“Hometown is where our story begins.”
I love this morning. It is sunny, though the sun is only temporary, and it is warmish, already in the mid 60’s. The air is still. The leaves outside my window have turned bright red, and the color is popping in the sun. The house is quiet. It is nap time for the dogs. After all, they have been awake for a couple of hours and must be exhausted.
When I was a kid, my favorite day of the week was Saturday. My father did his errands, and sometimes I went with him. When I did, I thought those were special Saturdays. Uptown was always bustling on Saturdays. Hanks had fresh bread. The barbershop, a small one with only a couple of chairs, had men waiting. My father always got a trim. He’d pick up his clean shirts and leave his dirty shirts at the Chinese laundry. The clean shirts were wrapped in brown paper and tied with white twine. They were on a shelf in a sort of bookcase behind the counter. The laundry was hot and humid from the big presser in the front by the side window. Sometimes our timing was perfect, and I got to watch the man press shirts. The presser hissed with steam.
Three drug stores were right in the square and another was not far from the square. Middlesex Drug was the biggest. Pullo’s was the smallest. Sometimes my father stopped to visit with Pullo who was also the pharmacist and wore a white coat. He’d come from behind the counter to visit my dad. I’d have a Coke while I was waiting.
When I go back to my hometown, I ride through the square. From my memory drawers, I can see my square when I was a kid. I see the police box in the middle of the street, Woolworth’s and Grants, all those drug stores, Kennedy’s with its cheese, pickles and barrels out front, the spa and the Chinese laundry. I knew how special the square, uptown, was even way back then.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
October 5, 2024 at 4:55 pm
I think Iris Dement’s “Our Town” might fit here. I also like Tom Waits, “I Always Take the Long Way Home,” though that might be a bit off topic.
Cordially,
J. D. Wilson, Jr.
October 5, 2024 at 7:03 pm
J.D.,
I love the Iris Dement except when I checked I found out it has been posted 8 times and the last time was in July. I didn’t remember the Tom Waits, but I will now. Thanks!
October 5, 2024 at 5:13 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was partly sunny with a high temperature of a cool 89°. I sat out on the covered patio as my daughter went into the pool for the last time this year. She only stayed in for a few minutes and decided the water was too cold. I don’t have a thermometer in the pool. Don’t need one, she’s my thermometer. 🙂
Saturday was always the day my father and I would get our hair cut at the local barbershop. All the barbers smoked in those days and the place reeked of cigarettes and Witch Hazel. In those days I wore a flattop and my dad would get a regular haircut. There were drawings above the line of chairs showing the different type of haircuts. One that sticks in my mind was a flattop with fenders. That was a flattop with the front hairs left long so that the hair would curl over. No one ever got that style while I was there. The barbers each had a hand vibrator that they used while massaging your shoulders for a couple of minutes before finishing your haircut.
I still go to an old fashioned barbershop. No one smokes any longer nor do they use Witch Hazel. My barber, Joe, is 73 and recently he sold the place to one of the other younger barbers. I now get a regular man’s hair cut. I only go monthly. My dad and I got our hair cuts biweekly.
October 5, 2024 at 7:23 pm
Hi Bob,
It stayed in the mid 60’s today. My house didn’t get any higher than 67° so it was a sweat shirt day. I had groceries delivered and putting them away was the only thing I did all day.
My father always had a traditional men’s cut. My brother had what we called a whiffle. Flat tops came a bit later. My father had the darkest hair. When he got older, the only grey he had for the longest time was the hair on his neck. My hair, dark like his, still hasn’t turned totally grey. I remember seeing guys with a flat top with fenders. I didn’t know what it was called.
There is still a family barbershop in the next town over. It went from father to son. Many guys now go to salons aka beauty shops. I always see a couple there when I get my hair cut.