The Roll Top Junk Desk

We don't have any junk drawers in our house, and our attic and cellar are pretty much empty.  But we do have a junk desk.

I am not a fan of oak, but when old enough, it is a little better.   This roll top desk was made by Macey in Grand Rapids, Michigan somewhere between 1896 and 1908.  It was always in my parents' house growing up and they apparently got it from the back of a friend's old barn.

This is for items that either

• are transient, like the older of our two Lotuff briefcases between trips out, and a borrowed book (1914) 
• just don't have a real home in our house, like this decoy my grandfather carved.  

This is a purgatory more in the Tim Burton than Dante sense.

Various trip artifacts: Valued or impediment for future generations?   The labels are from the MFIT Ivy Style exhibition.  The tiger was brought back from India.

My old riding helmet: It must be HEPA certified.  It doesn't just collect dust, it sucks it from adjacent rooms.  I need to find room for it in a bookshelf with glass doors.

These cast iron Maine Fisherman bookends from the 1920s or 1930s first belonged to my great grandmother and can be seen in our family photographs over four generations.

The glass insulators were each a thank you from the 90+year old farmer whose field abutted ours.  As a young girl I would bake apple pies and walk them over to him.  He never failed to reciprocate promptly with the glass pie dish spotless, an insulator or silver coin in hand, along with a bag of his potatoes and a dozen of his eggs.  He never went to the front door, always the back,  and he never came inside.

Monogrammed Tiffany silver baby cup, gift from the Chancellor of Brown, is for now perfect for paper clips.

Brown v Princeton tickets.  Our team won that game. Or lost. Or tied.

Ferry schedules and reservations.

Alumni magazines from our prep schools, colleges and summer camps, all looking for money- with profiles of friends and this round, family.  My husband's day school profiled him in their latest issue.

I could not not include the attire of last year's graduating  class.

Little Clogs Brought Back From Delft

Back up Leather Man key chains. I am still working on one from 25 years ago, but it will wear out eventually.

DVD of On Golden Pond: great boat, nice clothes, and overall not bad for inland.

This little plover was purchased years ago from the Sea Gull Shop in Pemaquid  (labelled for Sartre).

My day school letters for field hockey.

Nantucket Knotworks bracelets: The real deal.  Every year I wear them to increasingly less informal events.  So far so good.

The Orvis dog collar which is basically put on only once a year for his annual trip to the vet.

Checks from Lands End for numerous khakis returns.

Moleskine notebooks: Folio A4 Notebook Squared.  Data will survive EMP.

Refill coins for Lotuff coin purse.

Little rocks from the shore on a bigger rock from the shore.

Decoy notecards: Put out by Dukes County Historical Society in Edgartown and on sale on Vineyard (off-season) for one dollar a pack.  I bought all 36 packs. Now, I am down to 17.

Vineyard summer house pictures taken about 20 years ago - Not good enough to scan or preserve, not bad enough to throw away. So here they stay.

And then there is the dear old friend who, while exceptionally generous to me, also mercilessly mocks the blog.  Evidence of this can be seen in how he addresses the envelopes.

He sends me photos of his newest acquisitions and interesting people that he knows/we know.

...was just featured in this article from the Bowdoin Orient.

And the wonderfully old fashioned post cards that I so love to receive.