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Monday, June 24, 2013

"MY SHELTER DOG RUFUS C. DICKENS"

When I saw his picture on our town's shelter site on facebook, I knew he was the dog for me! The first picture showed him looking really tan but his eyes got to me right off the bat. The next day, he had been given a bath and was pure white. I just had to have him and he was going to be put up for adoption the very next day.

Bet your boots that I was there early and got him. Actually a friend bought him for me as I had lost my other dog to death about seven months prior and she said that she wanted to do this for me. What a wonderful thing for her to do.

When we got home, he was so timid at first but sweet as sweet could be. My cat Maysie Apple didn't think so and she still doesn't:: In fact, she's still ticked off big time. You see, she ruled my other dog and that dog was afraid of her. Rufus is not. He wants to play with her and she will have no part of him.

I can't imagine anyone not searching for Rufus; he had come in as a stray. Of course, I can't imagine how anyone with a heart could not search for their missing pet online or just drop one off because they decided that either they didn't want it or state that they couldn't take care of it. Animals are not disposable.In today's society it seems to be the norm and that is disgusting.

If you are looking for a pet and see a shelter's site, look at the dog or cat's eyes: They speak great volumes.Rufus' sure did and I was so right in choosing him. And even better was the fact that he was already housebroken and friendly. What more could you ask for?

Sherry Hill


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

“THERE WERE TIMES WHEN FOOD AND OTHER THINGS CAME TO YOUR DOOR”



There were times when food actually came right to your front door and I’m not talking back in the time of Ben Franklin either. When I was little, my mom and I lived with my grandparents and their house was on a main street here in Charleston, WV. It was a thing of wonder to see a truck pull up into the driveway at their house and see a man get out and open up the back of it—the wonders of every kind of bakery item you could imagine was right there! That truck belonged to Blubaugh Bakery which was located downtown; they had many truck drivers on lots of routes. To me, it was heaven to see all of those pastries. And my grandmother would select what was needed and the truck would come back the next week—bringing delight all over again.

But that was not the only thing that came to the house. Every week a man pulling a vegetable cart would stop in front of the house. All of the neighbors would flock to this cart and pick out fresh produce; there was nothing wrong with it at all. It was all perfectly chosen and fresh. My favorite was tomatoes and to this day, guess it still is. Oh the joys of eating a tomato sandwich with just mayonnaise and salt and pepper was one of my childhood joys.

Another truck that came to the house weekly was The Jewel Tea truck. The driver would get out and open up the back to wonders upon wonders of things for house cleaning, things like beautiful teapots, dishes, aluminum glasses in every color of the rainbow, window cleaning liquid in a tin jar, furniture polish and you name it was in that truck. I was tempted som nay times to get in there with that man and just stay and look till I could look no more.

Another truck that came by weekly was a man that delivered fresh eggs and butter. To this day, I can still picture that man: He was old [probably in his forties but to a kid?,] wore a wrinkled white shirt and had on suspenders. He always seemed to be burning up and come to think of it, it was summer and he probably had hundreds of people on his route. This man was friends with my grandparents and I well remember my grandmother inviting him inside the house to get a glass of ice cold water. He needed it. As for the eggs and butter, they were top notch and always fresh—not like in today’s world.

The milkman would drop off bottles of cold milk every morning and he didn't have to travel far for the dairy was located a block over from my grandparent's house. All you had to do was to go outside, pick them up and bring them in the house. 

Perhaps my favorite truck that came to my grandparent’s house and the neighborhood was the ice cream truck. What a wonder to see a man all dressed in white riding a bicycle of sorts with a big white box on the back. When he stopped, he would open up the white box and white smoke would fill the air. It was dry ice but as a kid, I had no idea what it was. It was mysterious. The ice cream, popsicles and other dairy treats were grabbed by every kid that stood around this man and his strange vehicle. Of course, grandparents or parents had the say so as to what was bought. I’m pretty sure that what I got didn’t survive to the front door as I had eaten it.

The last truck that came by weekly was one driven by a man that sold potato chips in huge metal containers. Oh my, those chips were fresh, crunchy and the metal container was taken into my grandparents’ house about every week. The tins were saved for storage of whatever but the chips certainly weren’t saved.

I miss these things of the past that will never be again. Mass grocery stores took over the jobs that these men had although there were grocery stores then trust me. It was a wonderful time in which to be a kid and no doubt to be an adult with such service right at the front door or driveway. No one ever got sick from eating the fresh produce or eggs as they do in today’s world with mass production and contamination. And when I think of the dinners that my grandmother cooked with all of these fresh vegetables, butter and eggs I am taken back to a wonderful time when real was real. As for the Jewel Tea man, I suppose he saw my wonderment when he opened the back of that truck.

Still have a Jewel Tea pitcher that my grandmother had bought: The pattern is Autumn Leaf. Saw a bunch of these dishes and a teapot at a garage sale but passed upon buying them. One reminder is fine for me of a blessed past when food and needed things came to houses. There was no crime then which was another factor that led to the downfall of such splendid home service. It’s such a shame that today’s generation knows nothing about what I wrote about—they’d think I was making it all up. But I wasn’t at all. It happened and it was miraculous.


Sherry Hill

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

"MISS DEPARTMENT STORE BOXES"



If you watch old movies, you will see a woman returning home with department store boxes and opening them up right in front of a not so happy husband. And sometimes you will see women carrying boxes of clothes out of stores and those boxes are piled high—in the movies that is. But I remember when I could purchase things in department stores and the sales clerk would get a box, put tissue paper in it and then place the item inside all neatly tucked. Each item went into its correctly sized box.

What a thrill it was to walk down the street carrying a huge coat box with the coat inside that I had lusted after forever finally being mine. Didn’t matter how cumbersome it was to carry it—the box and contents were mine. Same thing for hats: You received a round hat box for each hat you bought. Mine seemed to never stay in their boxes though for I was a teenager. But oh those hat boxes were plain grand with a beautiful paper outside and matching cording to carry it.

Each department store had their own signature boxes and designs. I still have some from some of the now long-gone downtown stores and I wince when I see them. Today’s females will never know the thrill of carrying boxes home from stores or opening them upon arriving home. The boxes were special. In today’s world, what are articles of clothing put in? Plastic bags and it’s a little unsettling if you were to remember the glorious boxes of the past.

Wasn’t anything expensive on the stores’ parts—well I suppose it was in retrospect but it was part of the glamour that like other things from the past have gone with the wind. And I miss those department store boxes big time.


Sherry Hill