I headed up to Newbury on Sunday to help pack up the old roll top desk to ship
back to Minnesota with my Dad's brother. We detached the top from the
bottom to help get it out of the house, and in doing so discovered a note
wrapped in plastic glued to the top of the cubbyholes. What a fun
discovery! The note came with two bicentennial coins. It was
signed by my dad and dated 1/23/1976. It said -
To Whom it may concern:
This desk was rebuilt in 1975-1976 after being
removed from Luke's Confectionery in LeSueur, Minnesota. I believe the
street address was 203 South Main Street. Luke, my father, owned the
business from about 1952 until 1974. Before then it was known as
McCall's. To the best of my knowledge the building was constructed in
the 1870's or 1880's. This desk was probably original equipment.
Almost all the glue joints failed in transportation to Minneapolis where I
refinished it. I used mostly a glue called Mastic, diluted with laquer
thinner, to put it back together after stripping it and restaining it with
Char Oak stain by Colony Paints. The final finish is two coats of
Masur Oil by the Masury Paint Co. All parts are original with the
following exceptions
2. Plug bottom back left
3. Lap
4. Knob on door
5. Inserts under door
Due to it being the Bicentennial year here are a couple of commemorative coins. I hope this thing lasts a while.
How cool is that? It certainly has lasted a while. I'm sure it will be well loved in its new home.
My uncle has started a restaurant in the same spot as
Luke's Confectionery, named simply Luke's. He brought
shirts to share. It feels like this has come full circle.
I really liked this garden down the street from my mom's. It's a lot of rocky ground and the plants are tucked all around. Really beautiful.
I enjoyed spending Monday afternoon with my uncle, aunt and Mom. Hard
work packing a truck and my car with the desk, workbench, tools and a bunch of
flower pots. We're slowly putting a dent in the basement contents.
This is the workbench I brought home. I had been wanting to set up
something in this dead space tucked between the kitchen and the sunroom.
I look forward to using it this summer.
While I was setting up the workbench, I heard a few bird songs I didn't recognize. They were far away, but I pulled out my birdNET app to see if it would identify it. It told me it couldn't identify but it would give me a wild guess - this was the result. Ha!
I finally hung some new batting on my design wall and
started my latest quilt. Yay! I'm hoping to put some time into it this weekend.
Lovely heart warming story
ReplyDeleteThe desk is beautiful. Good luck to Luke's for a wonderful long life with good steady sales!
Wow! the kind of detail I'd like to know about when it comes to previous rebuilds, but it's pretty rare to actually find out! That project was a real labor of love. And how nice that the desk is going back to it's previous home - I hope Luke's is a huge success :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I had a cellphone, I used that bird app quite often. A bit frustrating that it would ask me if the ID was correct. How would I know? if I could see the bird, I wouldn't be asking :)
Neat desk and fun find! I haven't heard of the bird sound app - might have to try that. Sometimes we hear the birds, but don't see them, either, and that might be helpful!
ReplyDeleteThe desk is fabulous. You did a wonderful job restoring it. The garden down from your mum's is lovely.
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ReplyDeleteWow to that desk and bigger wow to your Dad's note. Amazing find! That garden is so pretty; I have an area here that was once a rock garden similar to it. If only I had the energy to get at it to restore. Very funny result on your app!
I live less than an hour from LeSueur, so it was very interesting reading about the desk and its history. I'll have to share the story with my husband, who has relatives close to that area. Maybe we'll have to go visit the new Luke's!
ReplyDeleteThe desk is gorgeous. It's so neat that you found that note with the coins. I like that the app identified humans! So funny!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story and how wonderful was your father to have written all of this history down. I commiserate with you on cleaning out the basement. I've been working slowly but surely on my mother's -- when she isn't looking, of course! Haha! Beautiful garden photo. I just love looking at other people's gardens for inspiration. Here's hoping you can put that potting/work bench to good use!
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