Journal Jar Question #13

 

What cherished heirlooms do I have from relatives who have passed over?

From my Southern Grandmother Lee I received a great deal of love that is still with me today together with a handmade crocheted bedspread made by her "grandmother"...my great-great grandmother.  They owned a Tobacco farm in South Carolina and her Grandmother used the white cotton twine that they used to tie the tobacco with in bunches - that's what she made this beautiful quilt out of.  Everytime I touch it, I feel a connection to all those women who have gone before.

From my wonderful Greek Grandfather who loved Lee with every fiber in his being....Lee collected statues..years & years of statues, made in Japan, big ones little ones.....we, children, on the other hand would , not intentionally, break them.  Nick would sit for hours and glue & paste the pieces back together....and tell Lee "see if you don't move it - no one would know!" I have several of the pieces that he lovingly pieced back together....they are worth more to me than if they were made of gold.

I also have paintings & sketches  that were done by my Japanese MotherInLaw, a very talented painter.  So many pictures that jar my memory of my time spent in Japan.

My paternal Grandmother Sophie lived to 103 with full mental facilities intact, other than a few pieces of jewerly I don't have too much from her....what I learned from her is invaluable - strength, love, caring - a dogged stick-to-it-ness that has stayed with me all these years.

I do miss these people...and I know in my heart we will meet again.....

Killed In Cold Blood

Maybe writing this in red will make the horror clearer in the eyes of the beholder.

I didn't know this woman, our paths would of never crossed in this lifetime.....but I know her story, I can imagine her struggle to want the best for her children, to build a free secure future for them at any cost.

Well, the cost was her life.

Raiedah Mohammed Wageh Wazan was a young mother of three boys and one daughter...working for Niveveh TV in Iraq.  She wanted the truth shown, she refused to quit when "they" threatened and "they" killed her in cold blood...four shots to the head.

"They" are like the lice of humanity, sneaking out of the shadows to do their dirty deeds and hiding like the scum that they are...afraid to show their faces, they hide behind their masks but they cannot hide from God. 

They declare war on their own people, spilling the blood of other moslems without a thought or care....not following what is in the Koran...do they actually believe that "they" will be rewarded by Allah?  More likely he will spit in their faces and call them dogs and pigs!

I have no way of knowing what the future will bring...hopefully, the majority of the people will exercise control through democratic means and achieve a bit of harmony in that region.

I wish that the people over there would turn against these self-made terrorist pigs...once that would happen they would not be able to hide anywhere or strike with impunity as they have done.

I'm trying to let the anger go...but man I really, really detest these people with every fiber of my being.

Ten Things That I Have Done That Maybe You Haven't

Interesting prospect, list ten things that you have done that others might not of...hmmm...ok...here goes....

1. My dad, Charles Schick, was the only person to "break" both Seabiscuit and War Admiral.  My sisters and I participated in arranging interviews, and meetings at which our Dad spoke about his memories of the early days of horse racing. It was neat to see him get his "15" minutes of fame after all these years.  Check out Google....Charles Schick...Link to Legends, St. Petersburg story.

2. I "married" my boss and went to live in Japan in 1965.

3. In sixteen years of working within the bridal industry I helped over 450 brides get married.

4.In 1965 I sat in his Shibuya apartment and watched a Japanese artist paint, this interesting gentleman had rubbed paintbrushes with Matisse & Picasso...in France many years before. That's one of his pictures the river scene above...his name was Riichiro Kawashima.  An extremely interesting man. 

5. I worked at 30 Church St. NYC which was torn down to make room for the World Trade Center.  I was actually in Tower I before it was completed, because I had a close friend involved in the building of the tower....I saw how the floors were stacked and the center shaft like a wind tunnel...it just howled.

6. I'm growing plants and selling them on Ebay...it's fun.

7. Years ago I rescued a young girl who was a runaway..convinced her to call home...arranged for her to get to her Dad......everything was successful...but I had to listen to the police tell me that I should not of gotten involved.  Would still do the same darn thing..

8. I was in a dark blue Volkswagon Van driving in the city, the engine lost power and we had to coast into a one=way street going the wrong way right by a small park (we pulled in there because of no traffic) Well!  We were surrounded by police, plain clothesmen guns drawn etc...taken out of the van ... questioned..it seems we broke up a "sting" operation.  They were expecting a "dark blue Volkswagon Van" to be filled with drugs and we blew their entire thing....of course we were totally clean, had nothing wrong except a rotten engine.  We got ticketed, but quite a few of the police were gnashing their teeth that day.

9. I catered backstage for Paul Anka, he asked for something special, strawberries to go....I was able to do it...he tipped me $20.00 - I was told that he rarely tips. 

10. I was the youngest person ever hired by American Airlines..barely 17, worked in "Seat Assignments" in Idlewild Airport in Queens...now known as Kennedy Airport..worked there for a year.

Wow..that was trip down memory lane........

10.

9. I

Homework Assignment

Oh, this is a fun assignment.  Boy, growing up in the late 50's early 60's what a time it was...especially with the music...you had such a litany of teen actors...Sandra Dee, Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, Connie Stevens, Annette, Ricky Nelson, James Darren, Tab Hunter, Fabian, Sal Mineo and lord above ELVIS!

I drove my parents nuts!  I had to have the latest 45, the latest movie rag out and had to go see my favorite movies over & over.

I had huge albums (the type you could put a whole newspaper in) and faithfully gathered any & all pictures of the ones I loved..I wish I still had that album!  Errr...Mom, I know you ditched it as soon as I put my foot out the door.  Oh, well....I think my favorite one was Sal Mineo...first of all he was a New York boy, born in Brooklyn not too far from where I was in Queens. I felt a connection.

He was about 5 years older than me...but I did the teenage thing and fantasized about him all the time.  His part in Rebel Without A Cause was so good, his acting was over the top...he should of gotten an award but got passed over - I think because of his age, the older actors felt he had time and would further improve..it wasn't fair.

I never got to see him in person, I would of loved to...but I did get to sit on a couch where he had sat and been photographed.

How?  Well, even in grade school I loved acting, I had made up my mind that I wanted to act, so I joined drama..  I was in plays, I took acting lessons outside.   In one of my movie magazines a famous acting coach ran an article on breaking into acting....I wrote to her.  My letter impressed her and she interviewed me..it turned out that she was the coach that was going to go to Israel to coach Sal Mineo & others for the film Exodus.

So I found myself sitting in a white living room, white rug, white couch...everything tone on tone white - for the life of me now I cannot remember her name..but she was very gracious to this 16 year old girl.   She said she would be willing to coach me, she thought that I did have "something".  However, she was going to be out of the country for several months because of the film and I still had almost one year left before I could graduate...so she suggested that I come back after school was over and we'd talk then.   I do believe that I "floated" all the way back to Queens from the city.

Unfortunately, the plans of mice & men - you know the way it goes.....life is full of surprises and sometimes it twists. When I graduated I had to go to work...my dreams were left behind.

Well, almost all of the ones that I went ga-ga over are gone..passed from this mortal coil....although there is that rumor about Elvis???

 

STUFF, STUFF & MORE STUFF

Stuff....stuff....it just appears out of nowhere - all of a sudden you have stuff!   It's funny too, cause you can't seem to get enough stuff even when you haven't anymore room for the stuff!

It's like, you know, that one drawer in the kitchen that really wasn't designated for any particular item....just STUFF!  How many times do you dig through that stuff drawer...looking for God knows what....but you are sure that it's in there.

I know I have many a time told the hubby, when he was "rooting" that whatever he was looking for was in the STUFF drawer....and he normally would find whatever...so it may not of been what he was originally going for but it filled the void!

I have a huge STUFF drawer...the thought of clearing that out is scarey.  I mean, at this point, I don't know what's really in there.

The whole reason I'm worrying about stuff is that hubby has decided we need to downsize what we have and I have to agree the almost twenty years that we are here..stuff, stuff & more stuff have piled up.

My biggest problem is that I'm a compulsive saver, I look at it, figure out a use for it and decide to save it for a "later time" to be put to use.  I envy the people who can take one look and toss it.....somehow, along the way I have raised three kids who can toss with the best of them.

Oh, sure I have "stuff" that I put up on my Ebay Store but most of that is "stuff" that I got with the intention of doing that.  I made myself go into my China cabinet, take out something I've had for years and put it up on Ebay...oh the pain.....

I have to say goodbye to Engelbert's autographed picture, signed in person to me and his red hankerchief..embroidered with his first name!  I think I keep things because of the memories.. that's why I like old antiquey things too.  Old things have a feeling of a full life to them, containing alot of special memories.

Baby steps, Sandi....baby steps......

Taking Care of Nature

 

Well, first of all. living in Florida does have it's advantages when it come to growing some plants.  As you can see from the photo's we have a wide assortment growing at our home.  It's also nice because I've started adding plants to my ebay site, if anybody's interested.....http://stores.ebay.com/AllAboutYouCollectibles

 

It's odd because up in New York I used to have to bring all my houseplants in for fall. thankfully I had alot of windows with sunlight streaming in.  Down here, they built this place with an overhang to naturally shade the interior rooms so I get no sun at all in my windows...almost every plant I bring in dies.  Except, of course, the cast iron snake plant - which I think has a life that will last beyond mine.

It's nice to be able to walk outside and feel that you are in a green jungle setting...with an occasional Peacock strolling by!

I used to grow Wandering Jew in a hanging basket...here, I have a virtual carpet of it....covering a good portion of my yard with vibrant greens & purples as it grows.   Another one is the Marble Queen Pothos...a household favorite from years ago....down here it grows along the ground trailing up to the trees & heads upward growing ever bigger leaves.  Really pretty.

Another plant that attaches itself to the trees is a Night Blooming Cereus...it is a form of cactus but it grows up to tremendous heights.  Ours is up about 50' now & aiming higher.  It only blooms for a very short time and in the middle of the night, but oh my goodness...what beauty is in that bloom!  The last time I witnessed the blooms it was 4 am in the morning we were out with flashlights until we came to the tree.  The white flowers were actually glowing they lit the area up...we turned off the flashlights and just enjoyed the sight.  They were gone by morning.

I used to work for a place called Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg...it still exists but the city is running now not the original owners.   We had a lady who wanted to donate a huge plant called Amorphophallus Rivieri Durieu....it's one of those plants that had a huge stinky flower before it grows it's foliage.

Well, the owners of the Gardens did want anything that smelled bad..so I was told I could take it home......well, ten years later..it is a very interesting plant.   It sends up a phallic like inflorescence that grows into an umbrella like tree with beautiful foliage with unusual mottled green & white trunk.   It's a strange plant in that it first pops up in very early spring...grows gloriously until the first hint of cold weather...it totally collapses - it's a sight!  Some of these stand 5' tall and when they pass out it's strange.  With our hot summers, I always look forward to them passing out....makes hubby mad because he wants them to stand up and not fall.

Anyway I spent over two hours today just watering.  I had that jingle going through my head....."How does your Garden Grow?"

Sixty Years

Today is a day for total reflection into the past.  I think of what happened in our world sixty years ago, I could cry...I have cried.  Watching old news clips on today's news shows brought back the latent "shake your soul" feelings that I knew growing up.

I was born in 1944 so I grew up with the aftermath of a terrible war, a war that was fought to end all wars...Again.  This time though there was an undercurrent of evil that pervaded Europe even before the war years.  That evil would come to have a name that is spit upon even today..Nazi..and rightly so.  The horrors brought forth by this evil knew no parallel in our recent history. Six million dead by unnatural means...tortured, starved, raped, beaten, shot, gassed, buried or burnt in ovens.  It is unbelievable that it happened, that we let it happen, that we stood by and looked the other way.

We are looking the other way right now.  There are places in Africa where this is happening on a very large scale....it's pure genocide.  What will it take for man to take a stand and say "No more..it's ENOUGH!"  People that do this evil always believe that they will get away with whatever they want...we need to find a way to stop them, to make them pay.

I think of the little ones who never had a chance, the future generations that were never to be. To kill a small baby, a child,how evil do you have to be?  Fall back on following orders? No order on earth would make me kill a child....rather turn the gun on the evil itself. 

I look at how beautiful our planet Earth looks from the heavens... if only man would treat his neighbor as he would want to be treated.....we would have peace at last.

It's so very true the saying "If you don't remember the past, you are doomed to repeat it."  It scares me that the younger people in our society do not seem to know history at all.  What are the schools teaching?  I actually had a seventeen year old girl tell me that the holocaust never happened.  Wrong thing to say to me.  I'm not Jewish, but I have close friends who lost almost everything and everyone in their family...and I mourn with them.  Also, I have Greek relatives that suffered much during the German occupation which was very harsh.

Well, I sat the little missy down and proceeded to tell her the stories that I had been told, also I have books that show what occurred...you can't dispute those awful photographs.  She told me that as far as she could remember her history teachers never really made reference to it.  Maybe she was a really bad student and didn't pay attention?  I don't know but it shocked the hell out of me.

So we not only have to be on the watch for evil, we also have to watch that people are taught to " remember" that evil has happened in the past and can resurface at any time. Rearing it's ugly head once again under a new banner or slogan.

I now believe that we should be showing "Schindler's List" in  all our schools.....just to cover bases.

I want to believe in man's kindness.  I want to believe in man's goodness.....today is just painful.