by jphilo | May 30, 2013 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- The man of steel and his chain saw are spending all their free time cutting up the huge branch that fell in a windstorm Monday morning. He’s happy. I’m happy, too, but also curious. Can anyone explain why operating a chain saw is so fundamental to the existence of the males of our species?
- Did you know that sheets hanging on the clothes line when a rainstorm moves in smell like spring rain when run through the dryer? Don’t ask how I know this.
- I’m so bummed to have missed the Captain Kangaroo memorabilia auction last week. The heavy tap of Captain Kangaroo’s thick chalk on the chalkboard and the scritchy snick when he pulled a length of tape from the dispenser fascinated me. I would have paid good money for either item. What did you like best about the Captain and his entourage?
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by jphilo | Feb 4, 2008 | Reflections on the Past
This morning, I had to unplug the computers because of a lightning storm. Weather like that is pretty unexpected, though not unheard of in Iowa. The storm passed through quickly and my computer’s running again, but the little event got me thinking.
I thought about being a little kid in the late 1950s and early 60s, growing up in a small town with my sister and brother. (By the way, I’m the one with the hood tied so tight, my double-chin doesn’t show. No wonder I like this picture.) I don’t know about my sibs, but all I expected back then was that the Well’s Blue Bunny milkman would put our dairy order in the milk box twice a week and that Captain Kangaroo would be on at 8:00 every morning for the rest of my life. Therefore, it’s not surprising that I’ve encountered a lot of unexpected events. Here are a few that came to mind. I didn’t expect to:
- marry an Alaskan.
- leave teaching before the rule of 88.
- enjoy photography.
- fly to Georgia with my mother and sister.
- have a son who became a monk.
- write a mystery novel.
- miss South Dakota once we moved back to Iowa years ago.
- sit in a room with my brother while we watched our father die.
- have such a good relationship with my college daughter.
- know anything about computers.
- live in a place of such beauty.
- have a husband who, in my place, donated a kidney to a friend.
- have a son who calls to swap recipes.
- enjoy spending time with extended family so much.
- fit into my wedding dress after thirty-one years of marriage.
- have so many friends.
I’ll stop there. As I made the list, more and more good and unexpected things came to mind. And my mood is a lot better than when I started. Give it a try yourself. You could be pleasantly surprised, like I was. You might even start looking forward to the unexpected, something I’m still learning how to do.
There’s just one event I can’t accept. I can’t believe they took Captain Kangaroo off the air.
