This is certainly March weather!
Yesterday
Today
The old homeplace of our late friend Ernie. No one has lived in it for years, but it is so picturesque.
It was quite a snowy, blowy trip home from town, but not slippery, yet. By now (10:30pm) I expect it's pretty icy.
When we got home, the wind had died down and Larry decided it was a good time to burn a pile of winter debris. The flames looked so pretty against the snow.
I also noticed that we had something a bit rare for us: a "blue hour".
So, here are some random thoughts from today:
I am reading this book, Rooms of Their Own: Where Great Writers Write, by Alex Johnson. It is not the book I referred to in an earlier post about a new book on this same topic; that one has not yet arrived. But this one arrived quickly and I am finding it an enjoyable and interesting read. It's arranged in a series of short, one or two page essays, each illustrated with watercolor paintings. I have learned some interesting things---for example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a French trunk maker make him a portable writing desk that folded up i to a trunk for travel. It is a most amazing thing, complete with a large writing surface, drawers, bookshelves, and a typewriter. You can see pictures of it here.
I also discovered that many writers had a smaller portable desk, called a "writing slope", which folded up neatly, but when open provided a writing surface, usually felted, and storage for paper, pens and ink. And now I want one! I have actually sold a couple without knowing exactly what they were. Here is one currently for sale on ebay that I am lusting after. Do I need it? No. But do I want it? Oh yes.
Yesterday I learned an appalling fact: during the Vietnam War, young men with IQs below 70 were allowed into the military and sent into combat in Vietnam. They were referred to as McNamara's Morons, and casualties among these men were far higher than average. Forrest Gump was apparently a reference to this practice, according to some sources. The practice was called Project 100,000, and was in place from 1966 through 1971. Unbelievable. I guess this story is well known to many, but it was news to me, and I am still shocked by it.
Do you remember the Chinese trunk I wrote about here a month or so ago?
I had it in my booth for well over a year, with only a few people showing any interest in it. So I moved it to a more visible spot, but still not much interest. So last month I opened it up and filled it with quilts, and blankets, and it sold this past weekend! The trunk was made in the 1800's, and according to some websites was a merchant's trunk for transporting goods. It was quite large, about 42x27x25, with hand-forged handles and hinges. Online they list for three times or more than what I had on mine (like this one) but I knew my local market would never pay that high a price---and since I had only paid $50 for it, I was happy to sell it for $350. They for a bargain, I made a nice profit, so everyone is happy. I do wonder, though, how it came to the US, and also what it's life was like in China.
That is the second trunk I sold recently by opening it and filling it with quilts. Both had just sat there for quite a long time. Lesson learned!
We also sold another sewing machine.
Like the trunk, it had been in the booth for at least 2 years, but last month I moved it to a new place, and off it went. That's the second sewing machine sold in a month, and both had been there the same length of time. I put them in a highly visible spot, giving them one last chance before taking them to the thrift. Both were actually kind of rare machines. This one was bought by a young man for his grandmother; she bought a brand new machine and hated it, but she had told him how much she like ours, so he bought it for her. What a sweet grandson.
I had a long chat with my youngest sister Julie, whose birthday is today. I don't see my 12 siblings very often any more, but I try to catch up with each of them on their birthdays, even if just on Facebook. Julie was just 3 years old when I had my first son! There are 18 years between the oldest and youngest siblings, and amazingly we are all still kicking.
And lastly, but not least, Larry's hand and elbow surgery has been postponed. He had a tiny little stroke back in August that he wasn't even aware he had had, but it showed up in tests, so the VA wants to do more evaluation before going ahead. Actually, it's a relief, as he had things he wanted to get done before having his arm immobilized for a month. So we have time to do the outside stuff like get the mulch down, the garden plowed, and the grass cut, all of which we would not have been able to do with this week's crazy weather. So we will have time now, I think, which is a great stress reliever for me since I cannot run the tractor or the riding mower.
And I think, finally, that that's all for tonight! Sleep tight, all!
