There was a lot of coverage on tv this week of the babysitter's boyfriend who put the 18 month old baby in the washer to play "hide and seek".  He didn't realize when the door shut, it locked and the water began to fill the washer.  Well, the laundromat camera caught the whole thing, the man running frantic for help, people jumping and finally someone pulling the plug to shut off the machine.  All ended well, the baby was ok, but I bet they get a new babysitter.

It made me remember a photo my father had taken of Barbara in the washing machine, the old kind with the wringer.  She was probably about three, a big smile on her face, suds on her body.  Why he posed her like that, we'll never know, or maybe it is just a figment of my imagination.  Anyway, it brought back memories of Bucky and her washing machine.  The washer was in the cellar, next to the sink so the hoses could empty.  I think it had a buzzer on it when the wash was done.  Well, not really done.  Then Bucky had to put the clothes, one at a time through the wringer to wring out the water....no spin cycle on this washer.  The problems were many.  Clothes got tangled and you had to tug to get them out, fingers could get caught, and worse of all Bucky's housedress that she was wearing would enter the wringer.

Then you would hear her screams, the only way to shut off the wringer was like above, you had to pull the plug out.  We would run down the cellar stairs, watching our mothers big chest get closer and closer to the wheels.   "Pull the plug," she would scream.  Now this is where it got even worse.  Whenever you pulled the plug , because there was so much water, you got a shock that could knock you to the floor.  But what a choice, so you would tug on the wire, hoping this time would be different.  No, the shock came, but the wringer stopped.  Bucky would pull out her dress, wipe the swear off her face, and say "Plug it back in, so I can finish this shitty wash".  Another shock, no surprise and a happy ending to the story.

When I was a teenager in High School, the gym had a sliding door that opened for basketball games, but was closed during the day so it could accommodate two gym classes at the same time, the boys on one side, the girls on the other.  Sometimes the door didn't close completely, there was a small crack for an opening.  This was enough for the boys to try to catch a glimpse of the girls in their shorts.  You could hear them all fighting to get an eye on the crack, making lewd remarks and calling out for the girls to come close.  Sometimes the girls would go to the crack and try to figure out which boy or boys were there, but most of the time we ignored them. 

The best one was John V.D., a kid I had started kindergarten with and now we were seniors.  Everyone knew it was John's eye on the crack, he had a particular voice and he had earned the title of "Class Clown" in the yearbook.  Anyway, one day John started to call, "Girls, Girls, it's your lover boy", and we all laughed.  One girl went close to the crack and yelled, "It doesn't sound like my loverboy to me, it sounds like John V.D.  I thought of that yesterday when I watched the tom turkey strut all day after a female turkey.  I could imagine him saying, "it's your lover boy" while the female turkey just picked at dandelion heads and imaginery bugs in the earth.  She would let him get close to her, he was all puffed out, tail fully extended, and then she would go off into the field, or the woods, and he would follow her.  They would both emerge in a few minutes, with nothing romantic happening. 

We had guests in the Bird's Nest yesterday and they too were following the turkeys around the yard, trying to get a good picture.  The last two weeks have been very busy, and our guests were in for a treat --wisteria climbing right to the top of the maple tree and turkeys strutting in the yard.  All at no charge.

Back Again

Somethings have changed with this blog, not my doing, but I am trying to figure it out.  It's really spring now, Mr. Ding-a-Ling the icecream truck was here yesterday.  The turkey is still strutting, even though turkey season started six days ago.  And my classes are still amusing and interesting me.  Last week in the heroes and villains of the Bible class we did Adam, Eve and the snake.  The Rabbi who taught it was wonderful, as was the Rabbi that taught the story of Moses.  Anyway, he put a whole new slant on the story.  Adam was created in the second chapter (even though man and woman were already created in the first chapter).  Now here's where it gets different.  Adam was both male and female, so it was more than a rib God took to form Eve, it was half his body.  Then the tree - God puts in right in the middle of the garden, but forbids the eating of the fruit.  The Rabbi stated, "God had the whole garden to play with, he could have stuck the tree in a secluded corner, but he puts it right in the middle"  Then when they eat the fruit, and see they are naked, they dress in fig leaves and hide in the trees.  God asks "Where are you?" but he knows they are - they don't look like trees just because they stuck some leaves here and there.  What God means is Where are you in your development?  So, the Rabbi sees the story as a test by God to see if they are ready to leave the garden, go out in the world.  And they do, and now they have children with painful childbirth and must work hard for a living.  "The real world," as the rabbi put it.  Now isn't that interesting?  It doesn't paint the woman as conniving, the snake as evil or the man as stupidly following the woman....they just  do what they have to to leave the garden and get on with life.  Interesting and different isn't it?

The rabbi before was also a great talker, the hour and half went by so quickly.  When somebody said the word "fornication" as an answer (it was wrong), he asked "Do you want to hear a joke about fornication?" Of course, everyone said yes.  So he started, using a heavy Jewish accent, Little Moises goes to his Mother and asks "What is fornication?" She says go ask your father.  So he asks his father and his father sends him to his Grandmother.  "What is fornication?" he asks, and she smiles and says "I will show you fornication" and takes him to the closet.  She pulls out a plain house dress and holds it up before him.  This is a simple dress, just for around the house, nothing fancy.  Then she pulls out a sparkly, brightly colored dress, covered with beads and sequins.  "Now, she says, "This is a dress for an occasion."  We all laughed.  I hope I figured out this new format all right.