Old Shots

These are a few weeks old from our visit to Grandmas.

Shanley Glasses

When I was a little girl there was a family that my own family was friends with, that had a mythical proportion in my head for some reason. Childhood plays funny tricks on us like  making us believe that our parents are super human, or  that we will live forever, or that someone out there actually HAS all the answers we are looking for in this universe. 

This other family's name was the Shanleys. Not only were our parents friends, but my oldest sister Nan dated Jimmy and my other siblings were real friends with their children. Being number 11 out of a brood of 12 meant that when the other kids got to go off to sleepovers my younger brother Mark and I did not. We were just too little. So the Shanleys represented more of the idea of fun to me than a reality for the most part- except for one day that stays clearly in my mind. I do have a memory of one day we spent at their house and it was everything I hoped it would be. Families having fun together, good food, and out back was a boat in its own slip that I actually got to go for a ride in! I could not imagine having a boat out my back door at that age, and so the mythical quality of this family only grew in my mind. When we were ready to leave that night, some of my siblings got to sleep over, and as we drove away I wanted ever so badly to stay and be part of the story. 

I wrote about a week or so ago about cleaning out our friend Bobs uncles condo. It has been such an eye opening experience for me. The initial shock of being told we could have any of this really nice expensive stuff, soon gave way to the realization that most of it  didn't really suit us. That morphed into the second realization that maybe other people really did need some of it and we could help by being good stewards of this particular lot of goods. So far we have found homes for lots and lots of misplaced items making me feel a bit like Santa with a sled full of misfit toys, in search of their rightful owners. 

The third realization came when I seemed to recognize so many items from the past. Try to make your mind wander back about 20 or 30 years and walk through either your own house or an Aunts house and view the items within. Things that as children we pick up ( or perhaps weren't allowed to since they were precious) and stroke  or hold to try to grasp the meaning they hold within. So many of the hundreds of items that have passed through my hands these last days are incredibly familiar to me. They may not be my Moms or my aunts or my Uncles but they might as well be. Each item laced with memories that seem to have survived their fate in perfect condition merely to unlock an old picture from my head or jostle loose an image that had also been packed away too tightly in my mind and heart. It makes no difference at all who the items belong to, as I run my fingers over them they evoke no less powerful an image as I had on the day I last saw them so many years ago. 

And the whisper that has come forth from within those recesses  and danced before my mind  has me realizing that all those things do have meaning.  Being married at 20 shortly after my Dad died and moving 5 times in the following 10 years can at times make you feel that you have missed a lot 'back home'. Going for a visit and discovering so much had changed can make one feel that many things have been lost never to be returned.  Many days I have wanted to go back to my youth and revisit it to learn something more about myself that perhaps I had somehow missed or maybe even misplaced. These last few weeks have made me realize none of those things are ever really lost to us at all. They may not be physically present any longer but so long as we hold the lessons within ourselves, they remain a part of us alive and well.

 Bob invited us to help him empty out an Uncles apartment  a few weeks ago, but the gifts are not simply those of furniture and household wrappings. The better ones are nestled in the memories that they conjure up of drinking cold sodas out of quilted glasses by a boat slip while I waited my turn for a ride on a near perfect day. My Dad who has been dead for 20 + years now held me in his lap that day, to keep me safe on the rough waters of the Long Island sound. We didn't speak, the boat lulling us over the waves as the spray licked at our faces. Lifting the same quilted glasses the Shanleys had from the box in Bob's uncles house evoked just as powerful a memory as if I was in boat again with my father riding on the waves. Suddenly he was there and the salt air sprayed in my face once more.   

And now the glasses are in my cupboard. Fred and I don't usually allow glasses in our house as we have found it an exercise in futility with ten children. But these glasses, these Shanley glasses, will stay for now as a reminder, mostly to me, of that summer that seemed to be lost- but was suddenly found  along with all those other beautiful memories that are being unpacked and treasured and I might add- are in remarkably good condition. So many of the 'expensive items' in the condo have been unable to hold my attention for more than a moment-but the other things like the  Christmas ornaments and Shanley glasses are a world of their own for me. They are the real treasures, I am glad that I have not mistaken the gift for the wrapping. 

The Land of the Free

It started out with potato salad. Fred wanted to make some this morning and asked for a recipe. I obliged. I wondered what it was for, he said he wasn't sure, just felt like some. Poking round the fridge we discovered we had some cold fried chicken  and watermelon too. It didn't take us long to connect the dots between these food items and a picnic. So we headed to our favorite secluded creek ( the location will NOT be disclosed for all you locals- so don't bother asking). 

The water bubbling by silenced every other noise around and  made us the only creatures on the planet for a few short hours.

 We also found some cool creatures as always and after lunch, happened upon a very long rope swing dangling above a crystal pool simply begging us to come for a swim. 

We regrouped  a while later and let the little girls take naps before heading downtown Frederick for their fireworks display. the whole city was alive with music and food stands and games and rides for children. The display was spectacular. 

What an amazing country we live in. May God continue to bless it!

Aesop

In my studies this Summer on economics, it has become rather hard to avoid the constant headlines about the nation of Greece. They are having such dire troubles. I was struck by the violent photographs that came out earlier this week as protests took place across their small country.

So I have been thinking of Greece while I try to learn some lessons in history, and naturally my thoughts wander to how much humanity has gained from Greek culture. Since we use a classical curriculum for the boys education, we study the Greeks pretty heavily.  The Greek myths are so rich I could read them over and over again and never grow tired. But I have to say my favorite Greek figure is Aesop ( as in Aesop's fables). I stumbled upon them as a really little girl and just fell in love.

The most interesting thing I have discovered over the years is that life proves Aesop correct time and time again. He is hailed as a wise man, a great teacher, an intellectual; but honestly he seems more than all else to me- a simple man, able to see the truth before him and turn it into a tale that made others see it too.

Do you know how Aesop died? It's just heartbreaking-and I hope the irony of the story isn't lost. It certainly wasn't on me.

He lived as a slave for 2 different men, and was freed by the second for being so clever. He was hired by King Croecus to deliver a gift of gold to the Delphinians:

While on a mission for King Croesus to distribute a certain amount of gold to the people of Delphi in Greece, there was a misunderstanding about how much gold each person was supposed to receive. Aesop became discouraged because the Delphians did not seem appreciative enough of the gift from the King so Aesop decided to take it all back to King Croesus. On his journey back the people of Delhi, who thought he was actively cheating them and giving them a bad reputation, tracked him down. Lloyd W. Daly writes “Apprehensive of his spreading this low opinion of them on his travels, the Delphians lay a trap for Aesop. By stealth they [stashed] a golden bowl from [their] temple in his baggage; then as he starts off through Phocis, they overtake him, search his baggage, and find the bowl. Haled back to Delhi, Aesop is found guilty of sacrilege against Apollo for the theft of the bowl and is condemned to death by being hurled off a cliff.” (Daly, 20.)

Here is one that the good nation of Greece would have done well to pay more attention to (and many in our own nation too!)

The Ant and the Grasshopper

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.

Then the Grasshopper knew...

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

My Suggestion for the Debt Ceiling

Simply put...Lets fix it!