I’m thinking of my own mother today, (this Mother’s Day of 2013), now gone for many years, think of the stories she might have told had she written her memoirs! The hardships she endured, her simple pleasures, her disappointments, her victories!

My mother grew up in a mountain-top cabin that had a dirt floor, no indoor plumbing of any kind, water was carried uphill from a spring with not even a sink available to pour it in, most likely only a tin basin would be available! Our very “poorest” of the “poor” today, would be considered filthy rich by the standards of my mother’s childhood!

Through the courtesies of family friends she was brought down off the mountain so she could go to school, she completed eight grades and graduated with honors. Later on, since my father could neither read nor write, it was her duty to take care of all the family business on our forty acre farm! And she was very good at it too!

My Mother had the most beautiful penmanship that I’ve ever seen, think how wonderful it would be if we could read her life story in her own hand, done with her own pen! Her story would have no monetary value, but the historical and emotional value would be “beyond treasure”!

TOG, (the Old Geezer from Geezerville)

Have you ever considered that your written memoirs may have value to someone? They sure could, if not now, they sure could in the future! No doubt you have often wondered about the lives of some of your ancestors. If so, you would now certainly value any written account of them today. What if they had left behind an account for you to read? Would you value that? I’m guessng that you certainly would!

You may think of your life’s story as unimportant but that would only be true if your life was unimportant and unexciting. I don’t believe that! I believe your life’s story would be very interesting to those who follow you, all you have to do is “stand tall” and “tell it”!

TOG, (The Old Geezer) from Geezerville

The explosion at the Texas fertilizer plant reminds me of some big disasters that took place in my short lifetime of eighty years. Take a look at this one that happened in Texas City in 1947. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster .

Or this one that leveled eight blocks of Roseville Oregon in 1959. http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/roseburg_blast/

Most of these disasters can be contributed to human error or industrial failure. We didn’t have to worry about indoctrinated terrorists in those days. It’s really hard to fathom how someone could ever cause such disasters on purpose but we have such people among us!

TOG

Worth Remembering

Some things in life are worth remembering and the older we get the more we realize that most often it’s just the little things that really count! This link says it better than I can, (Click here: enjoytheride ) Just click on it for some nice soft music and pleasant scenes.

But isn’t it really true that little things mean a lot? The older I get, the more I reminisce about those little things, many of them, long forgotten but still most pleasant in our memories!

Some folks think that they never had an interesting life, but they have, really, it’s just that they are concentrating on the big things. It only takes a few memories and a few  words to make a page and just a few pages to make a whole book about your life. Your book, your memoirs, your story about the big and little things that made up your exciting life! May I encourage you to write your memoirs for those that follow you!

TOG

One Good Deed Every Day

A few years ago I decided that it would be a nice thing to try to do a good deed for someone every day. It was difficult at first but soon it became a habit and I felt a little guilty if I somehow forgot or failed to live up to my decision!

I’m not talking about big earth-shaking things here, mind you, most were just little things. I always felt that the deed was worth more if the recipient had no idea that they had even received a good deed!

It was easy to find a need when I was working and it still is, for that matter, even though I’ve been retired for at least 16 years. One thing I often did as a landscape contractor was replace garden hose washers at the houses where we were working. These homes were usually owned by professional folks who had little time to worry about such a mundane thing as a leaking hose washer. I always kept a stash of hose washers on hand for the occasion, they cost mere pennies and are very quick and easy to replace! It’s just something that I could do easily and quickly for just an outlay of pennies and the homeowner would never know!

Most folks who read these blog pages are “empty nesters” and retired just like me. For some, it would be the first time in their lives that they could even think about such things! The first time in their lives that they would even have time to think that they could seek opportunities to do a good deed!

I urge all who read my blogs to try it, it’s a very rewarding thing to do. Oh! I miss some days for sure but I try to make up for it as often as I can by doing an extra big good deed once in a while! I know of nothing in my life that has been more rewarding!

TOG, (The Old Geezer from Geezerville)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

It’s good to think about our roots sometimes. This great Nation was built by so many diverse people, all whom have made their contribution to the fabric  of our nation whether they realized it or not. Their contribution to our culture, their wisdom, social cultures, religious beliefs, and even something as mundane as their style of cooking and housekeeping have all made an impact on the culture of America, this land that we call home!

So here we are today, celebrating St Patrick’s day, a day to celebrate all things Irish. We can celebrate this day whether we have any Irish blood in our veins or not. Today some folks may just pretend to be Irish! Some folks may be part Irish and not even know it, their roots long forgotten with the passage of time.

Everybody leaves a trail though, intended or not, if you are looking for your roots, there’s really a good chance that you can find it. Your ancestors were no different, you’ll find their trail among moldy property records in the court-house, an old family Bible, an old book, a memoir, or some other place. For those that love geneology, “the thrill is in the hunt” as they trace their roots.

It’s been my experience to note that most folks reach about age sixty before they start thinking about their roots and their memoirs. Their nest has now become empty and finally they have a little time left over to think about such things. It’s been my experience also that there seems to be at least one person in each family that becomes interested in their family’s geneoligy while other family members find it to be a very dull subject.

Happy St Patrick’s Day from Geezerville,

TOG 

Toys of Yesteryear

There’s a big difference in the toys that children play with today compared to when I was a young pup! In those days, now over 70 years ago, toys were made of wood and stamped metal for the most part. At least those that could be bought in a store were built like that.

The toys that were made of wood were quite durable but the metal ones were held together by little metal tabs and would soon fall apart under heavy use. This was in the PP days, (pre-plastic days)! Kids today would think that we must have lived in the days of the dinosaurs, perhaps they are not too far wrong!

Toys today are so full of minute details, one would wonder if a child needs any imagination at all? Do kids ever build their own toys anymore? I wonder! We often did, scraps of wood, scraps of cardboard, wooden sewing thread spools and most any other scrap could be made into some kind of toy. Our family grew up in an isolated area far from stores and being in a family of ten children may have been a pretty good reason for making some of our toys. Money must have been hard to come by, for such things that were store-bought.

We had fun though, making the toy was just as much fun as playing with it! Overwhelmed almost, by anticipation and bathed in blissful ignorance, we would set about the task! A nail, a sewing spool and a rubber band made a pretty good wind-up toy that would scoot across the floor at pretty good pace! A big button, a piece of string threaded through it in a continuous loop would make a pretty good toy, the button would spin so fast when used that it would really hum a pretty good tune! This was especially fun when held close enough to you brother or sister’s head to tangle up their hair in an impossible snarl. A block of wood would make a pretty good tractor, three blocks of wood hooked together made a train set, (one, a locomotive, the one in the middle, a boxcar and the last one, a caboose)! A stick, a piece of paper and a pin made a pretty good pin-wheel! A stick and a barrel hoop made a pretty good toy too! A green willow twig could be whittled into a good whistle too, this could only be done in the spring though, when the sap was running  so the bark would slip. It was a good thing that these whistles could only be made in the spring, we would have driven our parents crazy from those shrill whistles of those things otherwise!

Yes, there is very much indeed, a difference in the toys we had and what the kids have today!

TOG, (The Old Geezer from Geezerville)

The Benefits of Writing a Memoir

Who benefits the most when writing memoirs? I believe it’s the authors themselves, at least in their lifetime. How many chances do we get in our lives to re-live our youth? To re-live those fleeting moments of our childhood? To revel in our small victories and pleasures that happened in our youth, which now seems so long ago?

Certainly the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the author will benefit, long after the author has passed on! The memoire will most likely be the only evidence that can convey the authors personality, the character and beliefs that the author would like to pass down to those that follow! Perhaps the author may be able, through the memoire, to give helpful direction to someone yet unborn, far into the future!

You should not overlook the fact though, that the biggest beneficiary of writing your memoire may be you.

It’s very easy to write ones memoire, I’ve written six books of memories and if I had waited until I felt qualified, none of them would exist. From my experience, I’ve gained a formula that works for me, I write in chronological order, (from earliest memories to the present day) and I keep it simple and just try to be myself. By and large I write by using “fifty cent” words, I leave the “five dollar” words and “ten dollar” grammar for others who are better educated than I am! Yes, it’s very easy, especially if one has the use of a modern computer program. Can’t type? No problem! Just buy a “voice to text” program and let the computer type it for you! The “Dragon” program only costs around one hundred dollars!

My formula works for others too, I once helped a lady, (whom I never met except via email) just by giving her my formula and encouragement. She wrote a pretty good book too, of about two hundred and eighty pages! If you would like some encouragement in writing your memoir, just contact me, I will give you all the help I can! My help will be “free”! I do these things as “my good deed for the day”!

TOG, (The Old Geezer) from Geezerville

Beautiful Friesian Horses

I’ve never cared a whole lot for horses, I grew up with them but they were just used for work, not for pleasure. My dad had some Morgan horses, (always two to make a work-team) the Morgans were what you might consider a light work-horse. He liked these smaller work-breeds because he would always use one of them as a riding horse, usually the smaller one of the two. My dad had no trouble handling them, he came from a different era, a different world, where horses powered everything.

Horses were just a lot of trouble to me. My memories of horses are of getting stepped on, bitten and kicked, feeding them, cleaning up after them, etc. I wasn’t a very good rider either, having fallen off a - horse a couple of times!

Every so often something special comes across this computer apparatus that is kind of special, this is one of those times. Go to this You Tube video to see the most beautiful horses that you most likely will ever see. These are obviously show-horses of the rich folks  http://www.youtube- nocookie. com/embed/ Y5XJbSqwriM? rel=0 but I think they are the most beautiful horses that I’ve ever seen!

TOG, (the Old Geezer from Geezerville)

A Matter of Perspective

Aren’t you glad you never booked the cruise on the Triumph last week? There’s just nothing on a ship that can ruin a party more quickly than a fire and engine failure! The only thing that could possibly be worse is hitting an ice-burg such as was the fate of the Titanic!

Like so many things in life, it’s really just a matter of perspective when you consider the mess on the Triumph compared to other travel problems going back just a few years. Consider the crossing of the Atlantic in the time of Christopher Columbus? I doubt very much if  the Pinta, Nina or Santa Maria had any comforts on board at all that even remotely resembled the food provision, sanitation, sleeping accommodations or anything else that we so much take for granted today!

How about the Mayflower, did those folks get lobster for dinner, soda pop, even intermittent cell phone service? Consider my own Grandmother migrating from England in the late 1800s, booked in steerage class, stuck down in the stinking hull of a steam-ship? “Steerage class”, famous for the rats, bad odors of human waste, and vomit from those that were seasick!

I have personal memories of crossing the Atlantic in a troop ship in the early 1950s. Just to compare, consider that the Triumph is nearly nine hundred feet long, seventeen stories tall, our-troop ship was just a little over six hundred feet long. I do not remember the name of our troop-ship but it should have been called the USS Barf-a-lot! We had roughly 3000 on board! The Triumph had roughly 4000 souls on board in probably 15 or twenty-five times as much space as we had.

I don’t remember being served lobster on that troop-ship either but I can remember standing while eating, with food on a tray in front of us on a table about four-foot high in the mess hall. I can remember one of the sea-sick fellows throwing up right in front of those of us who were eating, that took care of any appetite that we thought we had, most of us took a mad rush to the nearest open exit! I don’t remember having a private state-room either, we slept seven deep on canvas stretched between an iron frame, eighteen inches apart. I’m very sure that during the Second World War, accommodations on submarines were much worse than that!

It took 14 days to reach Bremerhaven Germany from new York Harbor, a good share of the troops were seasick before we got a couple hundred miles out of New York!

This little story folks, should be proof enough that misery or comfort is certainly just a matter of perspective!

TOG, (the Old Geezer from Geezerville)