Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sings the Rooster

As a little girl one of my favorite things to do was to go through my mom's jewelry box. Even if there was nothing new, I loved seeing and touching and re-telling the stories of where different pieces came from.

Like, once when we lived in Florida mom found a beached shark and noticed something shiny in it's mouth. She reached down and pulled out a 24 carat gold bracelet. She had it melted down into 2 beautiful one of a kind free-form gold pendants for her and my dad.

And my dad always had the best turquoise rings. I've inherited two of them and they are exquisite. Straight off the reservation...or out of the 60's, take your pick.
Recently my Grandmommy, my dad's mom, gave me the greatest pendant, one that happened to be my dad's. Turns out she swiped it from his dresser recently so she could give it to me. Oops.

This little rooster is from a church group my dad used to be quite involved in called Cursillo. He used to come home in the most colorful shirts, with he and my mom beaming from ear to ear with the most wonderful stories, and as he'd tuck me into bed he'd sing De Colores. Sometimes he'd even sing it in Spanish. Here is the English version. (My favorite part was the pio pio.)

All in color; all in color
The fields love to dress in
All during the springtime.

All in color; all in color
The birds have their clothing
That come every season.

All in color; all in color
The rainbow is vested
Across the blue sky

All in color; and so must all love be
Of every bright color
To make my heart cry.

All in color; and so must all love be
Of every bright color
To make my heart cry.

Sings the rooster; sings the rooster
With his quiri, quiri
quiri, quiri, quiri.

And the cluck-hen; and the cluck-hen
With her cara, cara,
cara, cara, cara.

And the babe-chicks; and the babe-chicks
With their pio, pio
pio, pio, pio.

All in color; and so must all love be
Of every bright color
To make my heart cry.

All in color; and so must all love be
Of every bright color
To make my heart cry.

What is something that is passed down in your family? Do you have any heirloom jewelry?

11 comments:

Halen said...

I love your pictures! I have a sweet double strand pearl necklace that my grandma wore when she was Homecoming Queen, and that I wore in my wedding. It is currently in pieces in a jewelry box, but this makes me want to get it repaired!

stephanie said...

I know that song! We used to sing it in a church group called Chrysalis (the adult version is Emmaus or something like that). The pio pio part is my favorite as well :)

FEDERICA said...

Lovely, lovely, lovely blog!!

Dionne said...

What pretty pieces! I love turquoise! I have such a vast taste in jewelry. Sometimes I like cheapy Forever 21 necklaces, other times I want to wear pearls, and other times I want to bling out in diamonds.

I don't have any inherited jewelry. My mum and grandmas all had skinny fingers, so none of their rings would ever fit me, and that's the only jewelry they were into - rings - not so much necklaces and bracelets. I never used to be into necklaces and bracelets either - it's only been in the last 2 years. Even earrings. I got my ears pierced when I was a little girl and then went for all high school and all college with naked ears. I only started wearing them again when I moved to the US.

cee + kell said...

Why are you so freakin' cute!? Goodness, Lou, I love being related to you.

My favorite piece of inherited jewelry would be the lovely peridot ring that was my mom's. She gifted it to me on my 16th birthday...fitting since it's my birth stone.

Gaia said...

Hy piggy,
what are my plans for the weekend? I don't know yet, maybe I'll go to the beach ...It depends on what my lovely boy would like to do. Next week i'll go to formentera, a spain Island, for 5 days with my friend. I can't wait!!!
Thanks for your nice comment!!!
p.s.: I have a beautiful pair of old earings that my granny gave me...

Gaia said...

Forgot to say: you are so beautiful and you have such a contagious smile! thanks to write me in italian too!!!!!

Gaia said...

whenever you want we can "speak" Italian...
the correct spelling is "Zampetta" (dzampeta (spelling?)!"
we can change for a bit...You'll come to Italy I'll come to the States! Do you?

Love
gaia

carla thorup said...

i loved all your comments chica! at first when i saw 5 new emails i thought you'd accidentally posted the same comment multiple times.. but nope... 5 new ones and i just felt so special! and i haven't tried the Red Rocks restaurant, but i'll put it on our list for this summer! and if you do come to down, we'll have to pull a Dionne and plan a little blog-meeting lunch or something!

and i am so glad people can relate to living with relatives. things may be changing soon... but it seems we've hit a wall and that's where the emotions come. yay for husbands to hug us!

oh, and there are restaurants in Ecuador called Pio Pio b/c that's the sound a spanish chicken makes! the cutest is to hear little children speaking spanish, and when asked what a chicken sounds like they all yell "pio pio!" so darn cute.

and congrats on graduating!! good luck making those next life decisions :)

Pamela said...

Okay, let me get this straight....your mother found a 24 k gold bracelet in a beached shark's mouth?! Holy freaking cow!! That is the coolest thing I've ever heard, er, I mean read!!! Very impressive indeed!

I inherited a pair of my Great Grandma's jade earrings...they are pretty special. I loved, and still love going through my Mom's jewelry box. She had such a neat collection of earrings and rings. She is no longer with us, and at the moment her jewelry is put away in my parent's safe. Someday my Dad is going to give them away to the daughters and granddaughters but I think he wants to wait awhile.

Beautiful song, by the way!!

Wren said...

I love this! I don't have any inherited jewelry, either, but my grandma and mum have both saved their wedding dresses!

It's so nice to have things that hold value because of their history and stories!

xo