Keepsake - Wire Toy

The toy on the right is from my paternal grandparents' home. It was stored under the window seat with other toys. In the November 1954 picture below you see me getting into the window seat (white blouse on left). Perhaps I was retrieving this toy. Decades later my brother gave me the toy on the left. Thanks Tom!

I did a Google search to figure out what to call this toy. I used search terms like "wire, bendy, toy." Up popped the word "mandala" and pictures of similar items. While looking up definitions of mandala, I discovered I've been missing out on the power of meditating with this toy! I've been using it all wrong - instead of mindlessly creating shapes,I could have been contemplating the universe!

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This picture is full of fun memories. Uncle David is visiting. See him on the left talking with Tom. I'm lifting up the window seat to get at the toys. Grandpa looks tuckered out. Is it from a big dinner or too much going on with too many people? Susan is wearing a wig. I don't remember the wig. She is working the puzzle of the state of Ohio and its counties. That puzzle is still in the family. I vividly remember the globe. The television was in the cabinet on the left. You can see some of Grandma's copper lusterware in the bookcase by the window seat. When you traveled with Grandma, you could count on visiting antique shops to look for these pieces.