The Old Book.

I had written before about in my family how before my Grandmother passed away, she had drawings for each one of her daughters and Fmom who is her only daughter in law. My aunts and my mother were bought together and each took their turn to pick what they wanted from my Grandmother and Grandfather’s life. I had written some about it here, The Pick. During one of the picks while my Grandmother was alive, she had all my brothers, sisters and cousins come in to pick what they would want. At that time I was living in Germany and obviously couldn’t get home for this. So since I’ve always like old books, I told the family I wanted all of Grandma and Grandpa’s old books. One of the books is what has me writing today.

The book is bound in black cloth with gold embossed letters on it. The name of the book is The Affinities by Alice Vivian Brownlee. It appears to be published in 1890 by the Constitution Publishing Co. of Atlanta, Ga. It was one of the many books I have in boxes stored away. I had gone through a lot of the books and I don’t know why I picked this one to read, but the farther I got into it, I wondered if people back at that time really wrote or even talked like this. I’m giving a conservation between a General and scout that he had saved. The General has a dangerous mission and Claude has volunteered.

“It shall be as you say, General. Your wish is law to me. It is not so easy to forget that when the savages, deeming life extinct, left me stretched upon a bloody plain, you had me carried to your home, and nursed me as tenderly as if I had been your own brother until health and strength returned. And when the lad, unfit for civil employment, was thrown upon a selfish world, it was you who gave me shelter; you who taught me how to earn my bread, and saved me from becoming a mendicant. The hand and brain of Claude Howell are therefore yours. What ever you command shall be done, if mortal man can effect it.”

Now that was a paragraph that’s actually clearer to read than many others were. For some reason when I’m reading this book, I somehow am picturing the old movies before sound was added. How the actors would make exaggerated gestures to try and get across some emotion. This author will go into some paragraphs that you wonder where the heck is she getting this from.

Anyway, it’s one of the few that I’ve read from my Grandparents library. I can see now that I’m going to have to get back into reading a good bit, and I’m going to try and get through some of these old books.

ADDED: During this whole post, I was trying to describe the writing style. I never could come up with the adequate words. Well thanks to FAR, Boran and IVG my vocabulary is starting to expand and the words they came up with fit it perfectly. Of course I had to look up four of the words before I knew what they meant.

FAR - Flowery
Boran - Stilted
IVG - Florid, Turgid, Convoluted, and Deliquescent
Puget - Grandly Poetic

Ok now who can add to those words to describe that one paragraph I have up top?

Spooked.

Well Fmom and I got very spooked last night. About 1:00 am she called me over the intercom and said she heard some knocking in the house. I get out of bed and look inside and outside the house. Nothing. I finally get back to sleep and around 3:00 am she calls me again about more knocking. I look everywhere again and nothing. So I calm her down and go back to my bedroom and lay down. Just when I’m about to fall asleep, I hear this loud crashing of glass as if something had fallen. I jump up out of bed right away and start looking. I don’t find anything, but I know I heard it. Now I’m starting to get a little concerned (scared).

I don’t know if you’ve ever done this, but when you hear noises that go bump in the night, do you ever start thinking of all the horror movies you’ve ever seen. Well that happens to me. Of course this doesn’t help me calm down Fmom or myself. Then I got to thinking about how stupid people act in these movies. How if they’re running away from something, they’ll always trip. If they hear something, they’ll go to investigate and walk right into the monster. Then I got to thinking why the hell did I walk through the whole house and outside looking for either bad people or monsters? Why am I sitting here typing with my back to the door? When you’re contemplating what type of monster you’ll likely encounter, these thoughts come to you.

So I’ve told Fmom it’s probably a squirrel that gotten into the attic and not to worry. I did tell her that I would check the attic, but I think I’ll wait until daylight. Those monsters seem to be at their best during nighttime.

Small Town

I’ve extolled the greatness of living in a small town before, but today sort of bought it back to me again. Fmom and I had gone downtown on an errand and it’s the same road I take every day when I go into downtown. It’s only about two miles from my house to the middle of town. On the way back from town on that same road I thought to myself how great summer was in my small town.

First I left the shop I had stopped by and passed the Library. I saw three people I knew walking out and talking and laughing. Then I turned and drove by the Mennonite bakery. There are a lot of good pastries I’ve bought there and the daily lunches usually have the placed packed. If you aren’t there early, you’re likely to end up in a line with 20 or 30 people waiting for their turn to order. It’s nothing fancy, but the food is very good and it’s always more then you can eat in one setting.

Next I turn down by the High School I graduated from. It has changed considerably in the 38 years since I was there. The big field that separates it from the University is still there and they still have softball games played there. Then I go past the high school gym where I played basketball and remember my high scoring game my senior year. Thirty three points and it seemed like that night I couldn’t miss. A little farther down the road and I hit the downhill 90-degree curve. On the left side of that curve is a small ravine. Sadly before the city put up a guard rail around this curve two college students were killed when their car plunged off. I can never go by that place without thinking about that.

On down the road I see the houses of people I’ve known just about all my life and they’re outside doing their gardening and lawn work. I pass the houses and on my left is the City Park. This week they’re having softball tournaments. So the park is packed with family and fans. A little farther down I pass University Lake. There are people in boats and on the shore fishing. Past that I slow down to go through the “S” curve. When I’m finally straightened out there’s the community center where wedding parties and voting are done. Three quarters of a mile from there is my neighborhood. When I turn into it I can already see our house and neighbors out in lawn. They’re mowing, gardening or playing with their children/grand children. In that short two miles, I see people I know and don’t, landmarks that bring back good and sad memories and a closeness that that makes summer in a small town so nice.

Some people come from small towns and can’t wait to get out. Some will be born there, and except for a few small excursions away, they’ll live and die there. Others will never know what life in a small town is like. I moved away from my small town a little over thirty years ago. I’ve been back for about six years, and although sometimes I wish I had the convenience of living in a city, I’m glad I’m back.

The Yard Again And Some Catching Up.

It’s no secret I hate doing the lawn. I don’t hate lawns especially, but I hate to be the one mowing and weed eating. What makes it even worse is I have my brother’s riding lawnmower and there really isn’t that much exertion during mowing. Nope I’d like a house set back very far from the road and have a beautiful lawn and gardens coming up to the house. As I said, someone else would have to keep it up, because left to me I’d let it go back to nature.

Well you know how sometimes there is something you really hate doing and you finally get tough with yourself and you say come hell or high water I’m going to get it done today. Well guess what. That didn’t work for me today. Hah! Actually I did do the lawn, but no weed eating. I’m really kind of surprised at myself that I did get it done. Of course I did pay for it with my back. I haven’t talked too much about it lately, but last week I had a procedure done where they deadened some nerves and then microwaved them. The doctor said the first month might be kind of bad with the pain, but after that it should be fine for a good while. So I’m just getting through this first month.

Fmom seems to keep getting better. Her asthma kicks up from time to time, but nothing like it was before. George is doing pretty well for an old man. I figured it up and in human years he’s in his 80’s. We lost Cat about two months ago. I had put her out and she never came back. I don’t know if something or someone got her, but she never strayed far from the house. I searched all over the neighborhood and town, but no sign of her. We still have Tom outside. I guess he’s like the neighborhood cat, but he uses us as his home base.

Other than all of that, I’m getting ready for a very hot summer, and thanking the FSM for the people who invented air conditioning.

Hope everyone is doing fine.

Maybe Gone Again.

Last night my laptop froze up and I restarted it. It kept cycling on and off and nothing every came up on the screen. It remained black all the time. I kept restarting and restarting, but nothing ever came up on the screen. I thought great, just when I’m back, now I’m gone again and no way to let anyone know.

I’ve got an Uumbuta Linux disc I had downloaded and I thought what the heck, I’ll try that. Well the screen came up, but it never loaded the program. So I tried restarting again without the disc and this time windows worked. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m hoping my laptop doesn’t play out on me.

So although I’m back, I might be out if my computer goes out.

Everyone take care.

Did Ya Miss Me?

Well I’m back. Not too much better for the wear though. Fmom was in the hospital for awhile and then re-hab, but she is doing better now. She was pretty sick and we thought we were going to lose her a couple of times, but she pulled through. I’m doing better with my leg after the stents were put in. I’ve got to go back this month to see about the other leg. Other than that I’m doing fine.

We’re in the 90’s here and it doesn’t look to be getting better. We had a heat index of 97 yesterday. Needless to say the grass is growing and I don’t like it. About a month ago we had a nasty storm come through here. It lifted the top of one of the pine trees in the front yard and took out all the electric/cable lines for the neighborhood. Out of all the houses on our street, ours was the only one with damage to it. It took out some siding and shingles. We’re still waiting on getting that repaired. My biggest question now is when will winter get here. I hate to think of how bad July and August down here will be. Oh and the hurricane season is upon us. Always something to look forward to.

I’m trying to get back into the habit of writing, so bear with me. I have lurked a little over at the café and wanted to thank everyone for their kind words. I’m hoping everyone is doing fine and this summer isn’t too harsh for you. I know I’ll be staying inside with the air conditioning.

Everyone take care.