Ice Hockey!!!

     Wow. In the third period of the US vs Canada Gold Medal game of the Olympics, the US just pulled the goalee and managed to score a tying goal in the last 24 seconds. How often does that happen?  I white knuckled the whole game, cheered from my comfortable seat beside the TV, watched that puck with wide open tense eyes. I thought, now, Wow, whoever loses now, it will be so very painful. And indeed, it was very painful. Canada scored and won in sudden death overtime. But I do think Canada was the slightly better team and it showed. Anyway, what a game!

     It recalls my former love of hockey years and years ago. When I came to Madison, WI to medical school, I met my husband to be. He was an Israeli sabra but inspite of that he learned to like Wisconsin ice hockey. As a medical student I didn't have too much time for dates. Mostly we just got together to somehow spend time together. But one of the rare dates was when we went to a hockey game. At that time the Wisconsin games were played in an unheated corrugated steel shed with a few bleachers along the edge of the ice. But I found that I loved the game. There is no spectator sport that is so very very fast. And at that time, the TV technology was such that you couldn't watch a game on TV. The camara lost the puck repeatedly. So you had to be there at the site. As my medical school years wore on, Wisconsin began playing hockey games at the Dane County Coliseum. But there were still very small crowds in that larger venue. After I graduated from medical school after we moved to Milwaukee, we tried to see some Wisconsin hockey in Milwaukee. There was an annual Invitational Tournament held in Milwaukee on the Arena ice. We got tickets for that tournament in the first few years. But slowly without the college connection, we stopped seeing hockey. So this game recalled my love for the sport. I don't think there is any sport that so produces tense emotions in the spectator. It is a great game!

     So ends the Olympics. I have spent so much time watching all the events that I have not even taken time to keep this blog going. But like all exciting and good things, it must come to an end. Back to our regular life.

An Unusual Experience:

    
This last week I had an unusual experience. Let me tell you about it:

    I made a day trip to my little hometown in northern Illinois to visit my mother. After spending the day with family, I left her home, and stopped at the little gas station in that town, about 2 blocks from my mother's home. I needed to fill up with gas for the 2 hours drive home. The gas pumps at this little gas station are old and do not have the modern LED screen. Instead there are lighted block letters. The sun was shining right on the pump and it was difficult to see the instructions. So I suspect I put the card in and did things in the wrong order and my sale didn't work; the machine began to beep. I tried again, trying to read the instructions better and again the pump began to beep. So I walked into the station and explained to the young woman behind the counter what was going on. She asked me if I wanted to prepay for an amount of gas and I agreed. But then when she went to enter the card to prepay, she said, "Oh, your pump is on now. Do you want to go ahead and pump out there or should I cancel that one and prepay." I asked her if everything was OK, and if my card was in there. She said, "Yes, the pump is on and everything looks ok." So I went out the door. She called as I left, "Come on back in if you have any trouble." Indeed, the pump was on and I filled my tank. There was no receipt printed but I thought maybe being that this was an old pump that it was out of paper. I returned the nozzle and decided to call my husband at homea and tell him I was on my way. So I pulled forward away from the pump and made the call. I also got out of the car and took my coat off in preparation for the drive home. Only then did I take off.
     I had driven for about 35 minutes and was on one of the county roads that I take to get to the freeway. I look into my rear view mirror and there is a squad car with his lights blinking behind me. I am the only car on the road in this area, so I pull over and indeed he pulls behind me. He is stopping me. I hadn't looked at my speedometer for a while and began to think: Oh, what rotten luck!. Here on this small county road, no other cars around and he is going to catch me speeding.
     The young officer walked up to my car. I already had my window down and was holding out my driver's license. He said, "Ma'm do you know why I stopped you today?"
"No, I have no idea."
"Were you just in ? And did you fill up gas there?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered simply.
"Well, you didn't pay."
     I gave the young officer the same detailed explanation as above.
"Well, sometimes things happen like that at the pump," he said.
I asked, "Now what do we do?" I thought perhaps they could call my credit card number to the gas station and the charge could be filed by phone or online. We certainly charge a lot of things these days without being present. But no the young officer said I would have to go back to Pecatonica and he would escort me. By the way, he would just hold on to my driver's license until we get back to the gas station. (Just policy or did he actually think I would try to escape?)
     This young officer in the county squad car led me about half way back to my hometown, where we were met by the local policeman in his squad car. They talked and the county officer gave my license to the local police. Then we drive at 55 MPH the rest of the way back to town.
     I pulled into the gas station, and got out of the car. I said something to the young town officer, something like, "I feel like a fugitive from the law."
     He said, sarcastically, "Yah, you look like a fugitive from the law. By the way I like your coat." I had my good coat on. Not what you would expect from a police officer but both young men were very nice.
     Inside the gas station, I expressed my dissatisfaction that the young woman at the counter had told me that it was perfectly fine to use the pump and she implied that my credit card had taken. Then I told her I had even pulled forward to make a phone call and take off my coat before I left. "Was that you?" she asked. She hadn't even known who had not paid.
     I still don't know how they found me on a county road 35 minutes out from my hometown. I guess they must have had a video of my license number and there must have been an all points bulletin put out. I was indeed a fugitive from the law. My sister said that I was lucky that both police officers had been so nice. She says she has heard of that not always being the case. I just think that they knew, each of them, right away that it was a mistake. They saw an old lady, all dressed up, driving a Lincoln LS. Was it likely that I had purposely driven away without paying? Not likely.
     I always try to have a moral to my stories. What is the moral to this one? I can only think of a coupleand they are very practical. Alway make sure you get a receipt at the station and if none comes out of the pump, go into the station and get one. Oh, and don't argue with the police officer. Be VERY polite!

Visit to an Estate Sale and Toys

       In this blog article I have juxtapositioned my interesting visit to a very unusual local estate sales that made the local and national news  versus  photos of my own antique toy collection to which I wanted to add by visiting this estate sale. Comtemplation of this sale and its scenario allows me to discuss some life issues, a favorite pastime of mine. Click Read More to see this whole article and photos.

    This was not just any old estate sale. This estate sale notice made the local news and I was told even the national news. A gentleman in his 50s had made a decision that after an early retirement he wanted to open and operate a gift shop. With this goal in mind, he had purchased an estimated million dollars worth of merchandise. But then he got cancer and he died. Now all that merchandise was for sale. Thousands of unopened boxes of stuff. The news showed  a few opened boxes of Barbie dolls, Lionel train cars, Star Wars figures and all sorts of diecast vehicles, Matchbox and Hot Wheel cars on the cards, and spectator sports items.

     This scenario raises a couple issues. Let's deal with the weighiest issue first. Actually this is an issue which consists of mostly questions. It regards retirement and dealing with what you are going to do after retirement, when to retire, and how long should one wait to do the thing one loves and wants to do. Here this poor gentleman planned and prepared to open a shop that he no doubt would love to manage. He made these plans for at least 8 years if not longer (I know because one of the things I bought was a Duke University Blue Devils logo diecast metal motorcoach in commemoration of the 2001 NCAA Basketball Championship.) He sacrificed his house to store all these items. After seeing the house, I really don't know how he lived there with all these boxes of stuff. But fate dealt him a losing hand and he never made it to operate his store. As a physician I had the occasional patient who looked forward to retiring when he could travel and do other things that he had been looking forward to, only to retire and become ill, seriously ill within the first year, and never get to do those things. The recent movie, The Bucket List, also considers these issues. In the movie, these two guys both know they have limited time left and decide to do a list of adventurous things before they die. The story is funny, poignant, and sad in the end because they both do die. But it is also fulfilling because they did accomplish their list, or at least most of it. I think the answer is to live each day as though there was no time left. Then there will be no reason to be sad. You will have lived each day and done your list of adventurous things, and you will not have left an estate full of thousands of items to be pawed over by the masses of people coming to a sale, all of them wondering why such a thing could have happened.

Above to the left is a cast iron horse drawn dumpwagon circa 1920s that belonged to my father. Below and to the right is Hubley-like cast iron tractor that also belonged to my father, from 1920s also.

     I am a collector of many things, but foremost is my antique toy collection. Well, the various items mentioned in the news report attracted me. We knew there was a snowstorm coming, to start in the evening of the first day of the sale. My husband at first didn't want me to drive out to the sale, about a 45 minute drive. He told me I could go if I walked. Right! But then, the sun came out and he relented. It was not hard to find the place, among the hills of the Kettle Morraine area. I was not familiar with estate sales; I had not attended any except my mother's which was an auction. Well, with the news advertisement, there was a line of people waiting on the driveway to get in. A man from the estate sales staff was taking names and then calling numbers for people to enter. Some people had given their name and then gone home to wait. I didn't have that option. Some people in the line had been waiting for 3 hours. But it was getting to be mid afternoon by the time I came so my hope was that they would just have to let the whole line in because the sale closed on this day at 5 pm. That is exactly what happened. After conjecturing with my colleagues of the moment in the line about this poor man and about what we would find inside, we were allowed passage.

The cast iron circus wagon above was not owned in my family. I picked it up at a second hand store.  It has been repainted as you can tell from the photo. Though this makes for an attractive item, for collectability and maximum monetary value, a toy should not be restored in such a way unless it is in very very rusty and bad    condition. If restoration is done, it should be done by a professional. In that case, the cast iron toy will be taken apart and each part will be painted separately as was done when the toy was made. It then will be put back together. 

The toy in the photo below is a pressed steel steam shovel like that made by Buddy L. I was owned also by my father and is circa 1920s. It needs some repair but is otherwise in very good shape.               .                                                                                                                        

     Inside the house at the estate sale, what we found was amazing. The basement garage, basement proper, and every room of the house had stacks of boxes of stuff  as tall as we shoppers with aisles wide enough for only one person between the aisles. Many boxes had already been emptied and were lying among the partially emptied and other closed boxes. There were many many commemorative die cast metal vehicle models, bobble head sports figures, walking sticks, junk keychains, childrens' Mickey Mouse caps, decorative what-nots of all kinds, paper products by the boxfull, CD cases,  various framed prints of little value, and many more items too numerous to describe. There were people there buying up stuff that they would later sell at the flea market booth that they operated. The Lionel train cars for $20 a piece were gone. The Sham-Wow cleaning clothes were gone. Someone was buying up all the inexpensive framed prints, box by box. I didn't see any Barbie dolls, nor any Star Wars figures. But someone said 6 truckloads of boxes had been taken out of the house to allow room to display the goods. They would be brought back and added to the sale as goods were cleared. Maybe those items  I was interested in would be brought back in on another day, but I didn't intend to trek back out here on another day particularly with a snowstorm on the way. There was no furniture in the house. Maybe that had been cleared out ahead of time also. The sale was scheduled for 3 days, but due to the snowstorm in the middle, some thought it would be extended at least another day.

The above three photos show my sons' collection of Matchbox and HotWheel cars They are in "played with" conditon. True collectors want these more modern day collectibles to be "mint on the card".

     At the sale, I managed to put together 8 large commemorative sports diecast vehicles, about a dozen Hotwheels and Matchbox vehicles on the card, 3 childrens' Mickey Mouse caps,  and a pink baseball cap U Wisconsin, with the logo W on it all for a little over $40. I lugged these through the long and slow check out line, establishing very brief camaraderie friendships with those near me in line. These are all really not antique toys; they are new in the box. So no doubt they will be left for my children to decide what to do with as much of my toy collection will be. I have oft pondered what will happen to all my toys that I love so much. I have a catalog of most of my collection with possible value, obtained from researching ebay. Only a few of my toys are worth values in the double digits, but I love them all, even the little Pokey and Gumby rubber figures. In my catalog, toys that belonged to family members are identified as having high levels of sentimental values. But I know that when something happens to me, my children will only have time to get an estate sale company in here and these antigue toys that I so love will be stacked up and pawed over by lines of people , just as I saw in the Kettle Morraine ranch house and my toys will be distributed far and wide. I have contemplated putting little red sticker dots on the toys that do have sentimental value so that my children can identify them in case they do want to keep those toys that have been in the family for 3 or 4 generations--at least they could make this choice. I have even comtemplated opening a toy museum where all these toys would be kept together. It is interesting that I may find myself in the same position as this gentleman out in Mukwonago. I just hope that the people waiting in the line to get in and the people pawing through all the stuff form some short friendships while they discuss the owner of all this stuff -- me.

   
     These model vehicles above are modern collectibles tht I have owned for some years. The historic Coca Cola truck was purchased. The other two were gifts from pharmaceutical companies before it was politically incorrect to accept such gifts.

     And here is a photo of one the more lovable toys in my collection, flexable rubber figures, Gumby and Pokey, circa 1960s. These characters were featured in TV series for 35 years. The original videos were made with animated clay figures of the star characters.

Antique Valentines

      Wikipedia says that Valentine's Day was originally set to honor several possible Christian martyrs that were named Valentine. It is widely assumed that the linkage of St. Valentine's Day to romantic love occurred in the 14th century when Chaucer seemed to refer to it in some of his writing. However the spelling in Chaucer's verse, given its origin in Old English, may not refer to Valentine's Day. Shakespeare in the 16th century definitely refers to St. Valentine's Day as a celebration of romantic love, and refers to someone being a Valentine in Ophelia. It was not until the late 18th century and early 19th century that valentine cards began to be sent as indications of affection. 

     In 1797, the Young Man's Valentine Writer was published in Britain which contained suggested sentimental verses for the young lover to send to his beloved if he could not compose his own. At first, handmade real lace and ribbon Valentines were hand delivered with such sentimental verse. But in the mid 1800's as postal efficeincy increased and then a reduction in postal rates allowed easy exchange of Valentine greetings, these Valentines changed to paper. This remained popular in Britain and then swept the United States as the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced after 1847. Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts (1828-1904) produced and sold many of these early valentines.
       To the left and above is a Valentine card from the 1960s. The cute puppy has glittery flocked pants. Below is another Valentine from the 1960s which is mailed in its folded state and then opens to show its whole message.

 Early valentine greetings that were sent in the United States were often printed in Germany. A common  type of valentine then was the diecut form. These were often intricate and colorful with several attached layers that folded out to give a 3D effect. Following are several of these three dimensional fold out German Valentines. The first two folded out to make a square base for standing up.

     The next Valentines lie flat when mailed with a message on the folded up base. When opened, the base folds down and the diecut three dimensions fold out for standing up on the folded down base. The smaller Valentines are pictured in smaller scale. They are also colorful diecut cards also printed in Germany. Some of them have gromets which allow moving pieces. These are called mechanical Valentines and are very popular as well.  All of these date to the 1920s. It was as Valentines first became so popular in the United States that Germany filled the void and shipped 100,000s of these delightful creations to America.

               

 
      Early American valentines were mass printed by Whitney and later by a company called Carrington. Around 1900, vinegar vallentines became common. These were cartoonish and often had rather vitriolic verses--sort of a pre-Don Richols type of humor. Circa 1920s mechanical valentines were common with either a single or multiple gromets allowing moving parts to be part of the valentine design. Mechanical antique valentines are very popular collectors items today as are the German diecuts.

     The Valentines below are produced by Whitney Printers in Worcester, MA. Sumner Whitney operated a stationary store where he and his wife sold handmade valentines for some time. Then a brother Edward and later after the Civil War ended George, another brother, joined Sumner in the valentine and stationary business. Sumner died and Edward withdrew leaving George the sole proprietor. By 1888, George Whitney had bought out ten major American valentine producers. Esther Howland and Jotham Taft also made Valentines out of Worcester, MA, making this city the center of American valentine production for the late 19th and early 20th century. Below are several examples of Whitney valentines from the 1920s. Earlier Whitney valentines had paper lace attached as well producing window like effects and the illusion of 3 dimensions.

     Carrington Card Company of Chicago, IL is responsible for Valentine's day cards and valentines of a slightly later time period than the Whitney valentines. Below is a Carrington valentine from about 1929.

           

The Valentine to the right is also from Carrington, but the style is very much like Whitney valentines.

     The following valentines are also from my mother's collection, therefore from the 1920s. I can not find similar valentines on the Internet, and there is no indication of the printers of these, nor even what country they come from. All are cut in the shape of various items that match the clever verses. They are most entertaining.

Above is a very interesting valentine from Germany. It pictures a little Dutch boy. His pantaloons raise up over his face and deliver the valentine message in the heart shape.

     From the 1940s onward, children gave each other valentines in school as part of the celebration. Do you remember covering and decorating a shoe box with a slit cut in the top so that classmates could distribute valentines to all the other children. Alternatively a large box was decorated by the entire class. All the valentines were put into that box and later distributed. These practices guaranteed  that millions of valentines would be mass produced on inexpensive thin paper throughout the following decades. Fancier mailed cards were available during this time with fold out tissue paper honeycomb shapes that gave the valentines real three dimensions and were very decorative. The following valentines date from the 1950's. Some are very attractive. Some are humorous. There are several flocked valentines which came in sheets that needed to be cut apart and folded. Even the envelopes were cut apart and folded.

    

     I have a very extensive old valentine collection starting with those that were sent by my parents in the 1920s and ending with some modern Starwars valentines. I have posted examples of these various styles of valentines on this website. These few are only a small percentage of my holdings. Peruse and enjoy.

                                                               

     Below is my final valentine for this year: It is rather unusual and would be welcome in anyone's collection of ephemera. It is a Valentine's paper doll set, constructed as a Valentine's Day greeting card. I received this from my grandmother, but I saved it instead of cutting out the paper dolls. Uncut paper doll sets are very unusual in ephemera collections for obvious reasons. So here is the card front and how it looks unfolded.

Happy Valentine's Day

    

Invictus and South Africa today

     I know the movie, Invictus, is now out of most movie theatres, but I still recommend that you somehow get to see it -- look for the DVD or on Netflix, or whatever. It was a great 'feel good' movie.It is the story of Nelson Mendela and the South African rugby team. Mendela decides that that team, even though it had poor skills, even though it was all white except for one man, even so, that team could and should be the anchor to draw the country, both races together. All sorts of small and larger transformations occur in the movie. 



Capetown from Table Mtn
Robbens Island is to left center, Mendala's prison.

      My husband and I were in South Africa most of September, 2009. We traveled all over with many different guides. We tried to ask each guide how he thought the country was doing just about 15 years after Apartheid ended. We were particularly curious to find out how the black people felt about that historical event and where they thought their country was now. Of course, these were all people who were in the tourist business -- in addition to guides, waiters, bartenders, hotel employees and owners. etc. But to the man or woman, they were very pleased, and positive, and forward looking about their country. Also to the man or woman, they did not hold a grudge. I found that amazing. We know how horrible Apartheid was. The blacks had no freedom. They had a 2 pm curfew and had to be off the streets of white South African cities and towns, unless they had a paper pass. Then of course, there was poverty, inequality, and even brutality from the white authorities. Remember the whites were and are only 5% of the population. And still this tiny minority subjected the remainder of the South African people. But there is no grudge! Amazing!

                                                                                    Cape Point from Table Mountain

     The last week of our trip we had a white guide, a Jewish South African who had lived in Israel for 25 years, but who now was back in his homeland. He was the only one who told us about the trials that were held after the end of Apartheid. These were broadcast on the radio and TV, over loudspeakers in the streets and in schools and other public places These trials were for the atrocities that went both ways between racial sides. They were extremely difficult to listen to. People of both races were seen crying on the street corners as they listened. This went on for some weeks. But the understanding was that when these trials were over, the judgements would be over. There would be foregiveness and no revenge, no grudges. Nelson Mendela was extremely important in leading the people and making sure that this was the result of the trials. It seems to have worked.

Downtown Capetown from Table Mountain

     Our Jewish guide did say that he thought the country was at a crossroads. There needed to be more done about housing the poor. The very common slums in the townships needed to be improved and relocated. Land reform and redistribution had to take place slowly unlike in Zimbabwe but it had to take place. The progress in this direction was entirely too slow and it was unclear how long the poor would wait. But we found the country modern, beautiful, and very positive. Johannesburg and to some degree Capetown has crime problems, yes, but the more rural areas are delightful to travel in and the people are warm and friendly. In spite of Apartheid, there does not seem to be the racial bad feelings and undercurrent that we have in this country. It was amazing. I want to go back.

                                                 Stadium for 2010 World Cup

     So go see the movie and you will see the beginnings of these small transformations. I hope this wonderful country can continue to move forward, improve the daily life of the poor, protect their public lands, and animals and be an example for the other African countries who must follow them into the 21st century.

     My husband has shot literally thousands of photographs from this country and others in southern Africa. I have included some of these in this blog. You will probably see others on this blog site as time goes on.