Out With The Old, In With The New

Being in an ongoing funk of nostalgia lately, I have been seeking information about things relating to my early years There are records containing objects and info regarding those times and it satisfies some need inside me to view them.

Jasper County Indiana Public Library today.

This is not the same library building I knew

when I lived up there.

But this one was my home away from home

from 1948 through 1978

Where have all the flowers gone?

Same building but entrance view, and in color.

When I was just finishing up second grade I became eight years old and eligible to apply for a library card, which I did with joyful anticipation. The application called for the signature of a parent or guardian, and my parents refused to sign, on the grounds that they did not want to be financially responsible for damaged or lost books.

I was devastated.

But when my Uncle 'Buddy' (my mom's brother who had recently returned from WWII Germany) saw me crying he signed the paper as my guardian saying that what people didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

I was so happy that I immediately borrowed the two book maximum allowed to those of us who were young and therefore irresponsible. The first book I ever read from the Jasper County Library was Little Black Sambo and I'm sure that I read it at least twenty times before returning it.

That was my first leap into the world of Fantasy and I remained a fan of the genre (along with Science Fiction) for many years. If well written, I can still enjoy a good fantastic tale.

By the way, Uncle Buddy also let me sit on his lap and steer his 1940 Ford across the Grace Street Bridge. And he'd take me for really fast rides on his monstrous-big Indian Chief motorcycle. When Mom objected, Uncle Buddy would just giggle, toss me up onto his wide shoulders, and walk us away from her and ignore the screeching.

Uncle Buddy was my hero.

Here is a sentence that I read yesterday on one of those tips and tricks websites:

"As a side note, it is said that using :hover on anything else than As can create serious performance issues in IE."

When I saw the term "As" -- at first I read it to mean the word "as" but with an upper case A. Then I wondered how, aside from context, one would determine if the writer meant "as" or the plural of A.

And I'm still wondering.

Weeds of religion and superstition flourish in the untilled soil of barren minds.

--Gene Chambers