Pick-A-Day

March 2024
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Meet Fred Meyer

One of my family’s stories involves a very young Adam – but considering that I do not remember the story, I would presume it happened in the 1970s, roughly speaking.

We’d taken a family trip to Oregon – which is where my maternal grandmother lived. My maternal grandfather died before I was born.

I have […]

On Googling the Past

Every so often I wonder what happened to various people from my past.

Thanks to Google, I can give it a go.

Earlier this year I googled one of my contemporaries from the University of Wyoming – his name had popped into my head randomly and I wondered what had become of him. Google, of […]

4709; Two too low.

Sometimes it is in random moments that things said to you years ago make sense.

For example, I recall once listening to my paternal grandmother complain about the address of her apartment in New York City.

“I’m so disappointed in whomever picked the house number. Why 4709? It could have been named after a cologne!”

[…]

Whatchamacallit 176: Ghost in a Four Room Apartment

This book is not the first copy of this book that I’ve owned.

The first copy of this book I got in either kindergarten or first grade – I would guess kindergarten, but logically it feels more like first grade.

It was free, a gift from RIF – Reading Is Fundamental – a program […]

Whatchamacallit 169: Adam, 1978

A few weeks ago, I posted Adam, 1977, a magnificent piece of art that I cannot bring myself to throw away, even as I hide it in a drawer, unsure of what exactly I am supposed to do with it.

Here is the sequel.

The only comment my Mother made upon giving this to […]

Whatchamacallit 138: Alvin Fernald, Superweasel

Back in 2011, when my blog was busy, I asked if anybody remembered Alvin Fernald. Nobody responded.

So, a mere 9 years later, I finally decided to track down one of the books that I mentioned in that post, Alvin Fernald, Superweasel. The book is about a fourth or fifth grader who single handedly […]

Whatchamacallit 134: Adam, 1977

The artplate displayed – as it is both a magnificent piece of art and a plate one can dine off of – is drawn by one of the 20th century’s greatest unknown artists.

Me.

Apparently, it was a thing to give children markers and tell them to draw, turning the resulting thing into a […]

Whatchamacallit 129: Berliner Luft (Part 1)

A year or two ago I was in a la-di-da kids shop, Kleine Gesellschaft, in Prenzlauer Berg, where I stumbled upon “Berliner Luft.”

It’s the kind of kids shop that is so upscale and pretentious that it has its own brand toys.

This is, simply put, a bottle of soapy water, complete with one […]

Whatchamacallit 97: Bull Head Bourbon

This Bull Head Bourbon, produced by the Lake George Distilling Company, is batch 62, bottle 95, bottled on October 24, 2019. From there, it was stuck on a truck and delivered, eventually, to a liquor store near Wall Street, which is where I purchased it between Christmas and New Year’s a few months ago.

[…]

Whatchamacallit 76: Tikki Tikki Tembo

This is a book that I remember from my childhood – but not the details.

Sometimes in idle moments my mind would play back the name of the first-born son: as I recalled it, “Rikki Rikki Tembo Nosa Rembo….” And then my mind would start cycling the name and I would remember the moral […]