85/365 Boys Will Be Boys, For 45 Years

A couple days ago on my astronauts-were-heroes entry, a reader reminded me that Beatles were heroes too (and about Tang, but I never took to that part of astronaut-worship).

In the rough draft I actually did have the boys mentioned in the same breath as astronauts, but took it out in the re-write, not realizing anyone else had that particular world-view.

To prove the level of my Beatle addiction, here's two photos (back and front) of an autographed postcard, one of the first batch printed up from the band's Cavern Days.

When I finally got a real job (the kind that allows you to have an American Express card), they called to tell me I got the job, and set up my flights for the 2 week training session. They explained they would pick up the round-trip flight, plus all hotel and expenses for two weeks. PLUS they would fly me home for the weekend.

This was not good enough for me. I asked them to fly me to Chicago for the weekend, instead of home. Of course I had to explain that I already had tickets for the BeatleFest Convention that weekend.

Then there was a long pause, while my new boss re-checked my application with my birthdate, just to make sure he was hiring an adult.

While he was silent, I mentioned that flying me back to Chicago would actually be a couple hundred dollars cheaper than flying me all the way back home. At this point, it became no problem, no matter what reason I gave.

This is how I ended up at the 1982 Chicago BeatleFest, making my first *really expensive* purchase on my first credit card.

This particular postcard was signed by all four boys: Ringo in blue fountain pen, across the front,and the other four on the back side. They were all still enamoured of being well-known locals and being asked for their autographs, and the signatures are clear and sharp. These were the early days in 1962 when Brian Epstein had boxes of these postcards printed up for the boys to sign, then gave the cards to family and friends to help publicise the band when it played the Cavern.

Twenty years later, Ringo's step-dad found a small batch of these in the attic, and gave them to a friend who was running a Beatles store in Liverpool who brought them to the States, to sell at the Beatles conventions, to fans like me.

Not only did I acquire an authentic autographed postcard (and the authenticity papers), but I got to buy it from someone who had been on the inside so to speak.

So, yeah. Definitely heroes. No argument from me.

And while we're at it:

March 26 in Beatle history:

1964 - Pete Best (Beatles) appeared live on the TV show "I've Got a Secret."

1966 - The Beatles posed for the cover of "Yesterday...and Today."

1966 - The Beatles single "Nowhere Man" hit #3 in the U.S.

1966 - Peter & Gordon's single "Woman" hit #22 in the U.K. The song was written by Paul McCartney under the pseudonym Bernard Webb.

But I'm still not drinking Tang.

83/365 We All Wanted To Name Our Kids Gus

In 1965, we were deprived -we had no Britney, no Beyonce - as 10 year olds we only had astronauts.

In 1965, astronauts were rock stars -they were all guys of course but even little girls dreamed of being one of the few who traveled into space. Every kid knew when a mission launch was scheduled, and everyone watched it on TV, holding their breath as the familiar countdown was given, and the final "Houston we have liftoff".

The year before Star Trek went where no man had gone before, two men went up in the first two-person space mission. Our kid logic on the playground saw this as The Beginning: if NASA could send up two people at once, then it was only a matter of time till we'd all be going, maybe in space cars or buses.

March 23, 1965 these guys made it look easy. Imagine yourself in their place, choosing to sit on top of a bomb someone is about to explode, hopefully not killing you in the process, but instead launching you away from the only known planet in the universe you can survive on, with no guarantees you'll be able to return.

Imagine that.

Gus Grissom and John Young completed the Gemini 3 mission safely. Almost two years later, Gus Grissom ran out of luck during a pre-launch test for Apollo 1. He and fellow astronauts Roger Chaffee and Ed White died when the command module caught fire. If Gus had lived, he would have been the one to take that first step onto the moon in 1969.

In 1965, we kids knew all the space jargon: pre-launch, "Houston we have liftoff", fire thrusters, boosters, second-stage engine,command module, retro-fire,splashdown.

And we knew what real heroes were.

All photos Johnson Space Center/NASA

Day 79/365 I Promised Millie....

...That she could have her day in the moonshine county. She's the only little girl in a menagerie of five rowdy pups. Plus she is cursed with fine, uncontrollable hair, as well as having numerous "issues" that make her neurotic and nervous.

In Millie-world there are concerns about opening doors, closing doors, getting wet, getting dry,going up ramps, coming down ramps, getting in the bathtub, not getting in the bathtub, going outside, staying inside, and more than anything: grooming, including brushing and having nails clipped.

So we have a routine: we convince Millie to allow a bathtime at home, followed by towel-drying:

Then she allows one of us to run exactly four "stripes" of the clippers down her back.

At no point is anyone allowed to touch 1) her face, 2)her ears, 3)her legs, 4) her paws or nails, or 5) her fuzzy butt.

For this reason, the routine includes a trip to see Caitlyn The Much-Adored Groomer, who is allowed to do all these things, mostly because Millie is sedated. We fondly know this as The Magic Nap.

And I promised Millie that even though she is not a giant sea reptile, or Shakespeare, that I would put her newly-coiffed picture up today. Right after I reassured her that the bandana does not make her look fat.

Day 77/365 Graffiti

What a week for history - first Shakespeare's portrait is revealed, and now the Smithsonian has confirmed a rumor about an inscription on Abraham Lincoln's watch.

It seems in April 1861, the President's watch was in the repair shop - the first watch he had ever owned. While the watch was in hand, a co-worker ran in with the news that Fort Sumter had been fired on, and Jonathan Dillan decided to write down his reaction, not on paper, but by scratching it into the interior of the President's watch.

Even though he recalled doing this 45 days later, in a 1906 New York Times article no less, there was no rush to actually check the watch. His recollection of what he wrote was a little more prosaic, and shows the benefit of hindsight (as any of us would recall exactly what we said on 9-11).

Finally, after decades of rumors, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History decided to open the watch this last Tuesday. And there is was, a mini time-capsule:

"Jonathan Dillon April 13-1861 Fort Sumter was attacked by the rebels on the above date. J Dillon" and below it: April 13-1861 Washington thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon"

Due to the slower communications of the time, the inscription actual marks the date Mr. Dillon learned of the event at Fort Sumter, a day after the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

Mr. Dillon also mentioned in the interview that he was the only Union sympathizer in the shop, a fact that became apparent when the watch movement was turned over and another inscription appeared:

"LE Gorfs Sept 1864 Wash D.C. Jeff Davis"

Read the whole story and see their other photos at http://americanhistory.si.edu/

or better yet, if you live close enough, go and visit.

Day 76/365 A Painting By Any Other Name

Looked what's popped up! First painted in 1610, this almost-definitely Shakespeare portrait is the the only one thought to have been painted in his lifetime. Originally it was commissioned by Shakepeare's patron the Earl of Southampton. At least the experts are 90% sure it's Shakespeare.

Me? I'll be the first to say I hope it is - he looks exactly like I always wanted Shakepeare to look (surprisingly like Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love).

I'm one of those pompous people that say they LOVE Shakespeare -mostly because I do.

My first exposure was to Franco Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet, which remains the most authentic production to date, although it's known that troubadors were telling the tale a good two hundred years before Will picked up his quill pen. It's still one of my top 5 movies of all time.

A year or so later, when I was in high school, my English teacher arranged an all-day field trip to the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis for a staging of Midsummer Night's Dream. Like all the other kids, I immediately signed up, sensing a chance for a day out of class, the allure of an all-day/all-night bus ride with my boyfriend, and, oh yeah, The Play.

Little did I know I would be sucked in by Shakespeare.

Actually, I think everyone in the class was. Whether it was a tribute to the Bard or the incredible cast of the Guthrie, every single one of us was entranced during the play. Afterwards during the long ride home on the bus, Midsummer was the topic of discussion - and there was no teacher leading us on (she was crashed out sleeping in the front row).

So welcome to the new painting! After all:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Romeo and Juliet ( Quote Act II, Sc. II).

Day 75/365 Our Town

Spent this afternoon with DD at the local historical society and picked up these nifty postcards of Rocky Mount, taken in the 1900-1920's. While the postcards don't document it, this would be during Prohibition, when our county was the "wettest county in the world" with an estimated 9 out of 10 citizens were either manufacturing, transporting or consuming homemade illicit liquor. More about that in another post, but meanwhile, let these bucolic scenes set the stage.

The postcard above was a promotional flyer sent out, tolling the virtues of Rocky Mount, including "Paved streets and Sidewalks" (but ot roads), "Ample Banking Facilities" and "Adequate Fire Protection" (it wasn't until the 1950's and 1960's that historic buildings starting burning down), and "Five Religious Denominations".

This is Main Street, looking north in 1912. Note the dirt street, with the big stepping stones as a cross walk. If you notice on the right-hand side, about half way up the street, there is a bright white sliver visible. This is the obligatory Courthouse statue of a Confederate soldier, facing south as installed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Many newbie residents think it's a statue of General Jubal Early (most famous Franklin County Confederate son), but it isn't - it's one of several stock composite Confederate soldiers created in the early 1900s to commemorate the Civil War veterans in the South. ***Another interesting historical note: supposedly Booker T. Washington, another Franklin County native actually contributed and raised funds for the Confederate statue. That's a whole 'nother post in itself -one I need to research -since I cannot help wondering why any Black American, never mind Booker T. Washington, would raise funds to honor soldiers that fought to maintain the status quo for himself and his family, i.e. slavery. I'll get back to you on that one.***

If you go up the street to the statue and turn right, our house sits about two blocks down on the left, and in 1912 it was already 54 years old. The fireplaces were still its only source of heat, there was no indoor plumbing, the kitchen was still a separate building in the backyard, and in the back corner of the yard, there was still a barn with wagons, horses and livestock.

Now we're looking south on the same street, but from the Courthouse corner. The Confederate statue is just out of sight on our left. The first telephone company sits to the right (and is responsible for that spiffy new telephone pole). Another stepping-stone crosswalk is laid here (these must have played havoc with wagon wheels). Most of these buildings are still here in 2009, albeit with bricked over facades, or missing balconies, but the trees are all long-gone.

This street has changed the most. In the early 1900s, Rocky Mount had not one, but two railroad depots. This one is the Franklin & Pittsylvania RR Station on the left. The Norfolk & Western is about a quarter mile further away, also on the left. Those little hoodlums hanging around at the right are outside the Soda Fountain shop.

In 2009, all of it is gone:

The railroad right-of-way lies behind the brick storefronts on the left, but it's now a walking greenway. The depot is long gone (and the N&W Depot is now a visitors center). On the right
is another block of brick commercial buildings, formerly banks and stores, but within the last four years made into a brand-new library.

Oh - and the Confederate Soldier at the Courthouse is gone too - run over and demolished a couple years ago by an out-of-control truck. It is due to be replaced, although it's a matter of discussion among the local citizens.

However, it'll still be a composite Confederate soldier, not General Jubal Early.

Day 74/365 Nessie in the Snow

Finally we get snow in Virginia, the first amounting to anything at all in the last 3-4 years. Like many other places, it started yesterday and continued all night (went out on the front porch last night and it was almost a whiteout -very mystical with the wind howling). This morning we woke up to 8-10" this morning.

Actually, we woke up to a guy out front yelling at his truck for getting stuck in the snow. He totally discounted the possibility that he wasn't paying attention and drove into the huge snow drift himself.


Just before we started shoveling and throwing IceMelt everywhere, I took these photos of Nessie. The top one is early last night, when Nessie was slithering and circling around the wintertime Swing Garden.

I brushed her nose off a little. She appreciated that.

But this morning, her snow hat is back again, along with a pillow-y effect on her main hump.Everything else is disguised as well, even the yuccas.

A couple hours later, the driveway is cleared so DH can get back up it this evening when he gets home (he goes to work, no matter what). Plus being the homeschoolers we are, we used the icy, snowy driveway as an opportunity for DD to experience driving on snow and sliding into a snow bank.

Weather forecast: 70 on Saturday.