My Charm Bracelet

My charm bracelet started out as a First Communion gift from my godmother (and cousin) M. It was a small silver bracelet holding a religious charm or two with the date of my First Communion engraved one of the charms. I didn't think much of the bracelet until I started reading Judy Blume in elementary school. I can't remember if it was in the book Blubber, or if it was Deenie (it DEFINITELY was not Wifey, and btw, I didn't know that book wasn't exactly written for 3rd graders when I read that one--whoopsie!), but I remember reading about a girl on the playground in one of her books who had a silver charm bracelet. Not only did she have all these cool charms, but her charms did things--they moved or made noises. I don't know why that struck me as super cool, but it did and I started my quest to make my own charm bracelet with charms that "moved" or did something.

I dug out my gift bracelet and started out on my quest to find charms that moved--I thought it would be hard to do, but actually you can find movable charms at most places that sell silver charms. I found a coo coo clock in Frankenmuth, MI that had movable parts, and later a beer stein that opened and closed from the same store in Frankenmuth. Later, I found a bicycle pump that moved in Rochester, MI, and then a sand filled hourglass in Ludington, MI while on vacation with my parents. While in San Francisco one year, I found a slot machine with and arm and wheel that really work, and a fish that wiggles from Fisherman's Wharf, and even an abacus that has movable beads on it.

I have a large family, so when people started to get wind of my charm bracelet, some of my relatives starting making a habit of picking up a silver charm for me from whenever they went on vacation or a business trip. My charm bracelet has been decorated from charms from all over the globe now with a kangaroo and koala bear from Australia, a hula dancer from Hawaii that moves and sounds like a ringing bell, a Kiwi bird from New Zealand, a gondola from Switzerland, the Eiffel Tower from France, a movable cow bell and bicycle from Germany, a sombrero from Mexico, a windmill with working parts from Holland, a movable turtle from the Cayman Islands, a castle guard and chopping block from London, and most recently, a beautiful Irish Claddagh charm from our friend, J's, recent trip to Ireland! It is so cool!

I have over 50 charms now and 3 bracelets as they won't all fit on one, and some of the charms are actually too big to put on my bracelet (like my Disney Castle) and I am looking forward to collecting more. I hope to actually visit all the places my charms have come from, but until then I will live vicariously through my charms :)

Allowance, chalk outlines, and other kid stuff

The allowance thing seems to be working out so far. Simon still continues to ask for everything Thomas the Train or Lego Star Wars whenever we go to the store, but now when I tell him he has to pay for it out of his own money, he says, "never mind," or "maybe I can save up for that AFTER I buy my Lego Star Wars Jabba the Hut ship." Simon has, however, figured out to convince Gwen to use her allowance money to purchase some smaller items he wants so they can *share*. Hmm.....Speaking of saving money, I am up to $3.52 with my found money project. I found another $0.50 at the park the other day. I can now afford 1 gallon of gas!!! Woot! I still have yet to find any dollar bills...it is all coins so far.

The kids are really big into drawing chalk outlines right now. I first thought it might have something to do with their mother's obsession with serial killers and crime scenes, but instead they want to do this so I will draw in the bones and we can talk about all the bones in your body. I guess that is better than talking about preserving crime scene evidence. We'll save those discussions for when they are older, or if they accidentally stumble across Mommy's full 15 volume encyclopedia set of deviant behavior.

Simon has decided he wants to be a painter when he grows up. He is starting to obsess about painting miniatures along with his dad. Simon has also decided Gwen is going to be a dancer. When I suggested she consider chemical engineering, Simon shouted, "NO! Gwen is going to be a ballerina!!" OK--she does like to dance :0) I suppose I can't argue with that....

My house is a huge disaster right now. Mostly because of Gwen. She loves to draw on the walls...with sharpies. You'd think I would have found and disposed of all sharpies by now, but somehow she always manages to find another one. Sharpie doesn't come off paint--isopropyl alcohol just takes the paint off with the sharpie. I figure we'll repaint in about 2-3 years when she is out of this phase. In fact, we decided to just go ahead and let Simon draw a mural in the hallway--why not? All the other walls are covered with scribbles, so how much worse can it get? Simon drew our solar system, of course. The only weird thing is the sun and any planet he drew in yellow have since completely disappeared. The paint must have absorbed those colors, or they faded because the sun, Venus and Saturn are gone.

School Rocks - Redux

Here's a couple of more school related news videos from CNN.

This one is about how the slightest physical contact between students in school can lead to gang violence.

This one is about how L.A. schools are completely screwed. Apparently 40,000 students drop out each year in Las Angeles schools. Maybe the students wouldn't drop out if the schools would just place a little more emphasis on standardized testing. That's all kids really want.

School Rocks!!!

Here's a CNN video which describes how teachers went out of their way to humiliate a boy at a school awards ceremony.

At least it is a nice break from the endless stories of women teachers seducing their 13 year old students. If this is your cup of tea rather than simple humiliation, read more here. (Ok, Ok, this is a right-wing rag I wouldn't normally frequent, but calling it a "sexpidemic" is pretty funny. Also, the long list of incidences is kind of staggering.)

Very puzzling.

Miniatures

I started to post new pictures of the miniatures I've been painting, but I had too many of them. So, instead I resurrected my old "Hawksbill's Journal" blog and am using it strictly for my mini painting hobby. Here's a taste:

I probably won't update it often, because we don't have a digital camera. So far I'm just using my old, trusty and completely manual Pentax K-1000 35mm which means I have to fill up a role, and take it to be developed before I have new pictures.

The up side is that having a blog dedicated to minis will let me be a bit more detailed on the techniques I'm learning.

(Note: I can't believe my old camera has its own Wikipedia entry. They even call it: "a historically significant camera". Crazy.)

The Burglar Bold and Other Childhood Tales

My grandfather on my father's side died when I was very little. I was 7 or 8 years old, I believe. He was born in the late 1890's or early 1900's and was a potato farmer in rural Michigan about an hour north of Grand Rapids where I grew up. My father was born in 1930 and grew up in stark depression era poverty. My dad was the second youngest of 6 and, according to him, he didn't even have a pair of shoes until he was in the 8th grade (which was his final year of formal schooling, before setting off on his own to make his way in the world.)

My grandparents lived in an old ramshackle home without either running water or electricity until their children bought them a mobile home in the mid 1970's which they placed about 100 feet from their old house. Before moving into their trailer I dreaded visiting them. Not because I didn't like them, but because of their toilet.

Because they had no running water they had to make due with what they did have. So, to fashion a toilet they placed a hand-made wooden frame with a toilet seat over the top of an empty Hills Brother's coffee can which they rinsed out after each visit. I have a vague memory of my mother helping me balance on it once when I was very little, but I'm not sure if it is a real memory or one I conjured up from my fears of having to sit on it as a child.

Here's a picture of my father, Simon and me in front of the house he lived in with his parents until he was 13 or so:

And here's another one of Simon and I. In this one you can see the original house plus the trailer my grandparents moved into when I was about 5. This would have been about 1975 or so.

I have two main memories of my grandfather, other than that he was a quiet, stern man who I was a bit afraid of. The first also involved a Hills Brother's coffee can. My grandfather was an avid fan of chewing tobacco and was never without a large chunk stuffed in his lip. After they moved into the trailer and had water and electricity he loved to sit in his mammoth chair and watch TV and spit his chaw into the can he placed on the floor next to his chair. What I remember most is that he wouldn't empty the can of tobacco juice until it was full to the rim and nearly overflowing. I loved sitting near him and marveling at how much one man could spit.

The other thing about my grandfather that I remember is this song he used to sing. Somewhere we have a cassette tape of him singing it for us which I've tried to find, but in vain. I remember loving this song, and it was my favorite thing about him. I remember him singing it into the tape recorder when he was very old and frail. I think it was known at the time that he wouldn't live much longer and the family wanted to remember him and his song together.

It just now occurred to me that it was likely on the net somewhere so I googled it and, sure enough, there it was. I've reprinted it below from a site which suggests that it is Irish in origin, but I've modified it a bit to match my memory of the words. As you read it you should picture it being sung by a gruff old potato farmer. That's the only way I can imagine it being sung.

BURGLAR BOLD:

I’ll sing you a song of a burglar bold
Who went to rob a house.
He opened the window and went right in, as quiet as a mouse
Then under the bed the burglar crept
And lay there close to the wall.
He didn’t know it was an old maid’s room
Or he wouldn’t have had the gall.
At nine o’clock the old maid came in
"I am so tired" said she.
She took out her teeth and big glass eye
And the hair from the top of her head.
While the burglar had seventeen kinds of fits
As he peered from under the bed.
From under the bed the burglar crept
And looked a total wreck.
The old maid was onto him and
Grabbed him by the neck.
She didn’t scream or holler at all
But stood there meek as a lamb and said,
“My prayers have been answered now
And at last I’ve found a man”.
Then the old maid a revolver took
And unto the burglar said,
“Young man it you don’t marry me
I’ll blow off the top of your head”.
The burglar looked for a place to run
But found not where to scoot.
He looked at her teeth and big glass eye
And said, “For God’s sake shoot”.