Disney's "It's a Small, Small World" is a favorite catchy tune. However, it tells a truth that sometimes amazes us. This month I received an Email from Kim, a lady in Massachusetts who had read the 90th birthday greetings on my website and, with shock, found a letter to me from her long lost friend, Nina, of Finland. Kim had been an exchange student in Finland in 1985 and had become friends with Nina. They had corresponded for years, but between Kim's marriage and moves, had lost track of each other. Nina and I had become pen pals in 1981, when she was fourteen and I was seeking people with whom to exchange stamps. I had also met Nina in person in 1988 when I visited Scandinavia and Russia. Nina's letter on my website refers to me as her American Grandmother. I have forwarded Kim's address to Nina and I expect a happy ending.

Beth and Ed have returned from their belated honeymoon, hiking and biking through the National Parks of Utah. These two deserved time alone. In the last seven-plus years, they have consistently included kids and mothers in their recreation. Beth was excited to have seen partridges, since she is 1/4 Partridge (my maiden name). I have never seen one. She says they are prettier and plumper than the California Quail. ("Plump" ---that's been Darlys, although it really comes from The Moon side of my family) and the ones at Kodachrome Basin State Park, near Bryce Canyon, were relatively tame. Ed could get within three feet of them as he was taking pictures, and was greeted by a soft clucking sound. These were imported from India in the late 1800's.

In last month's reminiscing about current "necessities", I only got through the twenties. The refrigerator is another "can't live without" that was absent in my early years. With nostalgia, I remember the ice box and the ice man. The latter always managed to have a good sized chunk of ice to hand a child. No ice cube could ever match that magic. The lovely shivery feeling, not only in my mouth, but rubbed around my hot face, as I shifted the ice from a tingling cold hand to a welcoming warm one. The pleasure was all too short, and when the last chip melted, it was so irretrievable. But the ice man would be back in a few days. Emptying the drip pan was a different matter...not much fun.

We had an ice box until 1927, when we moved to McCloud, at the foot of Mt. Shasta. McCloud houses, which all belonged to the lumber company, had evaporative coolers. The pantry, off the kitchen, was on an outside wall. The cooler was mounted outside, with an opening cut in the wall for access from inside. The cooler, itself, consisted of the wooden framework of a box, with three or four shelves. The open sides were covered with burlap, and a constant drip of water kept the burlap wet. On warm days, evaporation kept the contents cold. On cold days, the exposure to the weather did the same. The water dripping into the burlap was melted snow direct from the mountain. That water was so pure we used tap water for our High School chemistry experiments. I doubt if that is so now.

My parents bought their first refrigerator about 1932. It was the G.E. model with an evaporator drum on top. My mother had spent forty years of moving every two or three years, never knowing what kind of a house or furniture awaited her. Whenever she was given a particularly nice piece of embroidery or crochet, vase or dish, she would say, "I'm saving it until I get 'a home of my own'." By 1932, retirement was near and they started accumulating the things they would need. The last pastoral move was from a two story, five bedroom Victorian parsonage, to a board and batten two bedroom cottage. When Dad did retire, George and I bought an acre and helped them build that long dreamed-of home of their own.

Then came frost-free refrigerators. I'll quote from thirty years ago, repeated ten years back. (I feel that after ten years, my readership has changed enough I can safely repeat one of my former ramblings). "Today I defrosted the refrigerator. Now, defrosting the refrigerator is almost at the summit of domestic chores I do not enjoy (which include housecleaning, ironing, washing windows, dishwashing, etc. etc. You name it, I don't dig it.) When I finally persuade myself I can no longer postpone defrosting, and usually I accept that fact when the freezer compartment door refuses to open, I mention to George that I've heard refrigerators come in the self-defrosting variety. I then get a long lecture, giving all the reasons why that system is inefficient, over-consumptive of power, under-protective of foods and practically unpatriotic. So I look around with envy at women who have dumb husbands who don't know all these things and who let them buy inefficient, over-consumptive, LUXURIOUS self-defrosting refrigerators. I've announced the first thing I'm going to do with George's life insurance (if I win that particular lottery) is to buy a self-defrosting refrigerator...one with a see-through door, if available, and I'm going to move my rocking chair into the kitchen and just watch that sucker defrost". Actually, before George's demise, we did move into a home that had the refrigerator of my dreams.

The first home freezer appeared when George and I owned an appliance store... some time in the forties. We bought a sample one just before the county fair and the wholesale salesman suggested we fill it with cupcakes to hand out to fair-goers, convincing them that something which had been frozen could still be delicious when thawed. I was very skeptical until we tried some. They were as good as new, and that seemed amazing at the time. We put in a large order for cupcakes at the local bakery, and subsequently had a very popular booth at the fair. I have to admit I kept sampling the samples to see if they were really as good as my first impression.

I liked this story: A father started to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little girl, Jessica. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his magazine on which was printed the map of the world. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Jessica and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together." After a few minutes, Jessica returned and handed him the map correctly fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. "Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then the world came together."

April 21st is the 70th anniversary of our wedding. We had 63 1/2 good years together. Women's Lib came early for me. I always felt like an equal partner. That puts us way ahead of the times. Wasn't I lucky?

            Love,    Darlys

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    After 17 years of marriage, a man dumped his wife for a younger woman. He wanted to continue living in their downtown luxury apartment with his new lover, so he asked the wife to move out and get another place. The wife agreed to this, provided he would give her three days alone at the apartment to gather her things. She spent the first day packing her belongings. On the second day, she had the movers come to collect them. On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candlelight, put on soft background music and feasted on a pound of shrimp and a bottle of Chardonnay. When she had finished, she went into each room and deposited a few of the half-eaten shrimp shells into the hollow of the curtain rods. She then cleaned the kitchen and left. When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days. Then, slowly, the apartment began to smell. They tried everything: cleaning, mopping, and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were steam cleaned. Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which they had to move out a few days. In the end, they even paid to replace the expensive carpet. Finally, they couldn't take it any longer and decided to move. They couldn't find a buyer for the stinky apartment, so had to borrow a huge sum of money to purchase a new place. The moving company arrived and did a very professional packing job, taking everything to their hew home...including the curtain rods. DON'T MESS WITH A WOMAN!!!!!!

    Harold was an old man. He was sick and in the hospital. There was one young nurse that drove him crazy. Every time she came in, she would talk to him like he was a little child. She would say in a patronizing tone of voice, "And how are we doing this morning, or are we ready for a bath, or are we hungry?" Old Harold had had enough of this particular nurse. One day, at snack time, he took the glass of apple juice off the tray and poured the contents into a bottle he'd been given to fill with urine for testing. The nurse came in a little later, picked up the test bottle and looked at it. "My, but it seems we are a little cloudy today". At this, Harold snatched the bottle out of her hand and gulped the contents, saying, "Well, I'll run it through again. Maybe I can filter it better this time." The nurse fainted. Harold just smiled. DON'T MESS WITH OLD PEOPLE!!

    A man went to a party and had too much to drink. His friends pleaded with him to let them take him home. He said " NO" -- he only lived a mile away. A few blocks from the party, the police pulled him over for weaving and asked him to get out of the car and walk the line. Just as he started, the police radio blared out a notice of a robbery taking place in a house just a block away. The police told the party animal to stay put, they'd be right back and they hopped a fence to run down the street to the robbery. The guy waited and waited, finally deciding to drive home. When he got there, he told his wife he was going to bed, and to tell anyone who might come looking for him that he had the flu and had been in bed all day. A few hours later the police knocked on the door. They ask if Mr. Smith was there and his wife said. "Yes". They asked to see him and she replied that he was in bed with the flu and had been so all day. The police had his driver's license. They asked to see his car and she asked why. They insisted on seeing the car, so she took them to the garage. She opened the door. There sitting in the garage was the police car, lights still flashing. (Jacksonville, FL...True story, told by the party-goer at his first AA meeting).

2005 2nd Wind Issue Index