Catching up

[Murfreesboro]

I'm just reading this and showed the photos to my husband. I know nothing about cars, but as soon as I told my husband the car you'd bought was a '57 Chevy, he rattled off exactly the model and that it would be a 2-door. He then saw the photos and felt vindicated. My Aunt Arline drove a green and gold car like that in my early childhood that may have been the same model.

My husband is also a collector, of firearms and musical instruments (specifically Benge trumpets) and military board games. He thinks you are wise to protect your investment by selling items for what they're worth. He's been to estate sales where he's seen heartbreaking ignorance about what various items are worth.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Do I see a Hurst quick shift on the floor?

Yes, I'm surprised that you noticed it. As far as I know, this car wasn't ever used for racing, at least it hasn't been since Marcelo purchased it back it the 70s, though I suppose that it's possible that it could have been raced by a previous owner before he purchased it.

The attached photo is not my parents car because I do not have photos of it, one of my siblings does , but it's basically the same configuration of light blue and white.

That's another beautiful car, there's just something about the cars that were made back then, the designs, craftsmanship, and care that was put into manufacturing those machines made them art on wheels. Some of my favorites from the 50s are Chevys, Caddys, and the Ford Thunderbird. I also love cars from the 30s, like Studebakers and the Ford Model 48. It's a shame that the automotive industry in this country has gone to Hell, we used to make some of the most beautiful cars in the world.

My husband is also a collector, of firearms

Really? Does he collect antique, vintage, or modern? The only antique firearms that I have are a pair of flintlock dueling pistols from the late 1800s. They belonged to my great grandfather on my mother's side, so her grandfather, I don't know if he was the original owner or if he got them used from somebody. We had them appraised over 30 years ago and the guy said that they were in VG-F condition and valued at around 1K for the pair, but I don't know how much they would be worth today. The only other firearms that my wife and I own are modern, and were manufactured in the last 20 years.

[Andybev01]

Not only were the cars better back in the day, but so were the men who drove them.

Owner's manuals had instructions on how to tune up your car, including things like setting the timing and adjusting the clutch and brakes. My volkswagens had the instruction for changing a burnt out headlamp or blinker bulb is to take it to the dealer..

Back when customers had loyalty to their brand you were either a Chevy or Ford family mine is the former.

My brother, whose 2 children hold PhD's, was a mechanic, but more so than the shade tree variety.

The cars that he owned over the years were impeccably maintained and included such classics as a split rear window Corvette Stingray, a 1972 Pontiac Firebird, a late 60s Ford 100 pickup truck, and when he was younger, a first model year Datson 240Z and a glorious Triumph motorcycle.

You might say that he was a transportation buff.
In addition to land vehicles , he was also an avid boater, sailing and racing, and a pilot with a few light aircraft.

He owned a Glastron ski boat with an inboard Chevy 350 engine that hauled @$$ in the water. He taught me and my next oldest brother to pilot it...when we were 8 and 10 years old.

He performed all of the maintenance himself on everything he owned and literally knew every nut and bolt.

He was the one that taught me how to maintain my high school car instead of sending me to a mechanic or doing it himself.

So yeah, I noticed the shift.

[Murfreesboro]

I think nowadays, with computerized components in car engines, it's tougher to do all that maintenance yourself. But it's not like I know squat about that.

HH, I almost didn't mention that aspect of my husband's collecting, because he likes to keep it on the down-low. Consequently I can't ask him a thing, even though he's right here in the room with me. I'd say most of his stuff is modern, but I know he has at least one replica of a Civil War pistol, the type re-enactors would use. He also has at least one WW2 pistol. He's the type of guy who has to learn everything about the stuff that interests him, so collector friends of his will sometimes take him to estate sales with them when they want to buy something, even if he can't afford to buy himself. You really can't trip him up about the subject areas that interest him. His memory in that way reminds me of yours. As one might expect from a former Army officer, he is passionate about second amendment rights and believes all the other rights depend on that one. He likes to point out that the first thing Hitler did was confiscate firearms. He believes in the slogan that "A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject."

[Andybev01]

Your husband is 100% correct, Murf.

Also, HAPPY WALSPURGISNACHT EVERYONE!!

[Murfreesboro]

Yes, Happy Walpurgisnacht!

My daughter's birthday was day before yesterday, and she decided to celebrate it by flying to NYC and seeing a play. I picked her up from the airport yesterday, and as we drove home we passed a business that had one of those giant skeletons in front of it. It hadn't been there when I'd driven her up, so all we could figure was that someone must have erected it for Walpurgisnacht. I think some people actually do like to decorate for it.

I know if I lived in Australia, this is the time of year I would make my Halloween. I've read that Halloween isn't much celebrated down there because it's out of season.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I hope that she enjoyed the trip and the play. Please tell your daughter that your imaginary friend sends belated birthday wishes to her.

By the way, if she looks at you like you're crazy, and she will, just tell her that anybody can have a imaginary friend regardless of their age.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol

She went to NYC to see a musical called Chess, which she already knew had problems with the book. That is, its musical performances were strong, but the story line was not. But as a former theater major, she has strong opinions about Broadway performers, and she really wanted to see an actor named Aaron Tveit in person, so now she has. She's played lots of his performances for me, and the guy is a very impressive tenor. She said everyone in the cast was strong, and she hopes another actor in the play wins a Tony (nominations aren't out yet).

I also love theater, and have seen a great many plays all over the place, but only once on.Broadway. The thing about Broadway isn't that the actors are always better than the ones you can see in regional or even college theater, but that the cast is uniformly strong. If you go to a musical and focus on the chorus dancer in the back row on the left, she'll be superlative, because the competition for anything on Broadway is ridiculously intense.

Lydia (like me, actually) went to London in college and saw West End theater over there. Oddly, both of us took much longer to see theater in NYC.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, the play my daughter flew to NYC to see last Tuesday just got 5 Tony nominations today, including 3 for acting, so I guess she knew what she was doing.

Her current fave, Tveit, was not nominated, but he already has a Tony, and she had thought the other guy's performance (Nicholas Christopher, I think) was stronger.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

There's a old episode of South Park called Broadway Bro Down that explains why women are so drawn to Broadway musicals, and why the men in their lives put up with it. Though, if you're a fan of theater, and a woman, I wouldn't advise you to watch it, or even read about it ... trust me.

Shortly after I made my last post we found out that my aunt Betsy passed away, she was 78. She was my mother's older sister, and she's the aunt that Millie lives with. We were on the phone with family for most of the night, my uncle Mark was a wreck, he's 79 and they have been married for over 50 years.

I talked with Millie for a few minutes as well, and she didn't seem to care about her niece passing. The only thing that she said was ... it looks like another one bites the dust ... followed by a giggle. Obviously, she was referencing the song by Queen. Then she said ... I've buried so many people that it doesn't bother me anymore, maybe I'll even dance on your grave one day ... then another giggle.

Of course, Millie has always had a cold and comedic reaction to tragedy, probably because she's lived through so much of it. When the California fires were happening she made a rather tasteless comment that I didn't want to say here at the time, but she said ... I told you that I'd live long enough to watch the world burn ... then she let out a deranged cackle.

Yeah.

Anyway, I already told Phoebe that I would be at her first week of the tournament on Sat. so I was there. We were already planning to visit Florida next month for Millie's birthday, so my wife and kids stayed here, while my mother and I got plane tickets to leave on Sun. to go to the funeral.

My mother was sad about it, but she said that she knows that they are starting to age out, and that eventually it will be her turn. My mother is the youngest of 7 kids, and 5 of them have already passed. When we arrived in Florida most of the family was there since most of them live there, the funeral was on Mon. which made my mother feel uneasy, my uncle Mark hardly said anything at the service, but the next day he was feeling slightly better, so I had a conversation with him regarding Millie, and her home.

I mentioned a few months ago that I would prefer if Millie came to live with us, but I know that her home is in Florida, and she's already told us that she wants to die there, and I wouldn't dare suggest otherwise to her. She has been living with my aunt and uncle for the last 30 years, and realistically speaking, nobody thought that Millie would be around this long. Honestly, she's still independent, and mostly takes care of herself, and my aunt and uncle were there for companionship rather than to take care of her. My aunt and uncle were the only others living there with her because their kids have their own families, but now that my aunt is gone, and my uncle is almost 80 and his health is not doing so well either, the question comes up, how should we handle this?

I know that my uncle Mark loves Millie, and I know that I shouldn't say this, but it doesn't look like he's going to be around for long. He told me that as long as he's around that this would always be her home, but he doesn't know what would happen if he dies before Millie. I told him that no matter what happens, that I will never put Millie in a retirement home, he agreed, and joked that he might need one soon. The only solution that I could come up with is to have a live-in care assistant, which I have offered to cover the cost of. As I said, Millie is stubborn and very independent, and she hardly ever lets anybody do anything for her, so the assistant will only be there as a backup in case she needs immediate medical assistance.

While I was there I had a few conversations with Millie, the day we arrived she was smiling ear to ear, and she greeted my mother and I with a big hug, which is obviously not the type of greeting you expect during this scenario. I know that's how Millie is so I wasn't bothered by it, but I could tell that my mother was upset by it. Anyway, when I was with Millie she told me that she was fine, and that we should go play cards while the rest of these p*ssies mourn the dead ... her words, not mine. So we went to play, during our conversation she said something that really made me think, and it's not just what she said, but the tone of voice she used, she said that the less you depend on others, the happier you will be, the weak will always be weeded out, so let everybody else die because only the strong make it in this life.

On the surface that might seem like a viciously cold way to look at life, and I don't personally agree with what she said, but I thought about it for a moment, I know that family is the most important thing to her, but she has been through so much by this point that she has just numbed herself to it, and I think that in some way I finally understood her perspective, this is a woman that's still here while almost everybody she knew is gone, including her kids, but she doesn't have survivor's guilt like so many other people in her position would, she's a Alpha, somebody that will always do what is required to be the last one standing, and then it hit me like lightning, I've observed the same way of thinking in Phoebe. The way that she relentlessly pursues what she wants by any means necessary, even if she has to crush others to get it. While I haven't ever seen Millie actually physically hurt or derail anybody to get what she wants, her mentality is definitely something that she shares with Phoebe.

We were only there for a few days, but before we got ready to leave I told Millie that I would be back next month for her birthday, and she told me to make sure to give her love to my babies, I told her that I would, and she gave me another big hug. We got back here yesterday, my mother didn't say much on the flight, and I know it's probably going to be awhile before she's her usual self, so I'll tell her about the Chevy later.

By the way, Phoebe placed first in her age group. She arrogantly beat up everybody there. Uh, Yay?

So here I am typing this, it was a interesting week, RIP aunt Betsy, you were a awesome aunt.

[Murfreesboro]

I'm sorry about your aunt's death. And what a hardship for your uncle! Losing your companion of 50+ years is hard to fathom.

Your Aunt Millie's attitude doesn't shock me. I recall a tv segment about centenarians, by Hugh Downs, back in the 90s. He said one quality they all seem to share is letting go of grief.

Congrats to Phoebe for advancing in her tournament, and ranking #1 in her age group! That is such an accomplishment.