Friday, April 28, 2006

... And MORE Boulanger's

Several items:

The Boulangers used to greet me with "Comment allez-vous?" each day. I thought it must be spelled "Come on tolly voo", which is a pretty good phonetic spelling. They were from Belgium. They had two daughters, Avis and Ardis. Ardis and I made our own Katy Keen paper dolls together for a while, upstairs from the store. Katy Keen was very fashionable.

Also, in front of the store on the pavement were blobs of ... ABC GUM! Already Been Chewed ... I do not know who among the many children of the block suggested we peel those flattened, gritty pieces of gum from the pavement and chew them, but I did it. Yes, very gritty. Children are not deterred by the concept of germs.

Boulanger's

As I remember Boulnager's front steps up to the store had a metal pipe for a handrail. On a frosty winter day I bent over and licked the pole. My tears and saliva didn't loosen the icy grip. Betsy said she was going to get someone to help me. I burned with embarrassment and begged her not to get anyone. She started to walk away and I ripped lose. The memory fades. Today as I pulled away from the mirror and tucked my tongue back into my mouth I saw no scars or sign of damage.



Cornell University
Issue Date: 10-Jan-2000
Abstract: In an attempt to verify the age-old claim that your tongue will freeze to a metal pole and become stuck if you decide to lick it in the midst of winter, we have modeled tongue contact with a cold metal surface using finite-element analysis techniques. After varying ambient temperatures, we have concluded that accidental tongue-freezing is not a myth, and below -5 deg. C the tongue will freeze before it can be removed. An accompanying sensitivity analysis showed that variations in contact area, metal properties, and the convection coefficients do not significantly change this conclusion. Our simulation has opened the possibility for further study of the accidental freezing process, including the modeling of methods to remove the tongue once it is stuck.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

The Corner Store

On the corner of Jackson and Porlier sat a two-story longish building. The bottom front of the building, facing Jackson Street, was Boulanger's store. They had cookies and the sorts of things that we now get at convenience stores, emergency supplies so to speak, sugar and flour and canned vegetables. They also carried candy, Kool-aid and POPSICLES and FUDGSICLES and CREAMSICLES. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I used to be a regular visitor to the store. Mrs. Boulanger hated me after a while I am sure. I would come in and window shop for popsicles. I loved orange and still do. Sometimes they had root beer, banana flavor or those icky blue popsicles.

The freezer case was one that opened from above, with a sliding glass cover. Inside, the galvanized metal sides were crusted with frost, and you could get your finger stuck on the side if you were not careful in pulling out the frozen treats.

When I visited too frequently Mrs. Boulanger would tell me to come back in five minutes. I would go home and sit in the kitchen staring at the clock, the dark green clock above the table, and watch the five minutes go by. Then I would hurry back to the store, where Mrs. Boulanger was horrified to see me reappear so quickly.

We used to have Kool-aid stands, and that involved a lot of Kool-aid packets and tons of sugar. I think we had it all figured out so that we could afford some sort of treat from selling our Kool-aid. We did sell a lot!



Saturday, April 22, 2006

Ecological Footprint

This link takes you to a quiz that will calculate your "ecological footprint".

http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/index.asp

have fun
love

LOVE MY SISTERS SO MUCH



I have been feeling so much love, like my chest can't hold it all in and it's bursting out.
Can I slop some you my dear sisters?
love you all so much!
your #4

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

"All These Children I Never Wanted"

Our mother was a charming, beautiful, intelligent, crazy woman. She suffered from manic-depression [The illness is now termed bipolar disorder in an attempt to make it less stigmatizing to the patients and their families. Most of these terminologies gradually take on the same meanings as the old terms, but never mind].

We had a family reunion, I am not sure which one, maybe for her 80th birthday, and I heard her say, "Ah, here I am surrounded by all these children I never wanted." Rude, but true. She would have been better off not being coerced by the CHURCH to have so many children. In fact, she may have been better off with no children at all. The stresses of family life may have contributed to the onset of her illness.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

POET and BOTZ what is up?

Both Poet and Botz keep talking about needing to give passwords, so I asked you both to give me your passwords so I could try to get in using them, but neither one of you has done that. I am confused. Once you get in you can change your passwords, so why not give the password to me via my email??? Also, you have never even commented, which anyone can do without logging in as an administrator. I do not get it.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

918 is calling hemlock



Posting is as easy as blowing heart shaped bubbles.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

918's looking pretty lonesome

hey, cmoe on Bstey & Anne pelsae psot.
oaky tihs isn't wroknig...
I tohuhgt if you kpet the frist and lsat letter in a wrod tehn aynone cuold raed it.
so waht I'm tyring to say...

918 is waiting...

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Rainbows on the Carpet

The beveled, leaded glass at the tops of the picture windows used to make rainbows all over the carpeting during the day. *sigh*

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Conversations with Dad

1.
Dad had soft broad hands with the end of his nails filled smooth and smiling. When he concentrated and listened to what I had to say, he would lightly rap these nails on the top of the desk in a gentle cascading movement. As a teenager I repeatedly asked him about the meaning of life. I especially wondered after I had gone out on a rotten date with my boyfriend. I watched his nails as he pondered my question.
“Well...” he said as the nails went tap, tap, tap, tap, “I just don’t know?”
He did his best.
He always tried.



2.
“Hi Dad,” I said into the phone.
“What, what did you say,” he barked.
“I love you,” I said louder. I could hear the piercing tone of his hearing aid.

“Gull-darn-it! You'll have to wait till Peg’s back,” he said.
“Dad please don’t hang.....,” I heard the dial tone.
That night I dreamed that he could hear me. We sat quietly in the in the backyard under the apple trees and talked about the meaning of life.
The next morning I woke up to such a feeling of love and loss. He wasn’t dead like other peoples fathers but sometimes it felt like it.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

"The Block"

While the voice of Petula Clark sang through my turquoise & white tran-sister radio...

"When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go...downtown
When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know...downtown
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?"

I was yearning to be on this block.
So much happened.




That song always made Mom sad.
She would heave a sigh, "Oh, Berta..."
As I'd start off in my mod clothes- looking so smart and sexy.
I expected a lot from that block!

Kaap's Restaurant

Sadly, I could not find a photo of Kaaps Restaurant online. It was a Green Bay landmark. Inside the narrow downtown building was a luscious German bakery, with mile-high breads, candies that were INCREDIBLY good (still available by phone order and they have a catalog). Kaap's Old World Chocolates (920) 430-9041.

They also had Steiff stuffed animals. I recall a stuffed hippo that had wooden teeth sewed into its red felt open mouth. I think that was Anne's.

Farther in was the restaurant, with dark wood booths and black marble-topped tables. [The tables and booths have been installed in a West DePere restaurant in case you happen to be in Green Bay and want to sit in one.] I usually got a hot fudge sundae there. It was served in a small pewter dish, one good-sized scoop of their HOME MADE ice cream, and a dark green ceramic gravy boat filled with dark, delicious hot fudge . . . it was not too thick, not too thin. When it poured over the vanilla ice cream, it ran down the sides and formed a moat of brown around the lovely white sphere. I can still taste it, which is a good thing, since the ice cream and the hot fudge are no longer available. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

They had VERY large geisha lamps with fringed shades at certain spots.

Legend has it that Otto Kaap, the owner, once climbed on top of a refrigerator (one of those huge stainless steel jobs), screamed and jumped up and down, to reprimand his staff. He was very thin with a bald head that was shaped like a light bulb. He had bulging veins all over his head, and he wore rimless glasses. He looked like the man in Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream", crossed with Mister Burns in The Simpsons.

There was also a VERY dark bar, where we were not allowed to go.

More on the bar later.