More Random Thoughts

 

"Speaking kindly to others can be a challenge if we are convinced that we can clean up the world with the mop and pail of our own knowledge and opinions."  (unknown)

"Worry is a blob monster, slowly and relentlessly engulfing everything it touches."  (Matthew 6:31)

"Money, even if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort."  (Helen Gurley Brown)

"The trick is to stop thinking of it as your money."  (IRS auditor)

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you an prove that you don't need it."  (Bob Hope)

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."  (Oscar Wilde)

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of payments."  (Earl Wilson)

"A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist." (Franklin Jones)

"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something."  (Jackie Mason)

"What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin."  (Mark Twain)

And lastly, my favorite:  "Recognize and beware that our time is short and life has a way of consuming the time we have."  (Ephesians 5:16)

Random Thoughtful Thoughts

 

"If you aren't where you are, you are no place."  (Col. Potter, M*A*S*H)

From Henry David Thoreau:

• The universe is wider than our views of it
• It's not worthwhile to go round the world to count cats in Zanzibar
• Things do not change; we change
• Money is not required to buy the necessities of the soul
• Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?

"The counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are." (King Olaf of Norway, 938-1006 AD)

"Never suppress a generous thought."  (Camilla Kimball, 1894-1987)

"Too often we hear what we want to hear instead of what we should have heard."  (Brent L. Top, author)

"Disappointment comes to visit on occasion but should never be allowed to stay."  (Richard Norby, author)

"The defects of great men are the consolation of the dunces."  (Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881, British Prime Minister)

"Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."  (Chief Seattle)

"They were such seriously futile people that she found herself wanting to cry out against their ready-made justifications for pointless lives."  (Frank Herbert, Children of Dune) 

You may quote any of these, anytime and to anybody. (smile)

Say Goodbye To The Penny

 

Did you catch the recent news story that the U.S. Mint won't be making anymore pennies. Why? Well the story explains that it costs $3.69 to make a single penny, that's why. But shed no tears yet, there are still an estimated 300 billion pennies remaining in circulation and they are still legal tender.

But consider some oft-quoted expressions that soon will fade:

• A penny for your thoughts
• Cost a pretty penny
• A penny saved is a penny earned
• Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck.
• No more "pinching pennies"
• Worth every penny
• I'll give you my 2-cents worth
• Penny-wise and pound-foolish
• He's a 2-bit criminal

What about my favorite penny, the 1943 zinc coated steel penny...... so made to save copper for the wartime effort:

Introducing myself, I often say "I was born the year of the Black Penny....who knows what that is?"  And most do not. When I was about eight years old, I collected a pint jar of black pennies.....wish I still had them today. 

Christmas Town Names

 

Bet you'd never guess at the number of American towns having Christmas-related names. I was amazed. Consider:

Santa, Benewah County, Idaho;   Santa Claus in Indiana;  Santa Claus in Mohave County, Arizona;  Santa Claus in Toombs County, Georgia;    Christmas in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan;   North Pole near Fairbanks, Alaska;   North Pole in Essex County, New York;   Snowflake in Navajo County, Arizona;  Noel in McDonald County, Missouri;   Rudolph in Wood County, Wisconsin;  Holly in Oakland County, Michigan;   Christmas Valley in Lake County, Oregon, which is near Christmas Lake;   Dasher in Lowndes County, Georgia.

And I'd bet with a few minutes searching with Grandma Google, you could find dozens more! 

Dear Reader, were you born in a "Christmas" town? Love to hear from you if so.  

Susan's Story

 

Susan Gallyon Dechant, president of the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society, does have a beautiful smile but she was not smiling when she gave a thoughtful presentation to her group on Wednesday, November 12.

Susan knew that her father, Charles Gallyon, had served in WWII in the Army's10th Mountain Division but not much more. Upon her brother's death, Susan inherited their father's trunk containing treasures. These included artifacts, photos, notebooks and some 400 letters he'd written to Susan's mother during his service years.

The 10th Mountain trained in the high mountains of Colorado for nearly two years before being sent to Italy in 1944. Their mission was to wipe the German presence from northern Italy. It was winter; the terrain mountainous...just what they'd trained for. And they succeeded. AND Susan's father lived to return home.

Susan tearfully recalled reading the letter dated May 1, 1945, telling his wife what he had been doing in the war ....... that very day Susan was being born in far away California. 

In September, 2025, to mark the 80th anniversary of the 10th Mountain's success in Italy, Susan, her two sisters, and Lora Rose (another member of the NeWGS group whose father was also attached to the 10th Mountain) went on the anniversary tour. They tearfully walked the very places where their fathers walked. To their amazement, they were feted every day of the trip by the Italian people still in thankfulness for their liberation some 80 years previously. 

Why share Susan's story? To remind you that every family has family stories! Every grandfather did something to be remembered for. And it's up to us, you and me, to ferret out those stories and tell them. 

Mudlarking

 

Don't recall how I discovered mudlarking, but once I watched a few of Nicola White's mudlarking adventures walking the foreshore of the River Thames in London, I was hooked. London has been there for 400 years and as it sites where the tide sloshes the shores twice daily, Nicola (and many others) find all sorts of treasures, from old to new from valuable to silly.

Google defines mudlarking as "the activity of scavenging the muddy foreshore of a river, most famously the River Thames, for historical objects that have been lost or discarded over centuries.

Hers is not the only YouTube website for this type of adventure. Briefly there was Below the Plains, where the fellow would (with permission) dig into old outhouse pits and find hundreds of old bottles and other artifacts. 

And there are other good places to watch while eating lunch. SiFinds is one; Adventure Archaeology is another (they walk the banks of rivers in the US south); Bottle Fever is one. And if your interest is piqued, I'm sure you'll find others. 

Remember: these mudlarkers of any ilk are finding the artifacts from our ancestors' lives. 

Washington Place Names

There are so many itty-bitty places in our state that I'd never heard of or could pinpoint where they were on a map. How about you?

Venersborg, Clark County. This community was established in 1909 by the Swedish Land Co. on land owned by a farmer named Vener. 

Venice, Kitsap County. Known as Venice Landing, site of the longest wharf on Puget Sound (780') circa 1908, this Bainbridge Island community is the namesake of California's once artificially canaled copy of the Italian city.

Veradale, Spokane County. Namesake of Vera McDonald whose father helped plat the district in 1911. First named Vera but changed to Veradale in 1923.

Victor, Mason County. Source of the name was selected in 1892 when ships delivered mail to the "pigeon hole" post office house in the community's general store is unknown. This tiny community is near Belfair. 

Viti Rocks, Whatcom County. Names by Wilkes for Viti Levu, one of the Fiji Islands that was the home of a cannibal the expedition took prisoner and brought to the Pacific Northwest. 

Vega, Pierce County. Community on Anderson Island derived its name from Vegatorp, Sweden, home town of the first postmaster.