A-Tisket, A-Tasket

Posted on by Victoria
No, this isn’t Wynne’s precious pup, Cooper. But it could be. I couldn’t resist!

Last week a former client gave me a beautiful gift. To most anyone’s eyes it probably looks like a simple basket, but she knew better. After spending arduous days cleaning out her mother-in-law’s house, she kept returning to a pile of baskets. Well-worn and used with a patina earned over time, carrying household objects, fruit, or nicknacks. The basket she gifted to me was her mother-in-law’s “clippings” basket:

Do you know someone who’s a ‘clipper’ Maybe even you? Print newspapers have gone by the wayside in the publishing world and for those who continue to subscribe (if a print copy is an option) the cost is high. Prohibitively so, pushing readers to digital alternatives. Not bad, perhaps but definitely different. If you’re a clipper.

My friend’s mother-in-law? She didn’t care about the cost. It was one of her few indulgences despite her limited income. She delighted in saving “stories” from her morning newspaper perusal.

She kept a small pair of scissors in her basket, and they were sharp! Used exclusively for clippings. As aging took hold, she became less adept at dispersing and delivering the items she’d find and save, but her intentions were golden. Her efforts included recipes, mentions of children or grandchildren’s accomplishments, honor roll announcements, sports or career achievements and local news about marriages. Even poignant obituaries. And of course – coupons. (If you missed my friend Michael’s post recently, about coupons, you must take a peek. He’s the only person I know who can make me LOL about coupon-clipping!)

My friend’s mom-in-law used her stash of small envelopes – also nestled in the basket – to pop her findings in the mail, if necessary. Which explained why her address book and a supply of stamps were at the ready. Also in the basket which sat on her side table, next to her favorite chair.

There were other baskets. All sizes and shapes but most became part of a large haul of donated goods to the local thrift store, benefiting a shelter for women in need. But the clippings basket my friend saved for me? It was special because it was purposeful, beautiful and she knew I’d love it.

I can’t remember when, but my friend and I talked once, maybe when we were in the midst of our kitchen remodel, about my love of baskets and decorative containers of all sorts. She remembered better than I did, recalling a chat about my favorite gifts:  baskets, vases, bowls, boxes. Items that could contain treasures, please the eye, but also serve a purpose with portability.

Our childhoods were similar in that we both moved plenty and I mused to her that I liked having my treasures ready-to-go – at a moment’s notice. More than once my mom, Sue, became impatient with my need to hold on to childhood mementos, urging me to forego sentiment in order to travel light when we packed up to move.

It only happened once, Sue’s painful junk piling of items precious to me. To her eyes, some of my keepsakes looked irrelevant. Like trash – or so she said later on. Her pleas for forgiveness seemed heartfelt but I was never fully convinced. The feathers and stones I collected, for example. The feathers were tucked into an empty journal (I knew better than to write in it – Sue would snoop) and the smooth stones were in a drawstring pouch which also included notes from one of my aunts who tried to encourage me with kind words, goofy messages – sharing secrets – anytime she visited.

I’ve got big ideas about where my new, well-used basket should go and what she’ll hold. She’d make a fine bread basket with a napkin tucked inside. But…I can always use another basket in my office. I suspect I’ll rearrange a thing or two here at my desk to keep my new treasure front and center. She might look like a simple basket, but I know better. She served a sweet lady who understood the power of connection, thinking about others, for decades. I’ll do my part to keep her good intentions alive.

Vicki 😊

Just for fun. Did you know the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” dates back to 1879? It came to mind while I wrote this post and I loved the trivia. If you don’t recall it, here’s the first verse:

A-tisket a-tasket

A green and yellow basket

I wrote a letter to my friend

And on the way I dropped it,

I dropped it, I dropped it,

And on the way I dropped it.

A little boy he picked it up And put it in his pocket

39 thoughts on “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”

  1. There are many stories of things discarded by parents. At the baseball Hall of Fame they used to sell a poster of a mother dumping her son’s baseball cards into the trash. It was called “An American Tragedy.

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  2. The story of your friend’s mother-in-law and Michael’s blog remind me of when I shopped with a fistful of coupons. The savings were exhilarating! The basket held true treasures of love and caring for others. What a wonderful gift! 🙂

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  3. Oh I miss baskets. I didn’t collect things in baskets, I collected baskets. All through the house were baskets holding whatever seemed right at the moment. Nearly all of them were passed on to others or donated to thrift stores when I downsized. But now…when I catch site of interesting basket on one of my own thrift store shopping sprees, well… the collection is growing again.
    I may not collect them baskets but I do my fair share of “clipping” articles, quotes, interesting images. Now I tend to text them to myself or slot them into an electronic note on the computer. My close equivalent to (if I recall correctly) your love of sticky notes.
    And thank you for the sweet mention. I have a mental image of you LOLing over of all things, coupons!

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    1. Well, now. Something else to admire about you, Michael! Your love of baskets. Our mutual love of baskets. I think of them as artwork, and I can see you feel the same. Handcrafted, created with skill I’d never have. The fact that they’re useful AND pretty? Keep collecting, keep collecting! And your recall is accurate! I love my sticky notes, but I’m learning that old-school 3×5 notecards are pretty useful, too, and they fit nicely in my new basket. xo to you! 🥰

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      1. Oh my, 3×5 cards. I used to go through them! And color coded. I still have at least one full pack of what 250 cards each of 3 colors. I will start carrying them around with me and if we ever end up in the same ZIP code I’ll pass them on to you, knowing they will be put to good use.

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  4. A treasure for holding treasures! What I love most about this is how well your friend knows you! And then the power of connection – so amazing to keep front and center. Beautiful!

    I suspect you already know this – but I know Cooper would be happy to sit in your new basket… 🙂

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    1. Send that beautiful boy over…air mail…special delivery. My new basket might be a smidge too small, but I’ll find one big enough for Super Cooper Duper! 🥰😁🥰

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  5. This is great, Vicki! My mom is “clipper” with binders-full of tips from Real Simple magazine, 90s-era motivational articles from the likes of Zig Ziglar, and more. Every time I visit, there’s a new clipping in a designated basket of things for me. 😂 Like your friend’s sweet mom, my own is also a connector, and I never thought about it before but I bet she distributes her clipping to everyone, not just me. How sweet! 🥰

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    1. I love learning this about your mom. I bet your natural curiosity and desire to connect and share tidbits and discoveries with others comes, in part, from your sweet mama. I also love that you have your own ‘designated basket’. Just for Erin. Give your mom my best…I like her style! 🥰🥰🥰

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      1. Dr. Zeus and I tease her because she knows everything about everyone and, by extension WE know the life stories of hundreds of people we’ve never met. LOL! But you’re absolutely right that there’s something special about that curiosity, caring, and desire to forge connections. I will pass it along!! 🥰

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  7. I love this post and the memories of clippers. In a scrapbook I inherited from my grandmother, she clipped wedding writeups of friends and family, photos of my mom’s accomplishments in school and music, etc. The most surprising thing she clipped was a horrific joke about Blacks using the N word! Seriously?! My girlfriend who loves to cook and has owned two restaurants in years past, clips recipes from newspapers and magazines. She has them neatly filed in an alphabetized organizer.

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  10. We have one of those baskets. It started as the location for outgoing bills. Debbie is efficient that way, but it’s transformed (more my fault than hers) into a catch all for everything.

    Here’s our typical conversation:

    “Do you know where that is?”
    “Try the basket.”

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  12. I used to be a clipper, but the problem was, I rarely used any of the clippings. Eventually I’d throw them out when they expired, replacing them with fresh clippings that would themselves get thrown out when they expired. Wash, rinse, repeat.

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  14. This is a beautiful gift filled with such deep meaning. I too love clipping things although I use binders and journals instead of baskets to store them. And now you’ll fill that basket with your own meaning. Wonderful, Vicki!

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