Random Reflective Thoughts

As I will point out in the Blog entry tomorrow morning, we have had popup thunderstorms all afternoon. So, while I had the chance, I sat on the porch and watched the rain. This always reminds me of Mr. and Mrs. Dupee, our old neighbors across the road on Palms Road. Their detached garage faced east; (towards our house) so whenever the storms came in from the west, they would go out, open the garage door, sit on lawn chairs inside the garage and watch the rain. I learned to appreciate watching rain from them.

Rain does make me reflective (I don't know why) so two things from my youth came to mind. One was the insistence of the Catholic school I attended as a youth regarding polished shoes. It wasn't until I was in fourth grade I learned the trick. I, along with many others, kept a small jar of Vaseline in my desk. If you forgot to polish your shoes, a Kleenex or toilet paper and a quick wipe with the Vaseline and you passed the test. It beat the hell out of getting hit on the knuckles with a ruler!

The other was ink pens. Yes, I was born before ball point pens. Now, we didn't use goose quill pens or anything. But, you had to refill the Papermate pen by sticking it in a jar of ink and, using a lever, fill up the rubber bladder. I suppose those, and the Underwood typewriters we learned on, are in some museum, somewhere.