50 years from today.

this was a christmas gift for biff in 2007.  i found this in an antique store here in connecticut.  biff loves to have a place to keep all of his toys like pocket knives, old pens that he collects, tools for his bike, ipod stuff, cell phone, laptop cords and chips and foreign coins.

the "gerstner box" has been around since the wright brothers carried them to kitty hawk.  the box that i bought for biff is about fifty years old.  who knew?  and i thought i had just found a cool box.

for the first few months that he had it, biff came home everyday and poured out his pockets and lifted the lid, opened the front with the swing open, "desk"made to use as a work surface.....he would turn knobs, lift the hinges and pull the drawers and  review his small collections, moving things from place to place.  it became his own place.  a minute office where he could contain most of his treasures.

he truly was delighted with this gift.  an antique tool chest, he loves old things with a history.  old things to biff, don't have to be antiques.  because he has an interest in manufacturing, all kinds of manufacturing, he loves to see how stuff is made.  the gerstner box is a tool box that was used by precision toolmakers, who built the stuff that kept the factories running.  each artisan had their own toolbox filled with special instruments for layout set up and building.  each toolbox was an extension of the individual and his stykle and his nature.  this box was carried these "tool boxes" with them to work on small  at the manufacturing plant, like house calls.

i finally had to ask him to stop telling me about the incredible uses for the box.  everytime he uses the box, still-----years later, he puts his keys and stuff in there and says,"thank you for this box.  really, it's so  great. i love my gerstner box."  when he asks the kids to get something, he just says,"it's in the gerstner."

it's like we have another man in the house.  gerstner this and gerstner that.  one day we were looking at e-bay.....i'm trying to decide if i should have a shop on e-bay.   as we looked through some of the different categories, biff clicked onto "Gerstner boxes"......he found one.  it was not in great condition.  it was way overpriced for the condition.  we debated, knowing how much he loved his own, we talked about how our son, t.j. might like to have his own."  we had alot more"gerstner" talk.

we never did buy the one on e-bay.  biff talked about having his dad make one.  his dad is a very talented woodworker.    i think biff and t.j. talked about "gerstner" possibilities.  who knew how much that"gerstner box" would turn into a member of the family!

the minute biff opened his "gerstner box", i guess i opened a can of worms.

my fun christmas present this year was my little laptop,  this cracked me up the minute i opened the box. it is the cutest computer ever.  i can't believe it's so small and has opened a whole new world for me.  this little pink laptop is the color of my phone and my ipod.  i had a pink camera too...but it has,sadly. gone to rest. i seem to have an ongoing issue with techno toys that go bad.

this cracks me up because, when my niece was about four, like twenty years ago, i bought her a little v-tech laptop type toy....i think it was bigger than this!

the cool thing is that since i have my own computer, i have learned so much.  i am able to write my blog from anywhere, i am more accessible to the internet, i actually feel like i'm getting a little more computer coordinated.  don't tell my kids....they'll just laugh out loud!

who knew so much joy could come from two different worlds.....old and new!  box and laptop box....i wonder what people will say about these things 50 years from today.