The recent hype surrounding the saga of the Star Wars franchise has me reminiscing about my lifelong fascination with the movies. Something that started when I was a little kid. I can loosely compare it to eating the forbidden fruit in the garden. Because I was not allowed to go to the movies, hence, they have been irresistible to me ever since.
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| Holy spit curls! This is what happened after viewing my first horror movie, 1960... |
I complained quite a bit by the time we finally moved east last fall. Even before that. Our lives were thrust in turmoil from the moment we put the house on the market in mid-2012. It was like our house wasn't ours anymore, but it was. Uneasy about letting any junk lie around, beds unmade, or plan a big day of canning. We always had to be ready for a showing. It just didn't feel like our home anymore. Less like our house after we rented a storage unit and packed a good third of our belongings away for what we thought would be 90 days. Try 1,200 days. Ugh. Why it took over 3 years to sell a nifty lake home still puzzles me.
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| Larry, Spitzy and me. Backyard on 15th St, 1956... |
I can hear it now. You're all going to blame me. It wasn't my fault, I swear. Looking back though, I might have been a bit hasty with my last post, called The Freshman. But hey, I was excited about the terrific December he and his team had just finished. Ok, so I got caught up in the moment. But as the rest of the story unfolds, I'm sure you'll find me completely blameless.
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| Landon, number 3, going in for a layup... |
Busy times loom on the horizon. Our 15 year old grandson, Landon (Drew to the rest of the world) had just finished freshman football season. There was a bit of a dead zone, maybe 2 weeks, tops. Nothing demanding his time (besides schoolwork and girls) in the world of sports for the moment. But basketball tryouts were coming up. A grueling week of 2-a-days. This is his favorite and best sport since he was born.
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| Landon, 5, shooting during halftime, 2005... |
Nothing dirty about the title. Calm down. Simply means boxes and shelves. I acquired a life-long fascination with antique oak furniture right after Hubs and I got married, decades ago. First finding an adorable dresser at a garage sale for 5 bucks. I didn't know then just how bad this hobby would suck me in. Or how much my tastes would change. From its very inception, I was drawn to a certain furniture type, even though we were on a shoestring budget. Shoestring meaning pretty much zero dollars to spend on anything besides heat, food, gas, rent and insurance. Tough way to start an antique lover's career.
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| Dainty little claw feet on my Deacon's bench and curved glass china closet... |
I wish I could remember more about my life before Larry died, when I was 7. I'm able to conjure up playing drive-in across the street with the Beumer girls or the Schmidt kids on the corner. Learning to ride my bike, playing hopscotch, or spending hours in the playhouse Dad built. Just being a little kid. But my most vivid memories, came after his tragic death in 1958.
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| Awesome playhouse that Dad built. This is about 1954.... |
During the mid-60's my Mom was on a mission. We had lived in our house on 15th street for a decade. Larry had been gone for 8 years, and Mona was married with a couple of boys. This time frame was during my angry, rebellious, fun-loving mid-teens. Dad was working for the State Hiway Commission, and Mom was a nurse's aide at Valley Manor. Her mission? New furniture. She was totally smitten with Early American Hard Rock Maple furniture. From Vanderploeg's in Sioux Center, her old stomping grounds.
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| Mom's favorite, her Hard Rock Maple clock, about 1966... |
