Category Archives: Television

The Ghost in the Image

Emotions, Memories, Television, ,

In 1970 I watched an episode of Night Gallery called Certain Shadows on the Wall and it scared the bejesus out of me. I don’t really remember the storyline at all (IMBD helped: “Sickly Emma Brigham dies, but her shadow is still visible on one wall of the family mansion”) but I remembered the shadow. It is one reason I am afraid of the dark.

I did remember that Agnes Moorehead was the shadow, and I remembered the shadow too. I’d forgotten the photograph of me at thirteen that always made me think of this ghost story. I recently came across the photograph and had to look up the episode.

Looking at the picture of me, besides seeing the ghost shadow recreated, I remember that chair. It was my grandpa Patrick’s chair and Grandma gave it to my dad when she moved from the farm. I remember the smell of the leather (or vinyl) — it was the smell of my dad’s head.

I don’t remember the curtains my mom had on the windows in the living room though. That must have been temporary. I’ll have to do a blog post about those windows someday.

Mom’s metal recipe box

Memories, Television, Things,

Mom kept her clipped and hand-written recipes in this metal recipe box. She consulted it when she needed a recipe she didn’t make often enough to have it memorized. I think she switched to an older, wooden box because that’s where her handwritten recipes are now. The metal one just contained a few items that came from newspapers, magazines, food packages, or appliance inserts.

This box, though, is special to me because I remember it from as far back as I can recall. It was probably a bridal shower gift from a friend or family member.

You won’t be surprised, then, when I was excited to see it in the kitchen of the TV series, The Middle, that I binged on a while back. The show took place mostly in the kitchen, so the recipe box was featured in nearly every episode.

Mom’s
The Hecks’

The recipe box was not the only item the Hecks had that we did. Their bedspread was the same one we had for years.

Ours
Theirs

An Aspidistra [blooms] in Bethesda

Obsessions, Plant, Television, , ,

When I was still living with my parents I used to live for Sunday nights when I could settle in front of the TV and watch Masterpiece Theatre with Alistair Cooke on Channel 11, our local PBS station. One of the mini-series’ I remember watching was Country Matters, a dramatization of stories by H. E. Bates. The one dramatization I remembered most of all was An Aspidistra in Babylon. Actually I really only remembered the title and because of that I wanted an aspidistra, or cast iron plant, of my own.

I found one, years ago, at a yard sale in Savannah, Georgia. I bought it and foolishly planted it in the yard. The person having the sale said it would do well in our yard, but perhaps she didn’t understand we were from a state quite a bit north of hers.

For my birthday this year Andrew and Alex gave me an aspidistra after hearing me mourn the fact that I’ve never found one. It’s spindly and only has two leaves, but it seems to be thriving.

Before we left for our trip to Southern California for Christmas I noticed a new green bump near the soil and was overjoyed, thinking I was getting a new leaf. I’ve checked it regularly — usually when I water it (rarely because it hates wet feet) — and there never seemed to be any change. Yesterday was watering day and I noticed that it had developed some markings, not unlike a demogorgon with a closed mouth.

Today I took another look. The demogorgon’s mouth opened! It wasn’t a new leaf after all, it was a flower!