Fourth of July, 2024

Jacarandas Done; Willie Wonka Kids; Dirty Money; Peter Imber; Vapor Trails; Cursive; Milestones; Charlie Kovacs; Souza

Jacaranda Finale

Some letters ago, I wrote that the annual jacaranda bloom was late this year, I imagined due to a cool and wet winter. Now that bloom is over, but the sticky dead residue remains for the unlucky auto owners who parked under the shedding jacaranda trees, as did this one:

Next stop: the car wash. May require multiple passes and/or a big tip.

Pop Quiz Answer

From my last letter: “Can you name (both first and last names, please) the five children who got Golden Tickets to Willie Wonka’s factory?”

I knew the names, but decided to check the spelling on a Google search. Of course I got more than I bargained for. Following is one set of answers. This commentator thinks these five kids are associated with five of the “seven deadly sins”.

• Agustus Gloop = Gluttony - Gloop is a any thick liquid or sticky substance... sounds like fat? He's constantly eating or complaining of hunger.

• Violet Beauregarde = Pride - Beauregard means respected, highly regarded - Violet is constantly boasting/bragging about herself and what she's accomplished and she's hungry for more.

• Veruca Salt = Greed - Salt was originally a form of money: “Worth his salt”. Veruca wants everything, when she wants it... and her family gives it to her because they can afford it. She's also selfish and rude, thinking only of herself.

• Mike Teavee = Sloth - Color TV had just become a big thing in the early 1960s, when the book first came out. I'm guessing this started a trend of kids sitting around a TV rather than going out to play. Mike Teavee is obsessed with watching TV.

• Charlie Bucket = Lust

For me, Veruca was the worst of the bunch. Just to complete the list, the remaining two deadly sins are Wrath (Willie Wonka?) and Envy.

Readers Respond: “(Un)Lucky Money”

In my last letter I described how Ms. Chun paid her garden membership fee with $2.00 bills, which she referred to as “lucky money”. Fraternity brother Steve, who had a long career in the FBI, tells about how some $2.00 bills were intended to be “unlucky money” for the holder:

“In the early 1960's the Los Angeles area experienced a large number of bank robberies. Most banks had what they called a "bait package", a small number of bills on which the serial number had been recorded. Tellers were encouraged to give up the bait package, almost all of which contained a few two dollar bills. The theory was that because the bills were unique, the bank robber might retain one or two of them and if he was apprehended some time after the robbery and had one of the bait two dollar bills in his wallet, we had pretty good evidence of his guilt. (I am not suggesting that the FBI review photos of unsolved bank robberies from the sixties to see if Ms. Chun shows up.)”

Another “Old Guy” on SubStack

Not as old as I am, but below is your opportunity to hear from another older gentleman who is now writing on SubStack. Peter Imber now resides in Maine. Besides just being a mensch and golf addict, after a career in TV news, Peter has a wealth of knowledge of past and current events that he shares including his “handmade cartoons”. I recommend that you give him a try by entering your email and clicking on “Subscribe” below.

I am hopeful that Peter will soon again remind us all of the backstory of “The Pawned Accordion.” And welcome to several of Peter’s subscribers who have also subscribed to my “meanderings”.

Readers Respond: Vapor Trails

My last letter had my photo of a vapor trail, seen in the night sky just after sunset. I assumed it was a high-flying commercial jet. Wrong!! Neighbor Susan also photographed it, and confirmed what it was:

“The vapor trail is from SpaceX launches. I got one last night and saw the rocket too so I realized it wasn’t a plane. Then I looked on google to see if there was a launch. Sure enough there was one last night.”

Do I have to thank Elon Musk for these displays?

Grandparents Alert

Nadine sends occasional hand-written notes to our younger grandchildren. Just recently we learned that at least one of them can not read cursive; their father reads the notes to them.

When I was in grade school, we called it “long-hand” or “handwriting”. Later I heard the more learned word for it: “cursive”. Below you will encounter the word “joined italics” which apparently means the same thing.

From the California Education Code…..“The adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, shall include instruction, beginning in grade 1 and continuing through grade 6, in the following areas of study: (1) English…… including instruction in cursive or joined italics…..”

Our friend Analee taught in LAUSD for 30+ years, but retired about 20 years ago. During her time teaching there was a definite “slot” for teaching cursive, using the Palmer Method. But by the time she retired, the emphasis on cursive was already declining.

My handwriting was not too bad when I was younger, but it is unreadable now. Have to print, and don’t do that very often, and only for my own consumption or for Nadine.

One of our older granddaughters teaches in a grade school in North Carolina, and kids there are still getting taught cursive in grades 3 thru 5; but will it stick for them? We are also hearing from other granddaughters that some young people can no longer read an “analog” clock face; they can only read digital. And some do not understand how to interpret Roman numerals. What will happen to the Super Bowl designations; the most recent one was Super Bowl LVIII? What will happen to the “3 R’s”: reading, writing and ‘rithmetic?

Milestone Birthdays and Anniversaries

( Every five years….plus 18 and 21 for birthdays…and double-digits like 33 or 77 )

Deb G

A Manager from Long Ago

I have not seen my former manager at Rockwell, Charlie Kovacs, since 1986 when I left Rockwell. Charlie was an interesting guy; the last person I ever saw consume multiple martinis IRL at a “business lunch”. He was also a devout and practicing Catholic. One time I was seated next to Charlie for several hours on a flight from LA to Omaha; we were on the way to a Collins Radio facility in Cedar Rapids. After about 45 minutes and one drink in, he began the following conversation:

Charlie: You believe in life, don’t you, Coleman?

Me (feeling somewhat uneasy): Of course.

Charlie: You don’t believe in death, do you?

Me (feeling more uneasy): Of course not.

What followed for about 15 minutes was a somewhat veiled attempt by Charlie to sell me on the anti-abortion position. In those days, I had rarely given abortion any thought. Looking back later, I think that Charlie finally sensed my unease, and decided to let me off the hook, and ended that topic. Today, such conduct might qualify as “employee harassment”? But not then.

I was never personally close to Charlie. At work, he was all business. I think he was about five to ten years older than I, but he seemed closer to my father’s generation in terms of his values, which definitely included loyalty to family, to church, to his employer, and to America. My dad had all of those, except to any church; the product of a Catholic father and a Presbyterian mother, he was devoutly anti-religion.

Why am I writing about Charlie now, 40 years later? Because I just recalled his best one-liner:

“I used to kiss her on the lips, but it’s all over now.”

Have a Great Fourth. Here’s Some Music for the Holiday:

Souza: Stars and Stripes Forever (4 minutes)