Monday, May 2, 2016

Charmed Life

Tom hosts Tuesday's Treasures.


Sandra from Writing With a Texas Twang wrote about her charm bracelet. That inspired me to pull out mine, take some photos and write about them.
As a trip down memory lane this worked like a charm!


What got this charmed life started? I had a boy pen pal, John Tehan from around Boston. I had tons of pen pals at that point, I was 14 or 15. You would get their names from a section in Teen magazine.

For Christmas one year John (not the John that I married) sent me a charm bracelet with a Christmas tree on it. It wasn't real gold. I replaced the bracelet at some point in my early 20s but kept the Christmas tree in all its worn glory.




My parents bought me my Sweet 16 and my high school graduation charms.

Then I went on my first trip to Ireland (without my parents) and bought the plane, map of Ireland, Blarney Castle, spinning wheel and Claddagh.

The Parliament Buildings in Ottawa were from a trip there.
No idea what the wagon or old shoe represented.
A Date to Remember - from my first wedding? Key - to my heart or first apartment?
There are a few loose charms that should be added.
An ivory elephant - from my sister's years in Africa
A crown - bought in London


I started a silver bracelet some time in my mid to late twenties. These charms date from 1978 to around 1991.



Snwoflake
Lobster trap - trip to Nova Scotia (1990)
Christmas tree
Dice - first trip to Las Vegas (1991)
Coin from Columbia (1998)
Mountie on horseback - Canadian citizenship
God Bless Our Home - purchase of Toronto home (1990)
Harp, leprechaun, shamrock, Various trips to Ireland in 1980s
Cupid - guessing my husband in early 80s
Hat, Aztec calendar Mexican man - various Mexico trips
Bahamas/Jamaica??
Toronto - first trip 1988
Double decker bus - London
Chinese symbol - New York City 1987
Policeman - Barbados
Star fish - St. Lucia
Camera - even then I was taking photos
Bride and Groom - 1987 wedding to John
Knitting needles - because I loved to knit
Beer mug - Happy Birthday

No idea - car, poodle,




After the early 1990s I stopped buying charms.

Third time's a charm!!

AND I resisted the Pandora craze UNTIL I went to DisneyWorld for a friend's birthday in November 2013 and found a cute Minnie Mouse cheap $5 Pandora style charm. It was downhill from there.
I had to buy a bracelet when we stopped in Las Vegas after that and a Vegas charm.



Then I had a gift card so I bought
A flag of the US - we visit there so often that it represents all the various States.
A Venetian gondola - Italy 2004
And it just kept growing as I and my husband bought mementos of some recent trips.
The letter U for my sister who passed away in 2013.
St. Basil in Moscow - 2011
Forum in Rome
Statue of Liberty 2013
Eiffel Tower 2012
Big Ben 2012
Camel Egypt 2007
Windmill Amsterdam
Aloha Hawaii - many trips
Camera - still loving taking photos
Lobster trap PEI 2014
Sydney House represents Australia and New Zealand 2015
Year of the Goat for Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam 2015
Camera black from my BFF
I love you from my husband bought in LV 2015
Palm tree from Palm Springs 2015.

So many now that in March 2016 John bought me another bracelet to handle the overload.



When my Mom died I got her silver charm bracelet. Charms were given to her by my sister, myself and my Dad.
Her bracelet is big and chunky.




Wishbone with a pearl.
DisneyWorld
LOVE
Cuckoo clock
San Francisco - 1989 from me
Flower basket
Maracas - 1977 Spain from me
Key - when they bought their place
Palm tree in heart - Florida
Star fish - Bahamas
Canada flag - getting their Canadian citizenship
Harp, Blarney Castle - trips to Ireland
Christmas lantern - her favourite holiday
Bunch of bananas - St. Lucia from me
Spanish fan - Spain from my sister
Happy Birthday
CN Tower - first trip to Toronto 1987?
MOM
Claddagh - she was born in Ireland
Palm tree - ?
Scissors - she loved to quilt
Camel - Morocco from me
Sea horse
Iron - really??

All photography on Junk Boat Travels are under copyright unless stated otherwise.


12 comments:

  1. What an interesting collection of charm bracelets and every bit is attached with a story of your life. Happy weekend!

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  2. WOW! What an incredible collection! I always was intrigued by charm bracelets, but alas, I never was gifted one ...

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  3. I never had a charm bracele. love how many, and how many charms, you have.

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  4. It is lovely that your charms have such specific memories, and clearly you got the travel bug early on. My favourite charm would obviously be the knitting needles.

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  5. Wow those are all so pretty. When we travelled my sister got a charm bracelet and bought one from every place we went to but since I have a habit of losing things I opted for making a coat of flag patches instead :)

    - Linking over from Saturday Snapshots

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  6. Wow such memories. I never had a charm bracelet but always wanted one. Apparently really didn't. LOL I love all your bracelets and all your info. thanks.
    MB

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  7. What a collection of charm bracelets Jackie. These remind me of my grade school principal Miss St. Helens. She had the most amazing charm bracket. When she would visit our class she would blow a tiny whistle charm. Thanks for sharing and bringing back fond memories. I hope that you return soon.

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  8. I have charm bracelets too. Mostly from my grands. They are wonderful for bringing up treasured memories. Liked this post a lot.

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  9. These truly are magical treasures. All of those memories, represented by charms. (Ironically just this week, I learned that "charm bracelets" got renamed to "pandoras" somewhere along the way.)

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  10. I have always loved charms and still wear both my old gold and silver ones. They will catch on my clothes, but I don't care. I still LOVE them and I really loved seeing yours.

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  11. How much fun is that! I love your charm bracelet and all the charms. A very special treasure, holding many memories.

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