My Clocks

You can't turn back the clock but you can wind it up again.

After posting the ten Boom clock I thought you might enjoy seeing some of MY clocks. Of course they've all been gifts from Mom and Dad but they are mine. They each have a story around them... I hope I get them right.
The kitchen clock. This is a key wind up clock that hung in the kitchen on the family farm when Dad was growing up. There's a little screw on the bottom of the pendulum to adjust the swing and speed of the clock. The numbers are hand painted on the front. You can look closely and see the pencil lines where someone measured out the placement and drew the numbers in. The decals were added many years after it's purchase. Dad offered to take them off and repaint the clock but I wanted it just like it is.
The wall clock. Dad got this one for about $5. back in the 1960's. He'd buy things before people were collecting them. It hung in the Fairbanks scale house on our farm for many years, keeping spiders and mice company as it hung out there in cold winters and hot summers. I always asked him when and if he was going to refinish it someday. It seemed lonely and forgotten out there. When he was finally refinishing it, I etched the glass in the bottom square by using a casserole lid to make the oval where the acid didn't reach and painted the glass black with a gold trim on top. Dad offered to get a new face for me but I appreciate the original. This also gets wound by a key.
The alarm clock. The "Early Bird" gets the worm. I remember the day this clock came into our home in a box of clocks and parts Dad got at an auction or on a random search. (I'll have to ask him.) It's always fun to search through a box of treasures and as a youngster I picked this one out quickly when I saw the robin that has a tug of war with a worm going in and out, on each tick of the clock. This clock sat on our fireplace mantle for many years and entertained children and adults alike. I mentioned how much I liked the clock and a few years ago was surprised with it as a birthday present.
My Dad loves clocks. I've seen him take many of them apart and put them back together again. He's got everything from the large 9 foot grandfather clock, a chiming Waterbury grandfather clock that chimes every 15 minutes (it's normally not going as the chimes keep a person up all night) and it also keeps track of the moon phases, a clock with wooden gears, a pool clock for timed matches, to many pocket watches and of course everything in-between. He's fixed many a clock for friends and neighbors and I've sorted clock and watch parts in the basement for him where he has a work place. I guess you could say his obsession for clocks has rubbed off on Mom as she enjoys his collection, as it decorates the home, whether it's against a wall, on a table top, or across our fireplace mantle. I guess you could say it has rubbed off on his children too...

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.