Silver Holder

"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, 

invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears."

~Edgar Allen Poe

This week I am sharing with you a sterling pencil holder which belonged to my daddy.  It was a birthday gift from a very dear friend of his who later became a nun. Her name was Aloise, and she gave it to him March 6, 1914, his 21st birthday. His name was Eugene Marseilles Hornot, and I was named Eugenia after him. My daddy was born in 1893 and lived to be 100+6 months. He and my mother, Mattie Lou, tried 3 times hoping to have a boy. I was the third daughter in row so they decided to quit trying and just name me for him. I love wearing his pencil on a white gold chain, and it is another of my “family treasures”. Please excuse the quality of the pictures, but I am finding it terribly difficult to shoot silver successfully. I always get that glare. Maybe one of these days I will figure it out.

This post is linked with Tom’s Tuesday’s Treasures.

Memories of Days Gone By

This is the college memory book of Marguerite Jett Robinson,

 the grandmother of my three children.It is filled to the brim with treasures and pictures which tell a story of her friends and places she visited.

In Memory of My Mother ~Mattie Lou Crenshaw Hornot

Mother in Her Sailor Blouse

Mother's Long Hair before She Lost It to Malaria

Mother and Her Sister - Vinings, GA

Aunt Palmer (l) Mattie Lou (R)

College Portrait

Mother's Engagement Picture - Atlanta, GA

My Daddy's Favorite Picture of Mother

Mother and Daddy

Mother and Genie in Palm Beach, Florida - c1939-1940

Mother in Pink

 Mother in Blue

 Mother and Daddy in Our Backyard in Palm Beach, Florida

Our Family c1952.

Genie's Wedding Picture ~ June 1961 ~ Old Hickory, Tennessee

Left to Right

Eugene Marseilles Hornot (Daddy), Marguerite Jett Robinson (Ridgley's Mother), Ridgley King Robinson, Jr., Eugenia Crenshaw Hornot Robinson, Mattie Lou Crenshaw Hornot (Mother), Patricia Crenshaw Hornot Turnage (sister), Herbert Jett (Marguerite's Brother)

I am the only one living from this picture.

The last picture I have of my mother before she died. She was at Noreen McKeen, a Catholic extended care facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Because she would try to leave to go home every time she saw a chance, she had to be tied to her chair. She was spunky with a mind of her own until the end!

This post is linked with Our World Tuesday.

In Remembrance ~ 11-11-11 ~ Veteran’s Day

Each year I post this same entry but with updates on the ages of my children. The pictures remain the same as does the story of my daddy and his part in The Great War. Once again this is my contribution to Weekend Reflections - a different kind of reflection, but such an important one for me each year. I am wondering how many there are left of us living who our remembering a parent on this day. 

Eugene Marseilles Hornot 
 Father of Eugenia Hornot Robinson

Born 1893 ~ New Orleans, Louisiana

My Father’s WWI Portrait

Corp of Engineers 

France

The Great War

This picture was taken outside the Smithsonian Museum of American History on my daddy’s last visit to VA. From left to right: Mattie, my eldest child now 49, Eugene Marseilles, my youngest child now 40, and me. We pushed him into where the aging American Flag was hanging in all of it glory. My frail daddy sat erect in the wheelchair, removed his beret, and saluted his flag never saying a word. In 1993, he died at 100 years, 7 months of age. He did not talk about the war, but I know he never really got over what he experienced while serving with the Army Corp of Engineers at the height of WWI. All I know is he rode horseback and was involved in the building of the roads and the trenches.  On this Memorial Day in the USA, Remembrance Day in Canada, Remembrance Day in Australia, and Remembrance Day on Sunday in The United Kingdom, please let us not forget the sacrifices our American, Canadian, British, Irish, Australian, and Scottish veterans made while serving their countries during what was known as “The Great War,” and “The War To End All Wars.” Thanks, too, to the New Zealanders who celebrate their Remembrance Day on Anzac Day, the 25th of April each year. 

Daily Photo~11-11-10~Veteran’s Day 2010~In Memory

Eugene Marseilles Hornot

Born 1893

My Father’s WWI Portrait

Corp of Engineers

France ~ The Great War

This picture was taken outside the Smithsonian Museum of American History on my daddy’s last visit to VA. We pushed him into where the aging American Flag was hanging in all of it glory. My frail daddy sat erect in the wheelchair, removed his beret, and saluted his flag never saying a word. In 1993, he died at 100 years 7 months of age. He did not talk about the war, but I know he never really got over what he experienced while serving with the Army Corp of Engineers at the height of WWI. On this Memorial Day in the USA, Remembrance Day in Canada, and Remembrance Day on Sunday in The United Kingdom, please let us not forget the sacrifices our American, Canadian, British, Irish, and Scottish veterans made while serving their countries during what was known as “The Great War.”