I said glass.

At any rate, I may have mentioned before that there is an elusive cake plate out there that I desire.  I’ve also mentioned that I ‘get no swag’ at all from the blog, and that I’m wretchedly bitter about it dealing with it well.

I’ve also mentioned my Magical Mexican Summer with Mrs. Wall, her family, Peggy, and Nola.

We, Peggy, Nola, and I remain as close as the confines of the continent will allow.  I’m in GA, Peggy’s in CA, and Nola cools her heels in Texas.

While we were in Oaxaca in the summer of 1967, a special bond was formed for the three of us, and we stay in touch, catch one another UP once in a while, and do the occasional random act of kindness.

The trip was long, the quarters confined, and our friendships grew strong.

That was then, terrible picture I know, but it’s all I’ve got.  And really, everyone thought skinny jeans were new.  Guess again!  I am so back in style!

This is Nola and I at our HS reunion a mere 18  months ago.

Nola, a loyal reader of RLR, sent me an email that said, “…it’s not the cake plate you wanted, but it’s old, it was my mother’s and I’d love for you to have it, since I know you collect old glass…”

I’ll admit, I was hesitant at first to say yes.  It was her mother’s after all.  But she assured me that it would mean more to her in my paws than at her place, and as reluctantly as I can do when it comes to old glass, I said yes.

It, along with another dish arrived via UPS just the other night.

It is Depression Era Glass, it has three feet (I collect three footed dishes, plates, cups, etc.), and it is a Fostoria pattern, or a Fostoria knock off.  The American pattern was very popular in the Depression Era.  Fostoria was and remains expensive, and glass makers copied the pattern often.  It’s hard to tell 80 years later.

At any rate, it’s priceless to me, simply because of the spirit of kindness behind it.

Nola was also kind enough to include a refrigerator dish that belonged to her mother as well.

The random act of kindness aside, it is my first official ’swag’ after two years and three months of posting!  And, after all, Peggy was right when she said, “Cake plates will start arriving at your door step!”

It’s wonderful to have friends, no matter how far flung!

Thanks Nola!  And Happy Birthday…60, ya gotta’ love it!

The war effort started long before.

My father was drafted when my brother, Charlie was about 6 months old.  He went to boot camp, then shipped out overseas and was in The Philipines and Korea.   Daddy spent 219 continuous days in combat.  He was a sniper in the infantry, and was never the same afterwards.

Bill Steinmetz was in the Airborne, and during his stay in Germany was able to recover a Nazi Flag from the top of Goebels’ Castle.  The flag, which the Steinmetz family still has, can be seen at the Veterans’ Museum in Germantown.  For those of you who don’t know, it is located at the Old Masonic Hall on Cherry Street.  You should check it out, there are wonderful displays regarding the sacrifices many from the area have made for our Country.

Prior to that, Daddy worked on C Line at the Hercules Powder Plant in Blacksburg, VA.

They, like thousands of other G.I.s left brides at home while they were at war.

We hear of “Rosie the Riveter” often, and we see her picture.

She symbolizes the hard work and dedication of hundreds of thousands of American women who kept the country working while the men were off defending it.

But, we rarely, if ever put a real face with the name.

But, there were real women working.  Real women sacrificing, and real women keeping the country going as well as keeping the home-fires burning.

Bill was stationed at Ft. Myers, VA.  Louise, a pretty West Virginia girl, was serving cookies at a USO function in Arlington Farms, VA when she met Bill.  He was playing volley ball, and asked her to join the game.  Three days later, they were married.  They stayed married for almost 50 years before Bill passed away.

The pretty bride was a secretary for the State Department in Washington, D.C.   As a matter of fact, she worked for Cordell Hull, the Secretary of State under FDR, and was Mr. Hull’s personal secretary.   She had graduated from high school at 16, and went to work immediately.

Bill went to Germany, Louise stayed home, worked, and provided exemplary service to the State Department in a time when doing a good job was more than critical.

Louise kept the home-fires burning as well.  After her job ended, she moved to Dayton, Ohio, and moved in with her in-laws, whom she had never met!  When Bill came home, it was on the QE II, and he got home in six days.  He was anxious to see his bride!

Over the years, Bill and Louise would have six children, three boys and three girls.

Like I said, my Dad went to the Pacific Theater. Daddy took his physical the day my brother, Charlie, was born, 09-17-1944.   When Daddy was drafted, they were living in Radford, Virginia.  Mother was working at the same Hercules Powder Plant in Blacksburg, VA, she stayed there three years.

Mother and Daddy had two kids, Judy and Charlie, when Daddy went off to war.  My grandmother Brads came and stayed two weeks with mom and the kids while Mother worked.  Grandpa needed Grandma back at home in Glasgow, VA, and Grandma was on the hunt for a capable sitter to watch her grandkids.

Enter Mrs. Sumner.  I’ve no idea what her first name was, but she moved in with Mother, cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids, and did every thing except iron.

She did not iron – AT ALL.  Mom said, when telling me her war time story that, “…every thing had to be ironed back then.”  Apparently, no one was fond of it.

Mom worked in the nitro-cotton lab and weighed, tested, and produced gun-powder.  It was a labor of love as she knew that Daddy might be using it shooting “The Japs”.   It was ok to say that then, we were at war.

[The dress code for the ladies was a coverall and matching turban. In the lab the employees measured the strength and texture of the powder. They also made the nitro glycerin that tested the powder and they tested the viscosity of the nitro glycerin.]

Having no car, she rode to work in a ‘car-pool’ with others.  No one used that term back then.

To get to work each week, she had to give the driver a gas stamp, and on some weeks, $1.00 for gas.  Gas, sugar, and other items were rationed, and ration stamps were like gold.

With gas at 21 cents a gallon, a buck was almost five gallons.  These days, with a dollar you can smell the hose!  Maybe!

Women did with out ‘nylons’, hair-pins, and other niceties.  Meat was rationed as well.  The boys over seas needed to be fed.

When the war ended, so did Mother’s job.  Daddy came home, she quit working, and Mrs. Sumner went back to her family too.

Mother and Louise are just two of thousands of women who made America great.  Sacrifice, substance, sincerity:  all qualities that last.

Does your Mother or Grandmother have a war time story?  Ask, you just might find a whole new woman in the family you didn’t know existed!

And today, as we welcome soldiers home from another war, think of those who are serving now and the ones at home who are keeping home front strong.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to the troops!

Tuesday, at “the place where I work”, a lady came in to sell a car.  

To keep her from being bored to death while I pulled the required reports, entered information into the computer, and got things ready, we – er, I chatted. 

During the course of the converstion, I found that we were both from the same area, Dayton, Ohio.

I mentioned that I’d worked at Ohio Bell back in the 1970s.

She told me that her mother had as well.

In the same building.

In the same office!

And we knew each other.

Now, it had been 34 + years since we’d seen one another, but when her mother came in to pick her UP, we knew each other on sight.

I’m sure the boss was wondering why I was hugging a customer, and since I’m not a touchy-feely kinda guy, I’m sure he was really wondering!

But, it was neat, serendipitous, and slightly amazing.

We caught UP.  Talked about a few people, yeah, quite a few! And I think my transaction time may have taken a jump!

But, it was just such a wonderful thing.  I really don’t care.

I like the fact that even though we live on the great big rock, third from the sun, it’s still a small, small world, and not just at Disney!

Last night it seemed like it was yesterday.

I saw Peggy, or Margarita as Senora Wall called her,(we all had Spanish names, I was Pablo)  for the first time in 38 years.

Time had not passed.

Yes, she’s a mom and a grandma, she’s been married, I’ve been married, we’ve lived on opposite sides of the nation for the last years, but time stood still.

Peggy, her friend Sally, Sally’s husband, Rick, and Sally’s brother Jeff met me for dinner at the historic Florentine Hotel in Downtown Germantown, Ohio.

It was a walk down memory lane.

We caught UP, we talked, well, I talked, and we remembered things about Mexico that we both had forgotten.

When we went to Oaxaca, I was 14, I turned 15 that summer, Peggy fell in love with Gustavo, I fell in love with Mexico, and we came home different people.

It amazes me that Mrs. Wall was even allowed to take three teen-agers 3,000 miles from home, leave them unsupervised during the day, and give them the experience of a lifetime.

Three kids from Germantown were allowed to experience things no one else got to do. We saw it all, ate things we’d never heard of and became good friends.

But, time has separated Nola, Peggy, and I, and our lives diverged to different paths.

But, the bond made that summer is still there.  We have something in common other than the Germantown thing, we have the Mexico thing.

Our time together made Oxaca seem like yesterday…only with more wrinkles..

We had a great time then, a great time last night – Nola – we missed you, and I’m sure your ears were burning.

As to everyone else, because of that special bond, you should all be jealous!

Ah, the memories…and the new information!

It was fun, we caught UP, laughed, talked, found out a little about ourselves and each other,and had a good time.

You should do that every once in a while, and I’m glad I had the chance last night.

So, Randy, Vickie, Mel, Little Dave, Donna, Ron, and Janice…thanks for the great evening!

And, Mel, the cookies really were good!  And Dave, you look great too!

Everything changes, but everything stays the same.

In the 1990s, I worked for one of the best managers ever!

His name was Dan Bigbie, he remains a friend, and he taught me a great deal.

One of the many brilliant statements he used to make was, “Casual conversation can kill you.”

He’s right.

I have from time to time, spouted off, expressed myself, said what I thought, and spoken UP on a topic.

I learned the lesson from him, heeded his words, but…sometimes, I like everyone else fail.

MSNBC’s Ed Schultz, was suspended this week for calling Laura Ingrham, a very conservative talking head talk show host, a “right wing slut”.

He was on air.

That was casual.

And it was tacky.

He did appologize, saying, “What I said was terribly vile.”

Yes Ed, it was.

I, like many others, catch myself thinking something, and when it comes out realizing that it sounded a great deal better while it was in my head.

But, once it’s uttered, or once I’ve spoken UP, it can’t be unsaid.

So, there’s often explaining, correcting, interpreting, and yes, tap-dancing involved.

Serious tap-dancing.

That’s where Mr. Schultz, a well respected journalist…gosh, that was hard to say…finds himself.

I think, simply, this time, it was his choice of word.

“Slut”. 

If he were talking about a man, and had said, “Right wing bastard.”, no one would have blinked.

But, Slut, is pretty insulting.

Dictionary.com says:  a dirty, slovenly woman, an immoral or disolute woman; prostitute.

Ms. Ingrham is none of that.

The word itself:  c.1400, “a dirty, slovenly, or untidy woman,” probably comes from a dialectal German word, Schlutt.  It may have been a family surname.

Who knows, they may have run the Best Little Whorehouse in Bavaria!

The Swedes used the word, slata for idle woman, the Dutch, slodder, but no one really knows for sure where it came from.

Geoffrey Chaucer, who all of us suffered through read in high school,  uses sluttish  (late 14c.) in reference to the appearance of an untidy man.

Hard pieces in a bread loaf from imperfect kneading were called slut’s pennies.  

In the 18th century, it began to mean, “woman of loose character, bold hussy”.

We use it today, to dis anyone we find objectionable.  Slutty clothes, slutty look, slutty girl.

It’s not a pretty word.  Yes, I’ll admit, when Dan Ackroyd said, “Jane, you ignorant slut!” on SNL back when it was still funny in the 1970s, we all roared.

However, in today’s PC world, it’s a pretty ugly thing to say.  Especially on air, and about a peer.

So, as I say to myself every freakin’ day of my life once in a while,  don’t go there, I say to Ed, don’t go there again.

It was casual, it was curt, it was churlish, and it can cost ya!

This was the exchange on Facebook Monday night.

 Jan Hebel – Trying to watch Gone With the Wind, I don’t get how people think this is the greatest movie ever made. What over-acting!

•  Jan Hebel –  Can’t take it any more, what a P.O.S.
• UP – Philistine!
•  Hank – Nice try. I sort of agree with u. In it’s defense, they did those battlefield scenes without computers. Ya know, casts of thousands. Music isn’t bad either. And there are some great lines. My favorite “I don’t know nothin bout the birth of no baby, miss Scarlet”. Hattie McDaniels ( I think). They could never make that movie today for less than a billion $$. But it sure isn’t Casablanca or Citizen Kane. And they were done on the cheap!
•  Rick - Frankly Jan I dont give a damn
• Jan Hebel –  ‎@ Paul (UP), I expected that
  @Hank, good observations
  @Rick, now, that’s funny! – Rick, I know you despise me but you’re the only one in Casablanca I can trust!
•  Don – Jan, do I have to see it?
• Jan  Hebel – No, Don. Definitely not!
• Don – Well, then I will.
•  Tim –  Nice, Don!
• UP - Butterfly McQueen said, “Ah doan kno nuthin bout birthin no babies”, she played Prissy. The best line in the whole movie is “Why Melly Wilkes, what a cool liar you are!”

 ”Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm…” is the opening line of Gone With The Wind.  People world wide are still caught in the charm of Scarlett O’Hara over 70 years after the movie was released.

Here’s why.

Scarlett is a great heroine.  Spoiled, vain, pretty, charming, conniving, duplicitous, and fearless, she rocked the world on the page, and came to life on the screen.

A woman who told us that she would “lie, cheat, steal, and kill” to keep her family safe and fed, she paved her way with the hearts of men, and let absolutely no one stand in her way.

She was, and remains, a literary goddess.

Sure, she killed a man, but he was a Yankee deserter.  Sure, she stole her sister’s boyfriend, married him for his money, bullied him, ran him, and eventually her actions got him killed.  But, any real man would have stood UP to her.  Sure, she was so self-possessed and self-absorbed that she didn’t realize love when it was in front of her and sure, she loved a man who wasn’t her husband even though he was a spineless wimp who couldn’t be “unfaithful with his body, nor faithful with his mind” to his own wife, but she was a winner, a survivor, a creature unlike any other in literature.

And we still love her.

It’s also one of the greatest love stories EVER!

As to the book, one must remember that Margaret Mitchell was a woman ahead of her times as well as a woman of her times.  She smoked, wore pants, partied, reported for a newspaper, and interviewed female prison inmates in a time when ladies did none of the above. 

But, she cut her teeth on the myth of the Ante Bellum South, and was fed lies, half-truths, misconceptions, and TRUTH by her mother and grand-mother.  She believed in the ‘lost cause’ at her core, even if she hated it and barely realized it.  She was truly a Southern Daughter!

And, she knew the book would sell.

As to the movie, Jan…and I still love ya’…in 1939 there were no computer generated scenes, it was truly a cast of thousands.  There was matte painting for sets, real fires for the burning of Atlanta, and animals were injured in the production.  Frankly, PETA, no one gave a damn!

It wasn’t Star Wars…thank God!

And about that “over acting” comment!  Ten, count ‘em 10 Academy Award Wins…a record that stood for 20 years until “Ben Hur” hit the screen!!!!

And, another thing, the irony of the first African American actress  (Hattie McDaniel)  winning an Oscar in a movie that many say glorifies the “Old South”, should be lost on no one!  Sure, she played a slave…it was set in 1860, in Georgia…(writer beats head against wall)…and there were very few other roles for Black women to play.

It’s a story that grips us, makes us think, and wonder, would we be willing to sacrifice so much to hang on to the things we love?

No, it’s not the greatest movie ever made…but it’s just about the greatest story ever written.

When in a quandry or dilema, I always wonder, “WWSD?”

What would Scarlett do?

 I’ll have to admit, I don’t really know how many times I’ve seen the movie, but I’ve read the book over 30 times.  And, ”my dear, I DO give a damn!” 

Well, It’s Pinktober again, and hopefully everyone out there in the cyber-world is being vigilant about their health.

As a member of a family who has had cancer tragedies and triumphs, it’s hard not to think about it from time to time.

So, to all of you who read today, and all of you who catch UP later…”be careful out there”.

I have to be, I’m on the road!

She retired shortly after school ended this past May.

It was a surprise, there was no party, no going away, and no good-byes.

But she fixed that.  More on that in a minute.

Kathy is a good friend.  We were the first two in our department at school each day.  I was usually the first; I was in charge of the coffee.

Being in charge of the coffee makes one a pretty important guy, and I took that part of my job seriously.

Kathy usually came down the hall just moments after I started the first pot of the day.

She’s not a coffee drinker.  I frankly, don’t get that, but I’ve heard there are people out there who don’t imbibe, and I’m willing to accept it, as wrong as it is.

She’s a water drinker – NO!, a tennis player – NO!, a runner – Never!, which explains the slight frame that made every one else at school jealous.

She reads my blog, she pimps my blog, she even hands out my business cards…like I said, she’s a good friend.

And the girl knows how to throw a party.  To celebrate her retirement and her new job as an Assistant Professor at two local colleges, she held a Mexican Fiesta Saturday evening.

It was great, there was good food…

…catered by Frontera Mexican Grill.

There were beverages…wine coolers…

water, and Cokes, or pop for all my Northern readers.

And, there was music.

Flamenco music to be exact.

It was very fitting, and very, very good.

His name is Rouzbeh.  It doesn’t sound Spanish.  That’s because he isn’t.  He’s from Iran and works at Mercer University, one of the two Universities where Kathy teaches.  (The other is Oglethorpe University.  Mercer and Oglethorpe are old Georgia names…Oglethorpe was the founder of Georgia, and Johnny Mercer wrote “Moon River”.)

He’s great and made the party more festive.  You can book him too.  Just hit www.rguitar.net.  And you can get his CD!

It was fun to be with friends whom I don’t get to see often, and meet new people;  some of the neighbors were there.  The food was good, the music was great. 

The only problem was when all the ladies wanted to take a picture with the “sexy guy”, they were talking about the singer and not me!  OK, now that I just don’t get!

And when possible, I’m at the Brookwood games.  The last two games (one loss, one win) I’ve had the pleasure of sitting with or near a dear, sweet, kind, sedate, well-bred football mom.

Now, football moms are pretty into it, and they love to see their baby play, run, score, win, etc.  But, alas, Pam’s movements are a tad restricted as of late due to an injury, she’s in a neck brace.

And she’s tired of it.

She’s tired of the questions too.

I can tell.

Because they change everytime some one asks.

The question usually runs like this; “What happend to you?” or “What have you done.” or my favorite, “Are you ok?

Well, no, she’s not ok, she’s in a neck brace.

Now, I really can’t come UP with the real story, because she keeps giving a different answer…every freakin’ time!

My Top Ten Faves!

1. He hit me!  We know that’s not it, he’s still standing!
2. I was drunk and fell in the kitchen.  Ok, that’s a possibility, but I’m just not sure.
3. Car wreck.  No, I saw the car:  dent free.
4. The sex swing fell.  Hmmm.  That’s a whole ‘nother post!
5. Slipped at Wal-Mart, we’re suing.  Nothing in the papers, so not buying it.
6. Tripped over the dog.  They don’t have one.
7. I just gotta stop reading the Kama Sutra.  Again, hmmm, possible.
8. Well, if the kids would pick UP their things, I might not fall so much.  If that were true, every woman would be in a neck brace.  Can I get a witness?
9. Tripped over the cat.  Allergic, don’t have one.
10. Well, ya know, he just had to have a stripper pole in the bedroom!  Ok, I’ll buy that one!

Ya gotta love a football mom with a sense of humor!