“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
School started here today. I heard the kids walking to the bus stop at the end of the street. Two parents with coffee in hands were with them. At about nine the five boys finally boarded the bus but not before they’d hung off a tree branch, climbed another tree and chased each other. Right now the summer rental next door is having its weeds mowed, and I can hear the clicking when the mower hits rocks. It hasn’t been a quiet morning.
At the housewarming party friends threw for me when I bought this house in 1977 one of the gifts was an iron. I’d do my wash, hang up everything which needed to be ironed on a line downstairs, and when I had a enough clothes, I’d set up the ironing board, watch TV and iron my clothes. I’d do that every couple of weeks. I still have that iron, and it looks as good as new. I can’t even remember the last time I used it. When my nephew started school in the mid-1980’s, he was given a test of reading readiness. The only thing on any part of the test he couldn’t identify was an iron. I only one person who still irons, and he is mystified that I don’t. My clothes have that right out of the dryer look, but they’re never wrinkled enough for ironing except for a couple of linen shirts which I do wash but bring to the cleaners for ironing. My iron can now be described as vintage 1970’s.
When I went to Ghana, I didn’t bring any music, but my mother sent me a cassette recorder and some of my tapes. The recorder was that rectangular one we all had. My camera was an Instamatic. Pop in the film and take your pictures. My mother had to send slide film to me as Ghana had no film at all for the camera, not even film for stills. I had to send the finished films to my mother to be developed. When my house was broken into, the thief left the camera.
I have some albums which I first bought on vinyl, then cassette, then CD’s and now I upload new ones or ones I don’t have from iTunes and similar sites. I can’t remember the last cookbook I bought, and I used to collect cookbooks. The only ones I’d buy now are those based on novels or authors to add to my collection.
I have a CD player, a multi-zone DVD player, an HD TV, which was the first in the neighborhood, an iPad, an iPod, and an iPhone. The phone needs to be upgraded but I don’t really care. It does enough for me. I know there is blue-tooth to replace my DVD player so I’m behind a generation, but I don’t care about that either.
I use to be filled with wonder at all the changes my grandmother had seen in her lifetime: from the beginning of air flight to the trip to the moon being the most amazing. I have grown up and gotten older in a world where change is a constant. Think about it. It is now so commonplace we seldom even notice.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Instamatic, IPad, iPhone, iPod, ironing, ironing board
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September 4, 2014 at 12:49 pm
The velocity of change of delivery of sound, picture and the written word is breathtaking and pricing places few limits on immediate access. What would he have thought about the internet ?
I can see him now standing in the front garden of the house on Silverston Avenue, dressed in a sports coat, shirt and a tie. No different to the way he always looked. His walking was a little labored because of the injuries that he had endured
“It all goes very fast, Hedley”.
My Grandfather was right, but that was his way.
He liked “The Archers” each evening on the radio and “Coronation Street” on Mondays and Wednesdays on TV. A transistor radio, a colour TV. He liked to take photographs but was really bad at it. No matter he had a nice Pentax camera.
I love technology it removed any isolation from my roots.
September 4, 2014 at 1:07 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I don’t flinch at the speed of change. I just go along for the ride. My Instamatic would be daunted by my Nikon D90 and even by my phone. I am using my third iPad from upgrades.
When I was last in Ghana, volunteers currently there called or skyped with their families at least once a week. When I was a volunteer, I called after 1 year and only could book the call at the main telecommunications building in Accra.
Taking away my internet would render me deaf and blind about so many things. I can’t remember something, I go to my iPad and get the answer. I want to listen to music while I work, Pandora. I could go on and on but you know exactly what I mean.
I too love technology. On my two trips to Ghana I had my iPad and considered it essential. It entertained me, gave me books to read and was flashlight when the lights went out. I’d rather lose a suitcase than my iPad.
September 4, 2014 at 1:26 pm
I do hope that your instamatic included the 4 sided flash cube – one of my personal favorites. I am looking at retiring the D90 for something very compact and high powered, hopefully with a blu ray link to jam photos on to Facebook or the email of some unsuspecting victim (im6)
I do upgrade my ipad each year and am waiting for September 9th to see if the air is to be replaced. I like facetime better than skype but use both extensively in wonderment at the free video call.
September 4, 2014 at 1:38 pm
MDH,
I also use FaceTime and am glad for it. I get to see the babies getting bigger and talk to my grandnephew Declan who is 2. We have never met in person.
I did have those flash cubes. My mother would send them but much less than new film. I had to pick and choose my spots to use them.
When I bought the D90, I retired my Konica which used real film.It was a great camera. I’ll hold on to the D90 a bit longer.
I give my old iPads to family. My sister is eagerly waiting for the one I have now to replace her first generation iPad. My MacBook Pro could use an upgraded machine but that will have to wait a bit, maybe until the new year.
September 4, 2014 at 1:40 pm
I loved my Instamatic 🙂 I had it for over twenty years and in the end I had to hit it in to something hard to be able to take a photo 🙂 It was a fantastic camera with those 4 sided flash cubes 🙂 The camera I have today is quite different I wouldn’t survive a hard hit to something hard 🙂 🙂 🙂
My casette recorder, that square one, ate tape and it took forever to rewind the tape into the casette again, with a pencil of course 🙂 I still have that first recording I ever did, on christmas eve at my grandparents house. IU’m almost afraid to play it if it should break but every now and again I do and then I can hear my grandmothers voice again, just as Ibremember it and then I realise how much I miss her. I also hear my aunts voices loudly in the back ground. Guess what I recorded (remember I wasn’t that old), I recorded the Donald Duck show on tv we see every year 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
September 4, 2014 at 1:52 pm
Christer
Of course we knew it initially as the Compact Cassette and the players were made by Philips with a single toggle button for control – record what you like and play it where you want. Then Sony controlled the market until they went to mini disc and ignored MP3 technology.
hedley
September 4, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Christer,
My Instamatic was easy to put in a pocket and take with me. It did get good pictures for how inexpensive it was compared to the big cameras. My 1969 slides are still great looking.
Mine never ate tape but the rewind wasn’t strong enough to beat the weather in Ghana, especially the humidity. The tape would start and stop. I used a Bic pen to rewind. It fit perfectly in the sprockets.
There is probably a place which can convert that tape to save it.
I laughed that you recorded Donald but that’s not a big surprise as it is such a Christmas tradition.
Enjoy the evening!
September 4, 2014 at 5:07 pm
Hi Kat,
Not only is change commonplace, if it doesn’t happen fast enough, we get annoyed. Think about how much chat there is online that is all about when, when, WHEN!!! is Apple or Amazon going to upgrade a thing or give us a new thing. Should I buy the thing now or wait a little longer because They alway upgrade right after I buy and I won’t have the newest thing and that would be awful.
I have a microwave that will cook food in a couple of minutes and I’m still standing there by the door, tapping my foot and thinking “C’mon! Hurry Up!” No matter how fast it is, it’s never fast enough.
Today I went out to have sushi with my youngest brother. We had a good time talking about past pets we knew and did or did not love depending on the pet. It’s fun comparing what each of us remembers about the same thing.
I had to replace my 60’s era iron in the mid-90’s. It stopped working right after I decided it would be a good idea to use it for waxing skis. Well, it worked but the wax got inside the steam vents and would melt out any time I tried to use it. Fine for skis but not clothes.
I got another iron which went crazy on me one day and melted a mercerized cotton doily the very second I touched it with the iron. Mercerized cotton has already been through the flames and should not melt.
The old iron had managed to pass all the ski wax by then so I went back to using it for a number of years until it finally died.
I have a new iron now. We rarely meet.
The AC is running 24/7. All is cool chez moi.
Enjoy the day.
September 4, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Hi Caryn,
Ghana taught me patience. I sometimes get annoyed at waiting, especially in traffic, but mostly I wait. When my microwave is doing its thing, I do something else like wash a few dishes or clean the counter. BeforeI know it, the microwave is beeping.
My sisters are 5 and 7 years younger than I am so we didn’t share a lot growing up. We do have great memories about Christmas and my parents but not as many of the three of us.
I do understand those irons going crazy. I suspect their manufacturers did not envision melting and then waxing skis with them.
My bedroom AC will be enough I think. The house is pretty cool, and the evening too is supposed to get cooler.
Enjoy the cool evening AC!
September 4, 2014 at 6:35 pm
The iron that waxed skis was fine except for the wax residue it spewed forth. It was the new iron that went crazy and melted the doily. It was a hand crocheted doily that I had spent a lot of time one and there it was with a giant hole right in the middle.
I brought it to the knitting shop and let the shop owner use it for a display underneath something that would hide the hole.
Someone stole it. Go figure. 🙂
September 4, 2014 at 6:53 pm
Perhaps the thief needed that for one spot and thought himself lucky to find your doily with the hole.
Some material would melt if the iron was too hot so I always had to be careful. I never did enjoy ironing.
September 5, 2014 at 12:20 am
Indeed, music evolution. I went from vinyl (LP and 45) to cassette; cassette to CD (I had a CD player/recorder); then CD to MP3 for storage on the computer hard drive. I’ve got a rack of over 200 CD’s, but haven’t bought one in six years since I got on iTunes. Some of the original vinyl songs got degraded with all that copying, so I replaced them with digital downloads, either purchased or pirated.
Music is a joy!! Ironing is not.
September 5, 2014 at 12:45 am
Jay,
I remember my friends and I sitting in any one of our bedrooms sorting through the 45’s trying to decide who to play. A couple of my friends had the 45 only record player. I had to use my mother’s hifi and stick that plastic piece into the hole of the 45 so we could play it. Sorting throuh those records demanded a certain way to hold the 45’s. I know you probably did the same.
I am in awe at how many MP3’s my computer holds. I haven’t bought a record in years. Turntables, though, are making a comeback as are stores which sell vinyl.
I am working to replace my cd’s or rip them. There are just so many.
I am in total agreement: music yes, ironing no!
September 6, 2014 at 12:09 am
I’m stumped by the music aficionados who want vinyl back. I guess it’s supposed to be a more “pure” sound. All I can recall is hissing, skipping, and that “bacon frying” noise that vinyl records got after they were played a few times. Give me digital MP3’s any day!
September 6, 2014 at 10:09 am
Jay,
That is the only argument I have heard for vinyl: the sound. Records did have a small shelf lives. I remember all the scratches and the stuck needle playing one phrase over and over.