Grandpa Green’s Pens and Pencils

Things, , ,

I’ve written about my Grandpa Green a few times here. Some how I ended up with some of his pens and pencils. I know two of them were his for sure, and I’m pretty sure the other was his. In fact, I think that all the pens and pencils I found in a cigar box were my grandparents’.

This fountain pen with a lever was easy to establish as his. It has his name engraved on the band.

Unfortunately the ink bladder inside the pen barrel has hardened with age and shattered when I opened the pen so I won’t be writing any correspondence with this pen.

This vintage mechanical pencil was most likely used by my grandfather at work. I know this because it has U. S. Government stamped on the side. The third photo shows the vintage pencil with a modern mechanical pencil used by U. S. Government employees.

This last mechanical pencil could have been. I even think I remember seeing it sticking out of his pocket protector. It’s from the Loyal Order of the Moose — an organization in which he was very active.

I could definitely use the pencils for correspondence — not only do they still contain viable lead, I also found a few boxes of leads!

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!

Dad’s 4th grade report card

Family, Things, ,

I’ve posted some of Dad’s other report cards, here’s his 4th grade card.

He seemed to have trouble working and playing with others, was not very polite and didn’t show much regard for the opinions and wishes of others. He was also distractable and rarely on time. He also didn’t get his work in on time. He had trouble with obstacles and with using his own resources.

Hmm — maybe that’s where I got my ADHD. I always thought it was Mom.