The Gifts of Christmas Past

 

Note the green rocking chair.   I still have it.

 

 

Here I sit on Christmas Eve reminiscing about gifts.   Not gifts I’m giving and not gifts I’m receiving.    I am looking at gifts that my mother gave me over the years.

Mom and Dad in Detroit

 

I was sitting in my parents living room in Anchorage in the late 1970s as I opened a gift from Mom.   After the wrapping was off, I lifted one end of the colorful gift box and saw three pieces of folded cloth.   Completely white, no design, nice and soft.

 

“Diapers,” said Mom.   “Yours when you were a baby.   They make good cleaning clothes.”

My baby diapers.

 

Sure enough, they were cotton WWII era diapers.   Did she really save them for 40 years so she could surprise me one Christmas Eve?    

 

Did she not use them on my six-year-younger brother?   I remember his diapers.   I remember holding onto a tiny hemmed corner and dipping the diaper in the toilet again and again until its contents finally washed off.   Then, they were stored under the bathroom sink in a white enamel pot with lid.

 

Whatever, I still have them—more than 40 years later.

 

 

Then, there are some things from my childhood that were simply returned to me, not as gifts for any special holiday, I think.     My stuffed black sheep that I remember so well, and a threadbare teddy bear that I don’t recall at all.

The doll has a sticker on the bottom of one foot that says Poland.   I assume it's dressed in the  tradition folk costume of that country.

 

I also have a round plaque on some kind of wood (beaverboard?) with a drawing of a kitten and two rabbits on it.   There is something up in the air above the kitten where some paint is flaked off but I can’t tell if it’s a butterfly or a bird.

Reverse side

 

This is a keepsake that I question because I have never had the kind of artistic ability of  whomever drew it.

 

There is a stretched and framed embroidered with the Lord’s Prayer on it that must have hung in my nursery room.    The earliest discovered version of  “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,” is said to be from George Wheler in his 1698 book The Protestant Monastery.

 

A newer version, identical to what’s on my souvenir, was found in the New England Primer.

Crazy angle to keep the light from shining on the glass cover.

 

Another gift from Mom that I saved is a ceramic plate in a triangular shape.   The design on it is a childish drawing depicting two comically malformed children with “Bobbie and Bonnie, “ the names of my cousins, though why Bobbie appears to be wearing a skirt is beyond me.  

 

Also, “Jeannie 5 years.”

 

Yes, I knew my numbers and letters and colors at age five, despite no nursery school.   I guess Mom wrote the names and I copied them onto the drawing.

 

I recognized the drawing immediately     I am sure it was something I copied from one of the Childcraft books we had as kids.    But, her note that I did the drawing at five years of age puzzles me because we moved to Alaska when I was six .   Did those Childcraft books come up with us on the four-engine airplane?

 

The set of Childcraft books are on the cabinet behind my head.

  

Or were they shipped from Detroit to Anchorage?  It’s all a mystery now but I remember the drawing in those long-ago books.   A plagiarist at age five.

Detente with little brother.

 

I must have taken better care of my Polish doll than my sister.

My youngest sister.   Those green chairs?   I still have them.

Me and the green rocking chair that I still have.   I sure wish my hair looked like that today.

The Third Date Important for My Generation

 

Nov. 22, 1963, Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

 

 

This date came to represent far more than the shocking death of an exciting, popular president. As in all the dates I’ve mentioned, the single event that occurred eventually came to be a reference point to the era that followed.

 

Kennedy had just prevented WWIII by making the Soviet Union back down during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

In that era are many events I could have included like the Civil Rights movement with the assassinations of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, plus the deaths of the young victims of that movement, and the heroism of Rosa Parks. It was also a time of George Wallace and all that he represented. 

 

But, one must also consider the sexual revolution (I facetiously credit Elvis with that), the Hippies, the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations, the suspension of the Selection Service draft, the Kent State killings, and so on. It also marked a time when The Silent Generation founds its voice.

 

Larry Flynt and the US Supreme Court decision regarding pornography ushered in an inundation of soft porn in the entertainment industry and in society. Morals and ethics degraded from those we grew up with, and not always for the better.

 

Parents in TV programs began sleeping together. I mean, Ozzie and Harriet?   Can you imagine?

 

Also included in this era was the government fight against the Mafia and its eventual reduction in influence. Other entities joined in the corruption of drug-pushing, murder, bribing politicians, and all sorts of crime, not that any of them were new. We just became more aware.

 

I also include in JFK’s assassination era the Nixon time of presidential deceit and disgrace, and resignation, and the realization on the part of the public that their leaders can be corrupted.

The Second Important Date for My Generation

 Continuing with dates that are important to my generation, we arrive at:

June 6, 1944—Allied Invasion of Normandy, France, Europe.

 

This was the beginning of the end for the Axis armies. It took until May of 1945, VE Day, to reach victory in Europe and August 1945 , VJ Day, for Japan to surrender.

 

Again, it impacted the entire world. We were still too young to appreciate the meanings of the dates, but eventually could look back and understand why they should be important to us.

 

Many of my generation had parents or other relatives who fought and/or died for the Allies.  That meant for many of us kids, dads and uncles and brothers returned home from war and a process of re-acquainting began.

 Some of us were affected by post-war economic factors and the lack of employment.

 

Those economic factors became the main reason why my parents decided to move to the territory of Alaska in June of 1948.   And, for me, that began a  life-long love affair with this wild land.

My brother Jim in front of the Quonset hut  (Jamesway) that was our first home.   

 

My mother and Jim peeling logs for our log home.

And Where were You Last Saturday?

 I am one of those people who has trouble remembering dates, and, more specifically, what I was doing on a certain date.

If I were ever to be interrogated by law enforcement, I would be in deep doodoo.

Take last Saturday, for instance.  That date I remember.   Can't tell you what I was doing on that date but I know why the date is significant to me.  It was Dec. 7, and its significance is Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

That date led to a lot of introspection and the making of a list of four dates important to my generation.   I posted that list on Facebook, and then followed up with my reasons why.

Here on Blogspot, I will post each of the four dates and my reasons.  

Here's the first:

Response One:

 

First, I should establish the parameters of “my generation” and, since it’s mine, I choose those of us born in the 1940s who are included in The Silent Generation and whose parents were in The Greatest Generation, plus the Early Baby Boomers.

 

Those born after—1950s and 1960s and so on, will have names for their generations and might have dates that are significant to them that may differ from mine.

 

Dec. 7, 1941—The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

 

Most of Europe, eastern Asia, and North Africa was consumed by war. FDR was fighting to keep the US out of the war.

 

The attack, a horrendous intelligence failure, destroyed much of the US naval fleet and planes based in Hawaii, and propelled the US into declaring war against Japan and, subsequently, into the European fray. 

 

This conflict became known as World War II, as it involved most major countries as well as smaller, remote countries such as Greenland and Iceland, a truly world-wide effect. 

 

While we might not remember the day these events occurred at the time, we eventually grew old enough to understand the importance of the date.   Many of us had relatives who went off to war.

I was two weeks old on Dec. 7, 1941.

 

 

A Guide to Surviving the Information Glut

These days we are overwhelmed with news and information and rumors and scammers and outright lies, all thanks to the World Wide Web.

This practical guide gives you the criteria to aide you in navigating that morass.

1.   Be skeptical of everything you read, and hear, and see, like the young fellow in this photo.

 

The Adventures of a Vertically-Challenged Person Trying to Get into a Full-sized Pickup

The last couple weeks have been challenging, to say the least.

\

Thursday, I drove to Anchorage for some routine medical stuff and went to Costco to grocery shop. When I pulled up to a stop light, I noticed the oil pressure on my 2001 Dodge Dakota crew cab pickup was low so I checked the oil as soon as I parked at Costco.

There was only a drop of oil on the stick!!! This, along with a strong smell of burning oil, also happened in August. I had the oil changed since then and put 1200 miles on the truck. I drove immediately to the Dodge dealer.

There was no chance to have the truck checked that day. They did, however offer to have the service department top off the oil.

As soon as the mechanic removed the oil cap, I noticed a lot of yellow gummy stuff on it. "Coolant," he said and went to talk to his supervisor. "Park it, " was the recommendation.

They also said I could Not leave the truck there. So there I was. Stranded. They said I'm lucky the truck didn't quit on me altogether. That's scary. A hundred miles from home and temps dropping close to zero. No, getting stranded on the highway in the mountains at night was not what I needed.

My mid-sized Dodge Dakota, more than a truck should be loved.

I was stuck. Mid-afternoon and its was getting dark. I had groceries that needed to be removed. I was advised to talk with a salesman, of course.

No way to get around to other car lots to find a vehicle because they had no loaners. By the time I arranged for a rental, all the car lots would be closing.

I had frozen my credit years ago as an identity theft precaution and had no checks with me, only credit cards.

Long story short: I bought a 2011 Ford F150 4x4 crew cab pickup with matching canopy from them. It is spotless inside and out and a nice sterling gray clear coat metallic color. The canopy, should I have to buy one, would be about $5000 painted to match. It has Blizzak tires, like my Dodge.

Ir drives like a dream. Well, considering the dreams I had last night, maybe that isn't such a good analogy.

Why do I need a pickup? We have no garbage service where I live and have to haul my own, 17 miles RT to one site, and about 26 to another. I also use it for gathering firewood, brush removal and disposal, and to clean up litter along 40 miles of highway in the summer. Plus, with 4-wheel drive, I find a truck much safer in the winter.

During the winter, I put lots of split firewood in the bed and park it in the garage for convenient access to dry wood for heating my house.

Gulp.

Not money I needed to spend, and it just contributed to my anxieties.

I transferred all the items in the Dodge into bags in the 8 degree cold and my hands have been chapped and tender ever since.  

I loved my Dodge mid-sized truck more than a truck should be loved. Currently, I am in the process of donating it to Make a Wish. The repair might be as simple as a PCV valve, and then again, it might be far more serious and expensive. The charity says it takes vehicles that are not running.

Then came the next problem. How to get into this large truck!!!

At first, I tried grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and pulling myself into the cab. That fiasco was not for public observance and falling to the ground in the process is inherently possible.. I am hampered by restricted use of my left shoulder and no handholds built into the truck.

How, I wondered, was I ever going to manage this?

Ah, hah. I have a small plastic step at home that would be perfect. I took it with me on my trip to the post office after buying the truck.

It worked perfectly! Much easier to get into the driver's seat. Then, disaster! How to retrieve the step from the ground that looked to be a half mile down. Could I tie a cord to it to lift the step?

This was getting ridiculous.

Next solution: The driver's seat is power-operated. I can raise it high enough to see over the steering wheel and dashboard, and , thus, by lowering the seat to its lowest extremity, getting in is possible by grabbing the steering wheel and dragging myself up. Not easy, but possible. I would not want to have to do this often, though.

So, I wondered, how long until power-operated seat breaks?

Possible solutions: Have running boards installed. I'm starting to look into that.

If I don't find a solution, litter clean up next summer will be severely and negatively.affected.

The Fur and Feathers Journal, 2024, Day Three, Entry Six, Tides, Tides, all about Tides.

 Been a while since I visited this site.   I am so easily distracted by my self-imposed projects.    The latest was to accumulate  almost 20,000 photos that were on various thumb drives and memory cards.   Now, they are all in one place where I have sorted them by category.   It's a work in progress and I'm taking a break from it for now.

So, let's get back to the Fur and Feathers Journals.

***

When last we saw our intrepid travelers, they were at a remote tent camp under auspices of Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, Ronnie and Karl as hosts.   

Oliver, part owner/manager with his parents of the whole operation, had landed his Maule 3 on a gravel bar in the creek in front of camp, dropped off some supplies, took off and landed a hundred yards away on the shore of Cook Inlet.   There, he had much more "runway" available

First to go was Alicia, along with a lot of baggage.   When Oliver returned, Eddie and I piled in the plane for the very short flight to the lodge.   Eddie landed on a narrow trail that fronts the privately-owned cabins.

Photo by Karl.

Our cabin wasn't quite ready for us to move as the staff was still cleaning it from the guests that were leaving that day.

We took  a short ride around the area, looking for whatever caught our interest.

Our ride was restricted by the high tides. The  creek crossings were flooded and couldn't be crossed by the ATV and the trailer that hauled up around.

The dirt/gravel trail is where Oliver landed his plane.

The ATV trailer that hauled us around the area.

We looked for bears and Eddie spotted several but they were too far away to get a lens on them.   We found a bald eagle taking a bath in Silver Salmon Creek and that was the highlight , and. extent, of our late morning game drive.

And, we flushed some mallards.

After lunch, we moved into our cabin, which is actually a house.   The lower floor, where we were, is a complete house--living room, kitchen and two bedrooms.   Alicia and I paired up to share one room.  

Upstairs is another kitchen and breakfast nook,  two bedroom area where Karen stayed.   She would join our game drives.

Well, we couldn't get to the bears, so a bear came to us.   Just as we finished lunch, we were alerted to a visitor ambling along the trail.    

It paused nicely for photos in front of the blooming yarrow.

And came up the trail to the lodge grounds.

We all grabbed cameras and piled out of the lodge to see the bear.   This, frankly , is a common occurance and is one of the things that makes this place so special

The bear checked around the fish cleaning spot and then showed a special interest in the chef's cabin.

Then it strolled along in front of a bunch of us before turning into the forest.   It gave us all a nice face-on look.

I'm about 25 to 30 feet from this bear.

With that, we returned to our cabin for a break and to get ready for a late game drive when the tide was lower.