50 Days of Remembering 50 Years Day #11

Letterboxing 

One fun hobby we had was similar to a treasure hunt. It's called Letterboxing. 

There is a website online where you find clues to boxes hidden, usually in the woods, but could be other places too. The clues tell you what town but from there you have to decipher the directions. Sometimes people will use nature--"turn left by the two sister trees" or "by the dog shaped rock" for clues in the directions. Some suggest you bring a compass, though not many. They will tell you to take so many steps to the next landmark and so on until you come to the place the box is hidden. It could be in a stone wall, under a tree hidden with leaves, or other places that are not so conspicuous to people just walking by. Now I will say that the clues are written by individuals, and some are well written, others were rather annoying and hard to follow. 

The box contains a notebook and rubber stamp; some will have an ink pad too but it's best you bring your own. To be a real letter boxer, you will have had to pick a name for your team, design a rubber stamp representing you and have a notebook (or we chose 3x5 cards) to collect stamps of where you have been. When you find a letter box, you stamp your stamp in the book that is there, and you sign your team's name. You can make a note about how it was finding the box or the weather that day or if you saw some kind of animal, etc. You take their unique stamp and stamp it in your book or note card to have a record of where you have been.

We were Minuteman and Lady W with a feather pen for our rubberstamp. We were amazed at the many places close to us that we never knew existed, an abandoned ski place, for one. You could choose letter box clues that led you on major hikes or try to find much easier ones, which was our choice. We really enjoyed our letterboxing adventures. It's a great outing for kids; they all enjoy scavenger hunts. It does appear as I look online (letterboxing.org) that there are fewer people doing it. Many of the clues are several years old and therefore, could lead to a dead end. We went on a few of those. It's disappointing when you don't have the reward of finding the box. 

For George's 60th birthday, I planted a letterbox called, "Make a Wish". I am just as bad as some people in that I never checked on it after we found it and re-hid it. You are supposed to see if they need maintenance--water could get in the box or it could be misplaced.

Our bodies don't really like hikes anymore. Enjoy what you can while you can! At least we have fun memories of a great way to pass the time in nature and often the reward of finding the "treasure". 

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:13

50 Days of Remembering 50 years Day #10

Road Rage, I mean Road Rally

A month before we were married, we participated in our first road rally. This was a driving contest where you were given clues and had to find various landmarks in a certain order and time. 

Now keep in mind that this was a time before cell phones and even local internet. Because each team started at different intervals, it wasn't who got there first that won. It was who kept the correct speed limit, went to the correct places, wrote down the right answers and finished with the closest correct mileage. From the start we were scratching our heads. The instructions told us to go so many kilometers. Ugh. We didn't know the accurate calculation to convert miles to kilometers. 

There was not a lot of time to stop and calculate and then to figure out where the clues were leading you. You had to fill in the blanks on the form with answers of what you thought they led you to. It was fun, challenging and exasperating all at once. Because of the anxiety we ended up being short with each other and there was arguing in tense moments, so much so that we briefly wondered if we would go through with our wedding the next month!

We didn't win. But this was a pre-cursor to our road trips (pre-map quest days), when I was the navigator and he was the driver. Those who navigate know how hard it is to read a map and road signs at the same time. The driver just expects the directions to be fed to them immediately. The driver is anxious because of traffic and paying attention to lane changes. My driver throws a fit should he take a wrong turn and have to detour. I think a good percentage of our disagreements have been trying to get somewhere. (Though isn't that life--traveling together seeing where life takes us). 

And yet...we have since done other road rallies and have sought them out. I guess we like the thrill of the hunt and trying to work together. They are kind of like a treasure hunt. There really aren't many around. 

Later we were introduced to a similar treasure hunt hobby called Letter Boxing. I started to write about that here, but I was getting so wordy, that I will save that for tomorrow.

Our last scavenger hunt was a contest run by the Norfolk Historical Society. You were given a couple of weeks to discover certain landmarks in Norfolk, CT. Since George grew up there, he was intrigued by this challenge. Armed with the clues, we set about different parts of Norfolk trying to decipher where the clues would take us. Some were very easy, however two eluded us. One was right under our noses on the town green! What was most aggravating for one clue was we assumed the answer was up Haystack Mountain. We had been up there a few times before with kids, but now we were older and I was so out of shape. I was truly afraid I was going to have a heart attack (note: that may not have been far from the truth as a few years later, I did). The part that was most aggravating is that was not where the answer was and we went there for nothing!

But the good news is we won! Our prize was this framed original limited reproduction by Michaela Murphy of a glass plate negative by Marie H. Kendall ca. 1880. It's entitled, "The Farmyard". We have it proudly hanging in our living room.

When I turned 70, my son gave me a clue which took me on a scavenger hunt to more and more clues until I got the prize. He gets me!

One little irritant I have about our road trips, if we are going past something that looks interesting and I don't see it soon enough, George will rarely turn around to check it out. Of course, if we had a schedule to meet, that would be one thing, but even in a leisurely ride, there is something in his DNA that makes him abhor going back.

I love the autumn, and I always try to find one day to drive around looking at all the beautiful scenery and stopping to take pictures. It sometimes requires turning back. I don't take George on my annual autumn drive. 

Somehow, we have stayed married almost 50 years despite the road "rage" which goes on in the car at times. People think road rage only happens with other drivers--not always the case. 

"Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do." Jeremiah 42:3

For my 70th birthday, my son made me a scavenger hunt where I had to drive places to find clues to get to the prize. 

50 Days of Remembering 50 Years Day #9

Family

To say being an only child to marrying into a family of originally 13 kids was a shock to the system, is to say the least. What a different upbringing we had. I had my own bedroom and didn't have to share my toys or belongings. George reminds us that he celebrated when someone moved out of his bed. 

I did have some neighborhood kids to play with, but he constantly had someone around. He was into sports. I was into inside hobbies like writing, reading, stamp collecting, pen palling, piano playing, etc. 

George's family often had picnics at People's Forest. Everyone brought something to share and there was always a softball game. Now as a child, baseball gave me angst. First, I was lefthanded and I hated how they yelled, "Lefty" at school when I got up to bat and everyone shifted because of me. It wasn't really a disparagement against me. It was just warning the team which way the ball might go--big joke, that would be if I hit the ball. Then there was the stigma of being Casey at the bat, like the poem. So, playing softball with the family should have been fun but just gave me anxiety.

I'm going to be frank here. What gave me worse anxiety, was the different sense of humor that his family had. I led a naive and simple life and I often felt embarrassed by my naivety.

The first picnic I went to was at his sister's house and this picture was taken of us there. 
 

I pictured a big family to be like the Waltons, not in this case. I had often been disappointed not having any siblings, but also not having any nieces or nephews. Now when I finally got them, there were too many to have special quality time with and their ages were closer to mine, in many cases. I learned all families are different. As I said before, my family was a simple triangle of three. I have no clue what shape his family is, but the connecting lines are not as straight as my family. I had to learn the dynamics of this big family. 

George's sister, Ellie was the first to have us over for dinner and we also went to the horse races up in Greenfield with them.

George was treated like a son by my parents and he didn't feel right that my parents would give to him just as equally as to me. They adopted him. That's how my parents were. I think if I were to describe the dynamics, it wouldn't be that our triangle became a square but George was part of my vertex. He joined our triangle.

"How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity."

Psalm 133:1

50 Days of Remembering Day #8

Cape Cod

My parents started renting a place at Cape Cod when I was in my teens. We would go once a year and later, twice a year. They gravitated to East Sandwich and they moved from teeny tiny cabins up to 5 bedroom houses right on the ocean. We loved our times there so much.

By the time we were married, they were at the bigger houses, so George and I had our own bedroom with sliding glass doors to an upper deck overlooking the ocean. It always took my breath away, year after year. When the kids came along, we introduced them to wonderful times there. They have fond memories. We all love the ocean.

Before we had kids, there were so many more gift shops on the Cape to visit and we loved looking for fun souvenirs. There was a seconds candle shop and other shops always greeted you with the smell of scented candles. Of course, there was saltwater taffy too, in so many different flavors.

My parents had their favorite fish places but George and I gravitated to "Cooke's Seafood". We always thought it was the best fish and chip we ever had--onion rings too. 

My parents, being the grandparents, treated the grandkids (and us) to many rounds of mini golf, always adorned with cool designs from story book type displays to the infamous Pirate's Cove. We also enjoyed Ryan's Amusements where we raced cars around the track. We also made great memories with bumper boats and cars. My Dad had quite a competitive spirit. 

I think the favorite part of the entertainment, though, was the hours (and money) spent at the arcade. We all (except George) loved trying to win games and earn tickets to be turned in for pretty poor prizes. A big draw for my Mom was the claw machines. She taught us all how you don't just put the tokens in and guess. No, you needed to study the placement of the stuffed animals and their relationship to those around them. Did they look available, but could the claw really grab enough of them? If they were too stuffed in, you had to forget it. Learning her techniques benefitted us quite a number of claw machine stuffed animals. It was such a thrill to hold your breath as the claw machine slowly carried it to the drop off point--hoping it wouldn't lose it before the drop, which did sometimes happen. We all shouted with joy when it made it. I think we all have a special "bond" with claw machines.

I know my kids fondly remember my Dad going out on the beach with a bag of bread and summoning every seagull within a mile. Before leaving the Cape we used to stop at this pond and traditionally feed the ducks. My parents loved birds. Of course, later we learned that bread wasn't the best thing for them. 

There was kite flying on the beach too and sadly, the tale has been retold of the time George lost a kite to the ocean. My Mom would tease with a pouty voice, "You lost my kite!" They never let him live it down.

For me, the treasures of the beach were my rewards. I have always loved rocks and the smoothness, the shapes, the colors, the patterns, all just attracted me. I would come back with heavy laden pockets or use the never-ending supply of plastic bags that my Mom had received from my Uncle when he worked at one of his jobs and they weren't needed any more. In cleaning out my parent's house, I found there were some bags still left!

But the biggest beach treasure was finding sea glass. The most common ones were green but occasionally we found brown, white and a rare blue. I spent hours looking down for the glimmering glass in the sunlight. Mom used to joke, "You can't leave until you find a piece of sea glass." If that were true, George would have been there a lot longer than me. Poor George had a hard time finding sea glass. It was only in recent years that he has become more proficient--or is it luck? I am sure he is not as persistent or diligent as I am to hunt for it and that makes a difference.

Another fond memory of Cape Cod times was just sitting around the table having a meal or playing games--cards or other games almost every night. Those were such special times. 

The other most satisfying reward of an ocean view is seeing the sunset or sunrise there. I am always in awe of such a site, the feel of the ocean breeze and the waves gently flowing back and forth. I always imagined they were taking away the bad in life and bringing in the good--if only it were that easy, but it does refresh my soul.

I am glad George and I share the love of the ocean and have had countless walks together on many beaches. 

"Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

Psalm 98:7

50 Days of Remembering 50 Years Day #7

The Honeymoon

Back in those days, the Poconos was known as the honeymoon capital of the world. There were several resorts to choose from that all catered to newlyweds. We chose, "Birchwood". After our wedding reception we drove part of the way there, spending the night at an inn in New York. The next day we arrived at our resort for a weeklong stay.

The grounds had everything included to make our stay enjoyable. There was a mini-golf course, bowling alley, indoor pool, dining room and lots of entertainment. The Red Baron Lounge had live music and on one night, they did their version of the popular TV show, "The Newlywed Game". They had different activities; one we remember was candle dipping. 

One night they had an art auction. We both fell in love with a painting and decided to bid on it. We were a little nervous about our first auction--would we get carried away and bid too much? I remember the anxiety as our painting came up for bid. I believe the bidding started at $50, which we bid. Amazingly no one else bid against us. What a relief! But then we wondered why no one else liked it. It doesn't really matter.  This painting has always been in our living rooms all these years. 

Picture taken at Birchwood 
and was used on a poster for them.

The package deal for the resort included a ride in small plane over the Delaware River Gap. I was petrified! George had been in the Air Force and was really looking forward to it. First it was supposed to Monday, but they said it was too windy. Then it was supposed to be Tuesday, but it was again too windy. Each day I was relieved, and George was disappointed. It went like that every day until Friday. They decided to try it that day. The first trip they took two couples. When they came back they said it was still a little windy and would be better with just one couple. 

We bravely boarded. As I held George's hand in the plane, it was sweating. He knew it was a rough ride. I, being clueless, just loved it. I was too ignorant to know any better. 

After that week of relaxing at one place, we decided to spend the second week at Gettysburg. George is a big Civil War fan. We explored that area for a few days. I do enjoy history, but I am not as much of a history buff as George. But it was interesting. 

Our last stop was to be Hershey, PA. Now I am more a chocoholic than a history lover. It was fun seeing the candy kiss streetlights, but...that was all we saw. George ended up sick and we had to skip going to Hershey. Sure, I spend almost a week at Gettysburg and I didn't get to go to chocolate-ville! Not fair! Many, many years later we went there with our kids. 

Pennsylvania has always been a special place for us. We love Lancaster, the markets, the Amish, the stores, the trains, the country. But likewise, we like Philadelphia and all the history--the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall--I got goose bumps being in the same room where our forefathers met. We have seen where Poe lived and Ben Franklin's gravesite. I remember being in awe of seeing the Ben Franklin bridge lit up in different colors at night from our motel room. Philadelphia cheesesteaks and it was there that I first went to a Dave & Buster's. This girl who grew up with games enjoyed that. But that was not our honeymoon visit but in later years.

I love Pennsylvania. I am sure I will say more about trips to Pennsylvania in other posts. The only thing it is missing, is our major love, the ocean.

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."

Romans 12:10

On our way to our honeymoon we stopped here to eat.

Our first motel as husband and wife:

Birchwood Poconos, Strasburg Inn

50 Days of Remembering 50 years Day #6

George Washington

The truth is when I told my parents I was bringing home George Washington for them to meet, they asked me what color he was. They weren't prejudice like the movie, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?", but in truth, there are more black George Washingtons than white. 

It's not easy living with such a famous name. The most common question is: "Did you get teased as a kid?" Well, duh. Sometimes he may answer, "Never" just to see their response. Or "No, why?" 

People love to come up with a joke and he said he rarely hears anything new. People always think they are the first to ask, "Did you chop down a cherry tree?" Or ask about his teeth or where he slept. 

When being introduced, I have often been asked if my name is Martha or told that my name should be Martha. I respond with, "No that's his sister." Which is true. 

Of course, they ask if he's related to the president and his immediate answer is, "No Trump and I are not related." He inserts the name of whoever is the current president.

He tells them he was born on George Washington's birthday. They are amazed. He says, "Yes, June 15th."

We do inform them that we have not yet found our tree linked to the first president but George's lineage does go back to England and it is possible, though not directly. Remember George Washington did not have any children.

We have tried in the past to cash in on the name, yet no one has given us a discount on President's day. We have suggested that motels or inns, etc. could advertise that "George Washington slept here" after we left and hoped to get a discount. No such luck. We know people are going to tell others that they met George Washington.

We tried a play on words for George's business cards for his cleaning business, Minuteman Cleaning. We proclaimed, "George Washington swept here." The printers thought it was a typo and put "slept" and we had to have them re-do them. 

After we were married George did join the reserves and they made a big thing of it at Westover Air Force Base on February 22 with TV crews. I will admit that being newly married, I didn't like him being away one weekend a month and he didn't stay in the reserves long. 

One fun event George attended a few times was the celebrity name blood drive. People who shared their name with someone famous donated blood together at one place. He met Peter Rabbit, John Smith, Liz Taylor and many other people who had famous names. 

When we had children, George joked we were going to name them Seattle or Tacoma. When we had a son, despite George's father and grandfather being named George (middle name different, so no number after the name), he refused to do that to his son. We were doing a Bible study at the time and I loved the name Elijah but George was afraid he would be teased because it was close to Eliza. So, we chose Benjamin Elijah. And still people teased Ben calling him Benjamin Franklin. You just can't win.

Despite having a famous name, George is amazed when he runs into some people who can't remember his name and call him Al, his brother's name. This has happened on several occasions. 

I will admit that I had a little fun with the name. I was born Deborah Jane Casey. I never was thrilled with my middle name and when I got married and changed my name, I chose Deborah Casey Washington. My Mom thought it was nice that I was keeping Casey. I wasn't sure how they would take me changing my given name. The fun part of my new name was when I have to sign a paper last name first, it comes out "Washington, D.C."

Also going from Casey to Washington took getting used to--a last name twice as long. I know my kids' signatures are blurred--you can't read the skid marks that they have made of the letters. For most of our lives, I would take care to write my name legibly, however the older I got and seeing what my kids get away with, I kind of skate through a couple of the letters in my last name. If we are signing something together, George will often remind me, "Use all of the letters".  

Although I think George would have preferred a different first name, I am sure that having such a name has helped him to develop his sense of humor and has shaped who he is.

"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."

Proverbs 22:1

50 Days of Remembering 50 Years #5

Entrepreneurs

I don't know what made us both have this inner desire to have side businesses. I don't know if this desire is common to most people. I just know we have often tried "side-hustles". We were probably in search of more money and success. Maybe we just needed something else to keep us busy in life. We were good at keeping busy. I will say my parents had this same spirit. Mom and Dad used to enter these puzzle contests and one day they thought it would be more lucrative to run their own. They did that for a while, sadly with not great success. Dad became a real estate salesman for a while, branching out on that side job. My parents also joined us (or maybe we joined them) in Yureka foods and Universe Foods, two different multi-level marketing companies. My Dad was always thinking of possible inventions or games, and I should mention his brother, my Uncle Joe, was a very creative person too. 

Let me go back in our lives' histories. Even before marriage I found opportunities to volunteer--I was a Junior Achievement Advisor, I tutored a woman in math (not my forte, but I was asked). I typed large print books for the visually impaired. Later I was a girl scout leader, helped out at my kids school and different activities (they never asked me to handle refreshments for the talent show again--I got so many people to donate that it had to be turned into an unplanned bake sale!). I arranged for a special mobile unit that had seats the kids could sit in and watch about fire safety at the school. I was in charge of collecting the soup labels. When I was in high school, I founded and published a town newspaper, "Hartland Highlights" for two years with help from a couple of visionary friends. I know over my lifetime that I am forgetting something. 

We were both often involved with our churches, from being Sunday school teachers, Sunday school superintendent, church custodians, Sunday school secretary, Awana leaders, in charge of the meal ministry and other ministries at church. When a friend of us was terminally ill in a nursing home, George went weekly to read to her. I know they read at least two books together. That was the volunteer side.

Our first entrepreneurial dream was when we were married and had the cabin on our property. I enjoyed planning children's parties--always games, activities, prizes and at that time, I made cute cakes and somehow was going to offer photographs too. I thought I could turn it into a business. Why take your kids to Chucky Cheese's when you could take them to the Party Cabin? I was on a roll until the price of insurance derailed our dreams. We would have had to charge too much.

George and a co-worker bought donuts and tried to sell them to the other commuters on their bus, a short-lived attempt to make a little extra money.

I have a little notebook remembering some of our business ventures. We did several multi-level marketing. Raleigh Products (similar to Watkins products) was our best one. We had a good time doing tasting parties. George would give the talk and I would prepare and serve samples of the products. We did quite well until the person above us did us wrong. We were disappointed to leave. 

We joined this company called "Gifttime" where we distributed catalogs and we got a percentage of the sales. We called ourselves "Hometown Products". 

I did a craft fair one year selling earrings that I made out of scrabble and puzzle pieces and also mini dog biscuit Christmas trees. It was fun but I was not really crafty enough to pursue that venue. 

Not necessarily entrepreneurial, but George being a history major has always had a love of politics. He ran for selectmen in Norfolk on his own party, the Federalist Party, and twice on the Barkhamsted Republican party. He didn't get elected but he tried. 

One of our most successful ventures was the Barkhamsted mug and t-shirts. George came up with the concept of the design and we paid an artist friend to actually do the artwork. We sold the items ourselves and also as fundraisers for the Women's club and other groups. It was a win-win situation. We tried a t-shirt design for Winsted designed by a college art student, but it didn't do very well. (We still have a lot of leftover Winsted t-shirts!). Unfortunately, Bowlmaster, where we had our items manufactured went out of business without notifying us and didn't return the templates, so that business was put to an end. There may be a way nowadays to still re-create these items, I'm not sure but I have to tell myself we are retired. 

We also were book distributors. When George discovered a library that he cleaned would put purged books in the dumpster, he asked them to hold them out and he would save them. We have done that for many years, saving perfectly good books from destruction. We sold some on Amazon, but most were relocated to my daughter's school, nursing homes, friends, little libraries, and as a last resort, Goodwill or other thrift stores. 

Of course, all these entrepreneurial genes led George to starting his own businesses. He did window washing, painting, his Minuteman Cleaning business and Minuteman Properties, his landlord business. I prided myself for coming up with the slogan on George's cleaning business cards, "George Washington swept here."

In my retirement, I pursued my dream of having a book published. It was not the book I had planned on publishing, but my grandson led me on a different path, and I ended up with my first book, "A Fish in a Tree". Maybe someday I will pursue other writing projects, but at least I did accomplish that one. 

I probably left out some ventures, but this was to show you we didn't always just dream about things (though we did daydream about a lot of other things--soup and salad bar restaurant comes to mind, but there were many more). We ventured out. We tried. We have no regrets for any of them.

"Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth." Proverbs 10:4