Year End Take It Or Leave It
Another year of married bliss passed yesterday. Our celebration was much like last year's - very low key. It's a little mind-blowing to realize all the people we know who hadn't even been born when we got started as a family. We don't necessarily think of them as young, either. What do they think of us? I'm not even asking. I am, however, still playing tennis, and so I have at least one remaining link to youthfulness.
I've seen another TV commercial that makes me chuckle. The scene opens in a forest. NO people at all. The camera slowly pans to a very old car, perhaps from the late 1940's or early 50's. This wreck is clearly going nowhere ever again, at least not on its own. But wait. That's when you notice that music is coming from somewhere, and a shot of the car's interior shows that it's actually the car radio! That's when we get the message, though we never actually see the product being sold. It's a car battery. As an added yuck, even the music coming from the radio is of pre-rock vintage. Yes, I know you can fix the TV to skip the commercials, but what's the hurry?
Our trip up north earlier in the month featured a few stops in antique stores. We aren't collectors by any stretch, but Mona was patient enough to indulge this little urge I have to look around at such places for - who knows what? One thing I couldn't pass up this time was a book showing pictures of dozens of collector wristwatches.
The written content of this book is light, but the pics of the watches, some valued in the mid- five figures, are pretty interesting. I didn't know, for instance, that military use was a big factor in the increasing popularity of wristwatches, nor that battery-powered watches only came into broad use after the 1960's. Rectangular or square dials were once much more prominent than today. Maybe this isn't earth-changing stuff, but it beats sqatting on the couch watching interminable bowl games.
Allison sent along a picture of our new grandson, little Alfred, Alfie, Alf, Freddie, Fred, Fredo. He's a fine-looking baby, but there was something a little askew in the picture, which Allison herself pointed out. "This blanket makes my baby look like he has jaundice" was the caption, and, sure enough, although the baby's fine, we knew instantly why bright yellow baby blankets will always be way down the list behind white, blue, pink, etc.
I've seen another TV commercial that makes me chuckle. The scene opens in a forest. NO people at all. The camera slowly pans to a very old car, perhaps from the late 1940's or early 50's. This wreck is clearly going nowhere ever again, at least not on its own. But wait. That's when you notice that music is coming from somewhere, and a shot of the car's interior shows that it's actually the car radio! That's when we get the message, though we never actually see the product being sold. It's a car battery. As an added yuck, even the music coming from the radio is of pre-rock vintage. Yes, I know you can fix the TV to skip the commercials, but what's the hurry?
Our trip up north earlier in the month featured a few stops in antique stores. We aren't collectors by any stretch, but Mona was patient enough to indulge this little urge I have to look around at such places for - who knows what? One thing I couldn't pass up this time was a book showing pictures of dozens of collector wristwatches.
The written content of this book is light, but the pics of the watches, some valued in the mid- five figures, are pretty interesting. I didn't know, for instance, that military use was a big factor in the increasing popularity of wristwatches, nor that battery-powered watches only came into broad use after the 1960's. Rectangular or square dials were once much more prominent than today. Maybe this isn't earth-changing stuff, but it beats sqatting on the couch watching interminable bowl games.
Allison sent along a picture of our new grandson, little Alfred, Alfie, Alf, Freddie, Fred, Fredo. He's a fine-looking baby, but there was something a little askew in the picture, which Allison herself pointed out. "This blanket makes my baby look like he has jaundice" was the caption, and, sure enough, although the baby's fine, we knew instantly why bright yellow baby blankets will always be way down the list behind white, blue, pink, etc.
posted by Mark at 10:43 AM
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