Yesterday, Steve from Royal Oak immediately picked up on the same thoughts I was having as I dug up this old series, specifically how difficult it was, in my youth, to get to know a girl over the phone. Or at least how difficult it seemed! I think I launch far too many old-fogey threads as it is, but I think it’s a worthwhile subject: what is it like for kids today, who are connected, individually and collectively, to one another on a constant basis? You want to talk about a societal ground-shift. Or maybe it’s just as difficult today to cold text that cute young thing in third period algebra.
181 responses to “The Christmas Caller II”
I am guessing Queens, Duluth and Oakland, Ghost. You can tell me if I guessed rightly!
Did say I had probably not seen them as the travel writers did. I didn’t want to insult Indy Mindy by putting Indianapolis on the list of places Ghost wouldn’t go to. It is like that commercial where no one wants to go to Tulsa, OK, which actually is a pretty good town. A lot like Houston if you took away about 7 million population.
Dear eMb, you probably know that you can read Sky & Telescope online (can’t tape it to the office door, unfortunately). A lot of information without paying for a subscription, tho more is available w payment. But I haven’t seen the chart you tell of, sounds elegant … will take a look later. Must fix supper now.
Jackie, they left out ?????????-???????????? ??????????
What with the Ruble in rubble, now is a great time to go.
😉 emoticon to the left.
Okay, that sucked.
Jackie – No insult to me – *I* don’t like Indy! Then again, I’m not someone who gravitates toward population centers and retail establishments. Most years for my birthday, I spend an afternoon taking pictures of wildflowers and wandering around the Mississinewa battlegrounds. When the reenactment isn’t happening, it’s one of the quietest and most beautiful spaces in Indiana.
For the history buffs –
http://www.mississinewa1812.com
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141213_A_historic_collection_found_in_S__Phila__home.html
Because Mike is in such pain and choking a lot, I have tried to stay in this half of house to be with him. But he hates being disturbed, so little dog and I hang out in office. I wonder if I can write at all given the circumstances?
I know this is writing but I mean something longer than one paragraph?
Jimmy’s comment about Mary Lou was especially meaningful, that he introduced a character whom he had NO idea would end up marrying Gene or that she would have a child out of wedlock or change the course of the entire comic.
I have heard that before from writers, that they create them with no idea what they will become. I think that even more than prose writers, a comic writer is having to tell a story in continuity with often no idea where it is going. I think Jimmy has done this with great economy of words and simplicity, which I greatly admire.
Love, Jackie
Indy Mindy, that was fascinating to read. I am surrounded by the tribes, the names in your battle and war. I had a Great Great aunt named Tecumseh (known as Aunt Cummy in genealogical accounts) but of course the town of Tecumseh is right down the highway near Oklahoma City.
Here we have many Wyandotte, Miami. Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Muskogee, Creek and countless other tribal nations. History surrounds you if you live in the old Indian Territory towns.
Having recently read more about the union general with that middle name and President Lincoln I no longer view Lincoln with quite the same regard as I did previously. My view of Sherman and his army is best not described. (but) With 620,000 Americans having been killed in the war it had to be ended but the scorched earth policy gave license to commit every criminal act imaginable.
Oh, and my story: Headed back to the store after dropping off the deposit on Thursday, I noticed flashing red and blue lights several blocks ahead. For some odd reason, I knew instantly it was a funeral procession. Now the intersection I was coming up on is normally pretty quick to get through (4 way stop), but it was backing up instead of clearing out (no one wants to wait). Two vehicles were causing the back-log: a senior shuttle and a panel delivery truck for some local company. I was two vehicles behind the panel truck, and I got to the stop sign as the procession did. In retrospect, I truly believe the shuttle and panel truck were ensuring their place at the final turn of the processsion. Thursday was bitterly cold here, but that did not stop the two motorcycle officers nor the 100+ bikers leading the massive enclosed vehicle procession that followed. It took several minutes for the procession to get through. The driver of the panel truck parked, exited the vehicle, and stood sentinel in a short sleeved T for the whole thing. The shuttle driver didn’t exit, but had obviously been waiting for the same reason. My guess is neither driver could get out of work to attend the service, so they did what they could to pay their respects. I did a bit of investigating. The deceased, it turnes out, was a metalworker, motorcycle guy, former military, and volunteered several places, his passing unexpected.
There had been discussion about loss and grief during the holidays. Retail pretty much ruins the holidays for me, and this year is going to be awkward without mom for sure, but seeing such an outpouring of respect and love for this gentleman brought tears to my eyes. This was why we live – to go forth and do good and be good to each other, and if we are extremely lucky, this good touches others and they do likewise. Unfortunately, not everyone is so blessed. I am so glad that I am one of the lucky ones.
Jerry, I’ve read that Sherman’s march north was the 19th Century equivalent of a bombing raid and that the intent was to show the civilians that their government couldn’t protect them against an enemy. I also gather that his long-term strategic goal was to come up on General Lee’s rear, making it impossible for him to retreat from the Army of the Potomac.
sandcastler™: Thank you for posting that!
1993: On Nov. 1st, I paid off our house mortgage!! ‘Twas a financial turning point, as you may well realize.
Places: Except for mom’s birthing hospital, I was born and raised in Queens, NY, and lived there until college at 17, grad school at 21, and marriage at 22 removed me permanently. As I do not like driving in NYC and refuse to fly to get there, visits back stopped when my parents left for FL in ’72. Did go back for mom’s funeral service in ’81; not since.
I like N. Conway, NH, and all the rest of H as well! Spent a number of vacations on the eastern shore of Winnepesaukee and also a honeymoon there. Parents had honeymooned at the same establishment (The Wawbeek) in ’36, which is how I got the idea.
Greenville & Duluth were fine with me; Indianapolis is a nasty bear when driving! Mid-SD is nice; haven’t been to the western area. Have not been to the remaining trio.
Jackie, either you’ve been wandering around in my mind (poor baby!), or you’d make one hell of a travel agent.
No, Indianapolis was not one of the three, as I’ve been following some bloggers from there recently, and it seems like there are more cool people there than I’d have imagined. An opinion reinforced by Lady Mindy’s story above. And to her last paragraph, all I can add is “Amen, sister.”
Miz Charlotte, I also have free S&T subscription and get regular updates in my in-box.
Make that “…rest of NH as well”. Sheeesh.
Jerry and Jackie – I’ve been to the reenactments once, Mississinewa and Feast of the Hunter’s Moon in West Lafayette. In both instances, I believe there was so much more to be said on behalf of the Native nations. Their legacy is both commercialized and marginalized. It is shameful in my opinion. That is why I go in the spring time, alone. There is something almost magical (although that is not the correct word I want, it will have to do) there. It is almost as if the past is not past, and if I were to wander off the path into the woods, I would find myself in a different time.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vHZJwpeQGaY/SRfDstliXcI/AAAAAAAAKWA/gT5axLigj9k/s1119-Ut/P1030790.JPG
About authors and their characters. It happens, and I may have said much of this before. In my over 16 years of contributing columns to the local daily, I’ve done one major piece of ‘cardboard character’ fiction. Thought I’d do a couple of fiction columns about a nerdy Anatolian girl who noticed that there are 8 naked eye ‘planets’: Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus [not spectacular, and very slow wandering, but visible]. The couple of columns turned into five, + an explanatory 6th.
Here’s an excerpt from the 6th column: “To speculate on a possible eight-day week, I had a fictitious ancient person notice that Uranus moved. But that’s not enough. The Seven Wanderers are prominent; Uranus is not. My observer would have to understand that Uranus didn’t just move, but fit in the same category as the other seven. So she (it turned out) had to be odd. I invented a bright, OCD, asocial kid who was obsessed with the starry sky, and who had prodigious innate numerical skills. I set her in a non-patriarchal, preliterate, herding tribe in Anatolia ten millennia ago.
“Nobody’s going to heed a young girl’s sightings of an obscure “star,” but they might be impressed by her vast knowledge of the sky, and by her insights into striking celestial happenings. I got there via solar and lunar eclipses. Also, Raki couldn’t have much influence if she were a permanent nerd, so her older brother Hakon (“Goat”) came along to bring her out of her shell.
“After publishing the first installment, I remembered a minor epiphany I had decades back while driving home at sunset from Lake [Barnacle]. South of [Lilyblack’s] Resort, a half moon rose over a sumac clone to the east. But wait: only full moons rise at sunset! Then I recalled that a lunar eclipse was due, and realized I was seeing Earth’s shadow half-covering Luna. I hadn’t thought about it much since then, but now Raki came along, took it from me, combined it with her earlier knowledge, and had a major Copernican epiphany.”
I had more fun writing that than I’d had in ages. I had no idea how the details would work out, nor what her life stages would be, and I cried when she died [the usual peacefully, surrounded by folks, that they cite in obits]. I’ve had some good feedback.
Peace, emb
Not sure if this link works or not, but here is a link to an album of my photos from Mississinewa for those interested.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/app/basic/photos/104885134240575844889/album/5120119225857184769?cbp=1jhwfeb2h4nsp&sview=26&cid=5&soc-app=115&soc-platform=1&spath=%2Fu%2F0%2Fapp%2Fbasic%2F104885134240575844889%2Fphotos&sparm=cbp%3D1jhwfeb2h4nsp%26sview%3D26%26cid%3D5%26soc-app%3D115%26soc-platform%3D1%26pgpnum%3D1%26spath%3D%2Fu%2F0%2Fapp%2Fbasic%2Fstream%26sparm%3Dcbp%253Dux2l58793zcz%2526sview%253D26%2526cid%253D5%2526soc-app%253D115%2526soc-platform%253D1
Long link award thievedo from Debbe. Ha!
Mindy – perhaps the word you were looking for is spiritual. That is the way I felt in looking at your pix.
Holy, moly Mindy! That link is a backdoor to a classified Elbonian database.
Mindy, my mistake. One character difference.
The article about William “Wild Bill” Guarnere reminded me that December 16th will be the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the so-called Battle of the Bulge, which lasted until January 25, 1945, and claimed the lives of 19,000 Allied troops and wounded 70,000 more, making it a much more bloody battle than the D-Day landings and the ensuing Battle of Normandy.
Staff Sergeant Guarnere’s awards included the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, and of course, the Combat Infantryman Badge (2) and Parachutist Badge with 2 combat jump stars. A brave man among brave men.
sandcastler™
Great story…….
Speaking of re-enactments – and Sherman, we were at the 150th anniversary of the battle of Fort McAllister in Richmond Hill, Ga., today. A beautiful day, a good crowd in attendance both to participate and to observe. After the battle (which only lasted about 15 minutes, as did the real thing) they continue to portray what happened; tonight the Confederate “prisoners” will be sleeping outside on the ground, while their captors will be in tents. A few lucky ones will be inside in quarters built into an earthen mound. Predicted low is about 31 – these guys are committed!
If I were at home on my desktop, I’d insert a link here. Just typing a message this long on my tablet is enough work for tonight.