Sez who???, tponetom

[tponetom]

SEZ WHO???, Tponetom

Some time ago, I posted a story and I quoted the title of the book, “You Can’t Go Home Again,“ by Thomas Wolfe.
I never quite agreed with that philosophy.
A short time later, A friend, living in Detroit, told me my childhood home on McClellan had been razed. The sadness still makes me stifle a tear of sorts.
Then, a few days later, I think it was Ray 1936, who tracked down a Google Map, that showed the vacant lot, that had erupted, many years ago, into a million memories of my life.
Tonight, I was meandering amongst my files and stumbled upon the following unfinished E-mails and posts that may never be completed:

To: George F. Will
From: Thomas J. O’Neil
LMP. [[Ret.)

Re; “Looking Back on 70 simply amazing years.” [[AZ. Daily Star. May 8. 2011)

Dear ‘Young’ George,

By crackey, you young whippersnapper, you do have a way with words. Think, Walter Brennan with no teeth or Walter Houston doing his gold, not pyrite, hip hop dance.
Your column was excellent. It included a bonus, to me, personally.
To wit: From the second paragraph. “If so, after turning 70, one has, ever after, the pleasure of playing, as it were, with house money.”
SIX COMMAS. Eureka!

A bit of history, 65 years ago, Detroit MI., St Joe’s High School, Christian Brother Brendan, English teacher, on the subject of proper Grammar vs. Readability:

“If you are writing, and you are not sure about the proper punctuations, pretend that YOU, are speaking to YOUR AUDIENCE, and you want THEM, to understand, every WORD and phrase you use. Use a series of commas to infer a pregnant pause.

The commentator on PBS, Neil deGrasse Tyson, is an orator, extraordinaire!
He uses commas with his voice, and I hang on every syllable.

Delving deeper, I resurrected the following, in my reply, to Detroit Styling, on a previous post. To wit:

Detroit-stylin,
Re: Your post # 5890, August 12, 2008
On the subjects of writing and story telling. In a word, “No.” I am not even an amateur writer.
I wonder how many Forum Members have young children. I am just curious. It has been so long ago and far away. Debby came around in July, 1952, and Mike popped out in November. 1953. A couple of years later, # 3 was a three month miscarry,,,,and then there were none. Peggy had to have her innards overhauled, including one ovary. No more children.

Debby, [[56,) visited us last Sunday. I asked her if she could remember her favorite 'character' in all the stories I told her and her brother at bedtime.
In a blink, she said "Cassie Cassopolis."

The following is doggerel, but who cares. The children did not mind.

“ Cassie Cassopolis lived in Metropolis and she was as strong as the Man of Steel
And then one day, when she was on her way, she stepped on a banana peel.

Her feet went up, and her bottom went down and she let out an awful squeal,
So be careful my child, do not get too wild, or you may suffer the same ordeal.”

Cassie, and Polly and Molly, [[the Dolly twins), Anna Banana, and Susy Suki, among other heroines, were performing all kinds of altruistic tasks for friends and strangers alike. They saved the lives of little puppy dogs or kittens and they helped in capturing bank bandits. Then they made the bandits promise to never rob a bank again. Because their Mommy and Daddy had their money in the bank.

For our son, there was Mike the Tyke, He was the one that put his finger in the Dike. That is why we have five different fingers on either hand. We never know how big or small the hole in the Dike might be, or if there is more than one hole to plug. There were other manly heroes, like, Richard the Lion Hearted, George the Dragon Killer, Skinny Vinnie, and others.

The Hero/Heroine was alternated each night. One night it would be a girl and the next night it would be a boy. Oddly enough, there was always a physical connection between the real child I was telling the story to, and the imaginary one. The boy Heroes always had blonde hair, like Mike and the girl Heroines had rich, dark brown hair like Debby. Very strange.

In the beginning, I had to explain the words and the plots and the emotions and teach them the moral of the story. I could also gloss over the improbable or impossible situations that I constructed. It did not take them too long to begin to correct me, when I got too rapturous with my imagination.

In telling a story, The eyes of a child offer rewards far beyond any material riches that may exist.

Tell a funny story and their eyes will glisten in merriment.
Tell a sad story, [[but not too sad) and the eyes will become vapid.
Tell a scary story and the eyes will bulge in anticipation.
Tell a story about a puppy or a kitten and the eyes become gentle and beckoning.
Tell a story about a youthful hero, [[like themselves) and the alter ego is seen in their eyes.
Tell an exciting story and their eyes will dance.

As an audience, children are the greatest. They have the purest form of,,,, attention.
Presently, Debby has two cats in her home and Mike has had dogs for the last 30 years.
Go figure!

All of this rhetoric is building to the very first sentence of this post.

I need a little help though. Can anyone access the following URL? And let me know if they did.
http://statewiderealestate.net/listi...207195&list=18

[gazhekwe]

I love the story telling daddy image!

And I did access a beautiful listing for 10 acres on Green Lake with a newish unfinished chalet. Is this the place of legends? Maple syrup making, walking in the woods in winter, wonderful tales of life in woods? Maybe you can go home again.

[tponetom]

Gee Gaz,

Am I that obvious? You nailed it perfectly. Yes, Peggy and I built everything you see there except the trees.

And yes, again, in a way, Tom Wolfe, may have to renege, or at least compromise on his famous quotation.

In the summer of 1972, we cut down 120 trees and bulldozed the land for a driveway, a turnaround, and sites for the garage and house. We poured cement for a garage floor and had footings poured for a future house. At that time, the house was tongue in cheek.
In 1973 we built the 24 x 32 garage with the qualification that we might just use it as a cabin.
By November of that year, I quit my job, sold our house, packed our furnishings in a U-Haul truck and said, “Good-by forever, old fellows and gals.” I had a job waiting for me in Marquette. We rented a house in Ishpeming and spent every week-end at the old log cabin at the lake.
In the spring of 1974, I started to lay blocks for the foundation of the house. It was 70 miles to Marquette, back and forth, every working day
Hectic days? I guess. I was jumping over tall buildings in a single bound and Peggy was always there to catch me every time. We got the house roughed in and closed in by November. It took three more years to finish everything.

There I go again, drooling at the memories.

Back to the other Tom, Wolfe, that is. Two weeks ago I was browsing the Real Estate Listings in the U. P. I spotted the listing almost immediately. I called our son, In Appleton, Wisconsin. I told him that if he and his wife and children would use the place as a recreational retreat, I would buy it back. It would be implausible, no, impossible for me to do any work, He said, “Go for it.”

[gazhekwe]

Shriek! You are buying the place! That is beyond exciting! I hope you will get to visit it very soon. I don't think you are that transparent, but we Yoopers got a thing going.

We went through a corner of Arizona today on the way to Las Vegas. I thought about you and Peggy somewhere in the desert there.

[Ray1936]

Gaz, where are you staying in Las Vegas? Give me a call: 616-1157, mayhaps we can lunch.

Tp, another enjoyable post. "You can't go home again" is a phrase that has haunted me for decades. Basically, it is true. Nothing is ever the same.

But I did go home again last year.

In 1938 I was living in Grand Rapids. Dad had a camera shop there, selling Agfa film, cameras, and the like. Alas, when WW II started, all German imports were soon cut off, and he went belly up. We returned to my birthplace of Detroit. Anyway, I had an old photo from 1938 of me and my sainted Grandmother in front of our GR home. Last year I revisited, and took the second photo.

Grand Rapids has fared, oh, so much better than Detroit.

[gazhekwe]

Hi, Ray, we are at LaQuinta on Paradise. I would love to get together, but DH will have the car as he is working over at Wynn LV this week. There is a wonderful brew pub right across the street though, Gordon Biersch. Love that baby pic, and the house looks great way into the future here.

[Ray1936]

Well, Mrs. Ray1936 has a busy Thursday that ties me up also, but if you'll still be here Friday p.m., perhaps the four of us could hook up at Gordon Biersch. Let me know.

[gazhekwe]

That sounds fab. I'll call you tomorrow to set it up. Jim loved the beer there, and they have these great little 2 oz desserts that I liked. My son wants me to go to Gold and Silver Pawn Shop for some reason, so I have to find that, but otherwise, everything looks pretty easy to get to around here. I loved the Donald's Gold Brick.

Back on track, sort of, that cabin in the woods is more my idea of a good time, but this place is definitely interesting. We drove through five inches of snow up on San Rafael to get here.