“You never know when you’re making a memory.”
The morning is spectacular. It’s late spring cool. The air is clear and the sun sharp. I’ve been outside filling feeders and watering plants. The birds are noisy.
Yesterday I watched a mother squirrel. Her baby followed her everywhere and kept trying for food on the run, but she would have none of it. I figured it was weaning time. At every stop, the mother would lie on a branch with all four legs hanging, access denied. At one point the baby walked directly underneath its mother so they were a double-decker for a bit. They got closer and closer to the deck, but because I was outside, they never did make it to the feeders. The mother stayed near me on a branch and stared. I supposed she was a bit put-out because she didn’t get to show her baby the promised land.
Some years shine brighter than others. I remember 1960. In the late summer I turned thirteen, a magic age. I was no longer a little kid. I was a teenager who would soon start the eighth grade, the pinnacle of the elementary school world. In 1960, John Kennedy, my own senator, ran for President, and I watched it all, the primaries, the debates and the election. It was my first time ever being political. A couple of my original Kennedy campaign buttons hang with a few others in a frame. McGovern is there too. I was a democrat in 1960 because JFK was.
1968 shined. I turned twenty-one. I could vote for the first time and could drink legally. I’m not sure which was more exciting but I’m suspecting the latter. I started my last year of college, my last year of being irresponsible, and I took full advantage. It was a year for the archives.
Every day I drift back into my memory drawers and am usually surprised by what I find. Today was no different.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 28, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Heavy frost here bthis morning, but the sun kept on shining all day until I stopped working. Then the rain came 🙂 🙂
I finally feel that I at least can do some thing with my computor, but we still hate each other 🙂 🙂
Did You try garlic on the outdoor furniture? I´ve been qurious if it worked.
The only year I can think of right now is 1997. That was when I moved out here to the country side. I remember getting up one morning saying to my self: My life is wonderful!” After saying that I frell down the staris on my way to the kitchen almost loosing my little finger. They had to sow fourteen stitches to get it all together again 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
May 29, 2010 at 9:02 am
Christer,
We are out of the frost season, luckily! In Colorado, they have just recently had a frost and my sister’s in-laws lost their peaches and apples for this season.
I haven’t tried the garlic yet as the chairs are still leaning against the table, and the squirrel can’t get at them. I’m heading to the wholesale store this week so I can but a huge jar.
Your stories, though sometimes tragic, do make me laugh. Sorry!
May 28, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Christer has some great lines, doesn’t he? My Mother campaigned for Kennedy, I voted for the first time for McGovern. My Dad was the only Republican in the family and even that changed when he returned from Vietnam. He came back as I was going. His first time to vote for a Democrat was Jimmy Carter. He was pretty happy with Carter as Commander in Chief. Carter was a graduate of the Naval Academy. So a strong military man matched up to Dad’s Army career real well.
May 29, 2010 at 9:04 am
Z&Me,
He does and I always get a laugh. My first voting was for Humphrey.
My brother and I always told people our father was a democrat until he started to pull in 3 figures then he became a strident republican (which is probably an oxymoron).
May 28, 2010 at 9:26 pm
After Nixon was defeated by JFK in 1960 and Barry Goldwater lost to LBJ in 64, the Republican Party realized that the only way to win in 1968 was to sell Nixon on TV like a bar of soap or any other product. I also voted against Nixon in 1968. That was the first year I could vote in a Presidential election. The Democrats perfected the negative ad against Goldwater with a TV commercial featuring a little girl, a daisy and a nuclear mushroom cloud.
Unfortunately, since then both parties have succumbed to selling us our political leaders in 30 second sound bites and very negative half truth ads.
If you want to read more about how Nixon was sold to the American public, read “The Selling of the President 1968” by Joe McGinniss.
May 29, 2010 at 9:07 am
Bob,
I remember that anti-Goldwater commercial. Goldwater always scared me a bit with his, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” His party now seems to espouse that wholeheartedly though they tried to distance themselves back then.
It was always a source of pride for me that I got to vote against Nixon twice.
May 29, 2010 at 5:20 pm
A very interesting movie is ‘Frost Nixon”. It’s a very good portrayal of both David Frost and a retired ‘Tricky Dick’.
May 29, 2010 at 6:30 am
I guess most of us wish that another country had bought him.
As time goes by, it’s hard to think of any positive or redeeming features the man had.
My favourite book of the times was “Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail” by Hunter S Thompson
May 29, 2010 at 9:08 am
Pete,
I so love that Hunter S. Thompson book!
During the summer of Watergate hearings, I stayed inside glued to the TV. I didn’t want to miss a single juicy tidbit.
May 30, 2010 at 10:26 am
Bob,
I saw that movie and liked it. I even remember watching the actual interview.