there are certain times of day, certain times of the year, even a particular fragrance, that can pull up a memory from eons past. a hot summer day is a day long ago spent vegatating on a beach in air thick with water on Martha's Vineyard. winter is getting stuffed into snowsuits and jackets that make your arms stick out and then walking forever in a nebraska blizzard to the mailbox on a sunday morning to get the newspaper. i always wonder what my parents were doing while my sister and i made the trek. we never got freezer burn or lost so it couldn't have been to dangerous. fall is walking down mapleton avenue in boulder in october when in a weeks time the trees go from golden with a few sugar maple reds to bare branches against the foothills. those memories are real. how is that a writer can make you think that the words you read are your memories? just finished reading that old ace in the hole and all the people and places seem like memories of mine. even though i have lived in colorado and nebraska for years, those places are not texas and oklahoma, although the prairie over the ogallala aquaifer-which she mentions in the book-takes in all those states. but the prairies are different--as different as evergreen forests are from decidious forests. still, it seems like i know those people--those people who are fit subjects for npr even though they don't like npr. that "antique" store that i have been in a million times in denver. that upper room with the special collections. those people who don't let you in their group until.... those crazy little festivals that all the towns have now to somehow give their place a place in the sun and maybe draw in a few tourists. the ending was a little too happy, but we need some happy endings in our lives.
and as for denim and nylons, well, i am not old enough to have drawn on seams for missing nylons during the war, but i have worn seamed nylons with garter belts. cheered when those things went away. pantyhose-what a disgusting name- where somewhat better, but some could squeeze the middle out of you and if you got a run in one leg, well the other leg had to go where the leg with the run went. i cheered when i could wear slacks to church with knee highs, but now i just want to wear plain old socks with slacks, or a long skirt. however, in the middle of the prairie things don't change as fast as on the edges, so i had to go back to wearing nylons to church. i should keep track of how much money i could save by not buying nylons that i could send to missions. could amount to a bit since i have not been able to wear nylons more than twice without wrecking them. most of the time it only takes one wearing. and can't wear the spray on stuff either. checking to see if you have hose on reminds me of checking skirt lenths with a ruler or by kneeling. hopefully, life is bigger and more meaningful than that. yes, it is. and their is the denim thing, too. no denim in church. even though i am older, there is still a part of me that is rebelious and ornery. i have a jacket that is make of broadcloth but at first glance you might think it was denim. i really like it. but, it is not denim--denim is made of two colors of threads, white and blue, woven in a twill pattern, whereas broadcloth is a simple over and under patter. it is possible to wear a jacket that is the same cut as a denim jacket as long as it is not denim. just more picky, picky, picky stuff. i hope no one from my work reads this.
what is there about denim -- for some people---older people, it is the material of the worker and the poor, not fit for high occasions. but in other generations it is considered a statement of rebellion, in others just a fashion statement, and finally in others pretty much nothing. for me it is a james dean thing.
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2 comments:
wow mum, you're writing is awesome. i love the freezer burn! and the ranting about the nylons and the denim. see that home-ec degree was worth something =). i never knew that denim had that definition. now could you tell keith the definition of flannel? he keeps calling our wool shirts flannels. though telling him the definition will probably not stop his name calling. hehehe
it is funny how we let clothing define everything from our status to our attitude, even for the nudests the lack of clothing defines. won't it be nice when we get to heaven and we just have "light" or maybe even then we'll have different lights... who knows.
Your literary style is lightyears beyond what I can ever hope to achieve! you are a master of the written word. One of the news sites I visit has comments written by some guy by the name of goatguy. he has very indepth writeups about the basis for technology. the apitamy of geekhood. you know.. the kind of thing that neal and I drool over? anyway... my point is, you can take the real life events we all feel and make them way more interesting. Its not meant as a backhanded compliment, and I know you'll know that since you know how much neal and I like tech junk, I Just had to find something to compare to. ok, let this serve as an example of how BAD i am with the written word as a counter example to how good you are.
specifics in the article (for fun):
didn't the mail box have a box beside it for the paper? I thought only mail went in the mail box and the news paper isn't mail?
I really like your frost bite -> freezer burn comparison. just genius.
Thats to bad garters are that bad, I'm still trying to connvince jen.
as for Denim. the convicts in the prison system here only wear denim. if you go into the facility (to teach for example) you must wear something OTHER than denim lest you be mixed up.
You hope no one from your work reads? simple. dont' give them the link. These days cyber space is pretty big, don't reference people with their complete name, don't use the exact name of your employement facility, etc.. and then the web spiders (the things that allow search engines to crawl and find stuff) won't return your work when someone does a web search for your name, a school, etc..
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