my mom's library table

My maternal grandfather had five surviving children.  He made each of them a walnut library table that they could take with them, when they married and left home.  He wasn't a great craftsman, and I doubt this plain piece of furniture would be worth much to anyone outside the family, or even to those in my family; but to me, it's special.

I grew up with this thing.  I imagine I first pulled myself up on that bottom shelf, as a toddler.  I recall dusting it as a child, and sometimes using it as a desk.  As far back as I can go in my memory, the library table was there.  I don't know when Grandpa made it, but I know Mother took it with her to set up housekeeping, when she married Daddy, in 1932. 

It used to have a thick coat of varnish; I stripped it many years ago, wanting the beauty of the natural wood to show.  The trouble is, it sat under a chimney upstairs where the roof leaked, so now it has dark stains on it.  And from some years of my own neglect, it began to dry out badly.  But it's responding, now, to Old English lemon oil applications I give it once a month or so.  I suppose, really, the stains just add to its character.

Perhaps we aren't supposed to "love" inanimate objects.  But I confess, I love my mom's library table.  Oh, if it could only talk, the tales it could tell! 

switchboard memories

That's a switchboard, and one of those was a big part of my growing-up years.  My mom and dad were the operators... "Central", as it was called then... for several small-town telephone companies in Iowa and Missouri.  That switchboard in a corner of our living room was a fixture I almost came to accept as a member of the family. 

If we went anyplace, a girl had to be hired to stay with the switchboard.  Someone had to be available to answer it twenty-four hours a day.  If anyone made a call in the middle of the night, Mama or Daddy (usually Mama) had to get out of bed and put the call through.  My parents even had the privilege of listening to the conversation if they so desired, although I don't know if they did this or not; I do know they were occasionally accused of it, though.

If a house caught on fire, we were the first to know, and the information would be relayed to the proper people.  In one town, the last one we lived in before moving to the city, my parents were responsible for turning on the town siren in our yard.  Mother was usually the one to sit at the switchboard, although when she was gardening and canning in the summer, Daddy did his duty there. 

Sometimes after a wind storm, Daddy would have to uncross lines.  He had some sort of pole with a special attatchment on the end to do this; I believe when the lines were crossed, people could hear other people's conversations, which could be quite confusing.  I recall riding along with him on his rounds, and watching him.  It's really the only time I rode in the car with him driving, since Mother always drove when we went anyplace as a family.  Daddy preferred it that way.

It was around 1955 that modern technology made the switchboard obsolete, and we came to Kansas City, where both parents had no problem finding a job.

Memories.

The Saturday Six

1. If a space colony could be built on the Moon or on Mars and humans could live there under protective domes, would you have any interest in living away from Earth?  No way!

2. A commercial for a credit company starts with a man being denied for a loan because of his credit score (619) and then he encounters that same number in multiple places.  Is there a number that holds some significance for you that you encounter fairly often?  No, although I have always liked the number seven, for some reason, and called it my "lucky number".

3. How many items are in your refrigerator door at this moment?  Of those, how many have you not touched in the last six months?  21 in the door, but they've been recently gone through and are all used, or Flylady would have made me throw them away.

4. How often do you buy a movie without seeing it (either in a theater or through a movie rental)?  What was the last movie you purchased without having seen first?  Do you now think that if you'd seen it first, you wouldn't have purchased it?  Yesterday, on Direct TV, they had "The Village" for 99 cents.  It stunk!  But since I paid for it, I suffered through to the end.
 
5. What was the last thing you purchased at an electronics store?  Our Blackout Buddy, before Christmas.  An office supply store?  Ink for my computer  A department store?  a wedding gift for a former neighbor

6. Do you expect to owe taxes this year or get a refund?  We already got our refund and spent it.   Will this year's debt or refund be greater or less than last year's?  It's a little less every year.

Well now...

Well now, the last two entries have provoked great comments and food for thought!  Possibly some of the best give-and-take I've had here so far.

First, I want everyone to know that Toonguy and I are still friends, at least as far as I know.  After reading the comments and re-reading my entry, I agree that yes, there WAS an element of gossip there. 

I also began to think about the very few people in my town who have a link to this journal (possibly 4 or 5), and realized that it's vaguely possible that entry could have gotten back to the people I referred to, and their families.  And the father mentioned in one of the stories has been nothing but good to us.  Why would I want to slander him or his family on the Internet?

One thing that made me see the true intent of Toonguy (and my own intentions) was a Proverb that was part of my daily Bible reading Thursday.  This is a good example of why Christians need to be reading their Bibles.

Proverbs 10:17  "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."

Is it coincidence that this verse came to my mind not five minutes after reading Russ's comment?  Before I could get all defensive and angry?

Nope, like it or not, God used Russ to remind me to "not merely listen to the Word and so deceive myself, but to listen to what it says."  James 1:22

And that, my friends, is your sermon for the day... and mine too.

I had wonderful waffles this morning, along with sausage from the hogs we butchered last Saturday.  What a way to start the weekend.  The sun is shining, the highs are to be in the fifties, and I'm going to enjoy this day to the fullest.

about gossip

After reading Toonguy's comment on my last entry, I wonder:   Was I gossiping there?  (Not that I don't ever gossip, by the way... I'm human.)  I don't tell you what town I live in, and I didn't mention names, except one first name, so my kids would know who it was.  Anyhow, I was not trying to spread gossip.  I was trying to let people who live in big metropolitan areas know the kind of thing that makes news in a small-town community.  If that came across as petty gossip, I apologize to the J-land community.

People living in the city have to gossip about their co-workers, and things going on at their jobs, since they don't know their neighbors.

Remember the immortal words of Kris Kristofferson:

"Everybody's gotta have somebody to look down on... who they can feel better than at any time they please.   Someone doin' something dirty decent folks can frown on.  If you can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me!"

small-town stuff

As you can see by the background here, I used to have lovely, weed-free gardens.  In the picture, you see Mechelle, her brother, Troy, and my daughter, Rachel.  Perhaps this was taken around 1982.  The little boy suspended between the girls is getting married in a month.  Troy and Mechelle used to live next door to us, and I babysat them sometimes.  Their parents are our friends who have the vineyard and winery.  When Troy was a toddler, I'd rock him and sing the Jerry Lee Lewis song, "What Made Milwakee Famous".  He'd listen closely as I sang, "It's late, I know she's waiting, and I know I should go home..." and he'd chime in on the word "home".  The neighbor kids would start to sing that song to him outside when they were playing, and Troy would get angry, saying, "No!!!!  Mine song!!!!" 

Is it possible that was more than twenty years ago?

There's something strange and unique about my little community.  Kids don't leave.  Or if they do, they come back eventually.  Perhaps part of the reason is that we're in driving distance of Kansas City, where the jobs are.

I deleted part of this entry, simply because I wouldn't want someone to be hurt by anything I write in my journal.

Weekend assignment

Weekend Assignment #12: Thanks to time travel and invisibility, you can be on the spot for any important event of the last 100 years (1905 onward). Which important historical event do you choose? As a twist, if you actually were at an important historical event, you can't pick that one. Why? Because you were there already. What, you want to be there twice? Think of the paradox!

I'd choose to be at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, to hear Martin Luther King give his famous speech.  Even today, when I hear a recording of those famous lines, I get goosebumps (click HERE to listen to it yourself).  Last summer when I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with my friend, Joanna, I couldn't help thinking about Martin Luther King saying, "I have a dream!"