The Prized Treasures

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  “Will the prized treasures of today always be the cheap trifles of the day before? Will rows of our willow-pattern dinner-plates be ranged above the chimneypieces of the great in the years 2000 and odd? Will the white cups with the gold rim and the beautiful gold flower inside (species unknown), that our Sarah Janes now break in sheer light-heartedness of spirit, be carefully mended, and stood upon a bracket, and dusted only by the lady of the house? . . . .   The “sampler” that the eldest daughter did at school will be spoken of as “tapestry of the Victorian era,” and be almost priceless. The blue-and-white mugs of the present-day roadside inn will be hunted up, all cracked and chipped, and sold for their weight in gold, and rich people will use them for claret cups; and travellers from Japan will buy up all the “Presents from Ramsgate,” and “Souvenirs of Margate,” that may have escaped destruction, and take them back to Jedo as ancient English curios.” Jerome K. Jerome, “T...

Happy Birthday, Leslie!

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Today's is my wife's birthday and in this post I'd like to acknowledge the woman who put her life "on hold" to see that others were fed, clean, dressed, not bleeding--just taken care of overall. She's a wife, Mom, Nanna, Aunt . . . and a salesperson. She can sell you just about anything off the shelf. Guess you'd have to be there. And if you are, bring cash. Anyway . . .

Now it's her turn. Now that everyone's (mostly) self-sustaining, she's gone back to school and working on her Bachelor's in Communications. And she's doing it, too! Full load of classes, late nights, writing papers, reading books--the works. And still making sure there's food in the fridge, that the lights are on and band-aids are in the box.

So here's to another year, uh, wiser!
"Happy Birthday" Leslie! 

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