Digging through closets, drawers and hidey-holes in our family farmhouse, I’ve found a number of keepsakes. It makes me wonder if the person placing them knew at the time that these family pictures, embroidered hankies, and handmade quilts were being tucked away for a long sleep.

The greatest treasure, however, has been a large, dusty wooden box of cookbooks and several tin boxes of meticulously handwritten recipe cards and handy household tips cut from the newspaper and attached with yellowed tape. For me (a cook who learned at her Aunt Mary’s knee), it was like finding a treasure beyond price — a warm, comforting connection to those I miss.

The books, many of them fundraising efforts from churches and organizations, feature notes in the margins, and even an emphatic “NO” by one or two. Food stains on a particular page signal a favorite. From the looks of one book, some of the recipes were clearly used more than once.