Clocks

According to Wikipedia, “A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately (via Dutch, Northern French, and Medieval Latin) from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell"”. 

Clocks are mainly used to keep time.  I grew up in a household full of clocks. My Mother used to collect them – especially mantle clocks.  She had a lot of antique clocks.  She would buy them, clean them up and get them working.  I remember lying on the living room couch, listening to them all tick-tock and chime the hour.  When I was sick and decided to sleep on the couch, those clocks tick-tocked me to sleep.  It was a very comforting sound. 

Perhaps my love of clocks is in my blood. My Father’s Mother was from Germany (I would love to research the genealogy).  I have been told her family was from the Black Forest in Germany.  “Black Forest clockmakers are renowned for their precision clocks. Most of the mechanical clocks are now sold as antiquities as many factories were shut down after First World War and after Second World War. Some few factories survived the structural change”. For a link that shows some beautiful Black Forest clocks and their intricate carvings, see blackforestclocks.org.

They often say put a ticking clock in with a new puppy as it will soothe the puppy (it sounds like their mother’s heartbeat).  I found when I first began sleeping alone (when Eric went on the road full-time) that a ticking clock in the bedroom was very soothing and helped me drift off to sleep more easily.  After 21 years, I was so used to hearing another person breathing (and snoring) beside me.  The room seemed so quiet without him there. The clocks I added helped me through some lonely spots.

I have three ticking clocks in the bedroom now.  The taller one on my dresser is one of my Mom’s. She ordered it from some catalog in her later years.  The small clock in the headboard is another one she had and kept beside her chair - I often saw her pick it up to check the time.  It ticks slowly and steadily, a very low-toned, unobtrusive tick.  It is steady, quiet and always there (kind-of like she was). 

On my bookshelf in the bedroom I have a smaller wind-up travel alarm clock that Eric’s Mom used to own.  That ticks faster, and it’s more attention-grabbing.  Strangely, that one reminds me of my mother-in-law – more outgoing, more “talkative”.  I am glad I have clocks that remind me of both of them to help lull me to sleep.

SOURCES:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest

http://clockinfo.com/posts/161

http://www.alarmclocksonline.com/AllWindups.htm