I know how Daria feels…

I was replying to comments about today’s Song of the Day, “Ferry Cross The Mersey” by Gerry & The Pacemakers, and the bridge verse came to mind…

People around every corner
They seem to smile and say,
“We don’t care what your name is, boy,
We’ll never send you away.”

That’s what home is about: you belong here. Could be with your spouse, your kid(s), your other relatives, your dog, or cat, or bird, or combination of some or all of the above. I’d get home from one of my many business trips, and Mary would be there with a kiss and one or more of the cats would be waiting for me to sit down so they could sit on my lap. I was in my house, watching my TV, with my cats and Mary…. that’s home.

I noticed something a few years ago: when I walk into a member of my family’s home, there’s a certain sense of comfort that I don’t feel when I walk into a non-family member’s house, or into a hotel room. I used to stay at Courtyard by Marriott Hotels all the time, because, no matter where I was, the rooms were all the same, except the bathroom was either on the left or the right of the room door. I was comfortable there, but not comfortable like when I was at a family home or my own. It was familiar, but there wasn’t that sense of “I’m home.”

Now a song about getting home…

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Now a word from Hamm’s Beer. A beer is a beer is a beer is a beer until you’ve tasted Hamm’s!

Mary and I don’t wear our wedding rings, and haven’t for some time. Mary stopped when she found that it interfered with her knitting, while mine shrank. Or something like that.

I had faithfully worn my wedding ring for over ten years. In that time, my finger grew and the ring started digging into it. One day I was at my brother Jim’s house, and asked his wife Lisa, who’s a jeweler, if there was anything she could do about it. She took one look and said “oh my God, we have to get that off of you before you lose your finger.”

She went off to get her tools, and Jim gets me a beer. “You’re going to need this” he said. She came back with a little coping saw. She ran the saw under the ring, next to my finger, and started sawing. It took her a while, but eventually she cut all the way through it. Turns out my finger had grown two ring sizes. She was great, found a chunk of gold and welded the whole thing back together. I really appreciated that.

Naturally, after she did that, my finger started swelling up again, so I took it off and haven’t worn it since.

I saw a picture of King Charles III, and noticed that his fingers are so swollen that his ring hardly fits. Hope he finds someone to saw it off his finger…

Linda runs Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Now a word from Wisk laundry detergent. No more ring around the collar!

Colonel McCormick, who published the Chicago Tribune in the early 20th century, was a proponent of simplified spelling. He thought that it was silly to spell through when thru worked just as well. Likewise, spell thorough as thoro, although as altho, rough as ruf, judge as juj, debt as det, doubt as dout, and so on. I mean, if we’re not using all those letters, why have them in there?

It would certainly simplify matters if to, too, and two were all spelled the same, say as tu. We could spell its and it’s the same way and be done with it. Likewise, way and weigh could both be spelled way. Night, bright, light, fight , and flight could be nite, brite, lite, fite, and flite, or better nyt, bryt, lyt, fyt, and flyt. Screw all those silent letters!

Linda runs Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Now a word from Ballantine Gold ale. Brewed with brewer’s gold!

“Why Not!” That was the catchphrase used by the Borscht Belt comedian Dayton Allen. He used to appear regularly on whatever TV show Steve Allen (no relation, though Steve called him “my uncle”) as crazy characters, and go into these sometimes rambling discussions of whatever the character does.

Something I didn’t know about until this morning: he was a voice actor, voicing such characters as Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dog, Phineas T. Bluster and Flubadub on Howdy Doody, and Lancelot Link from the show Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.

Linda runs Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Now this word from Schweppes Quinine Water, with Schweppervescence!

By now, I’m sure most of you know that I hardly ever leave the house. It’s not that Mary won’t take me out, it’s more that she doesn’t leave the house very often, either, and when she does go out, most of the places she goes (Kroger, Publix, CVS etc.) are not places where I would be a great help, and I’d be sitting in the car, and that can be boring. At least at home, I have my computers and Wi-Fi where I can entertain myself.

People nonetheless ask “aren’t you bored?” Frankly, I’m not. Staying in this summer has meant that I haven’t had to deal with the heat. I have plenty of music and reading material to keep me occupied, not to mention the writing I do here and elsewhere. If I were sitting in front of the TV all day watching the talk shows and sitcom reruns, I would be, but since I don’t, I’m not.

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Now here’s Rex Marshall for instant Maxwell House coffee. As Teddy Roosevelt said, it’s good to the last drop!