Friday Favorites 5/25/2012

If you are a subscriber and this post acted a little strange, I accidentally published it last night before it was finished, so I had to unpublish it.  Sorry.

Muri and I moved to California in 1971.   I was 27 years old.  We told our parents it would only be for a few years … I don’t know if we believed it ourselves but here we are41 years later.   We both liked it here, obviously.  One thing that it took a while to get used to was the pace of change in California.  It seemed as if everything was new and as soon as an area got some mileage on it, redevelopment would begin.  We hadn’t yet discovered picturesque older towns like Laguna Beach and Pasadena.  When we’d travel home to visit family, I loved driving into my home town of East Haven, Connecticut on Main Street where I could count on everything … the library, City Hall, the Old Stone Church, even Holcomb’s Drugstore … being right where I left it.  Then after several years without a visit, I drove into town to find it, too had been redeveloped.  It never seem quite so much my hometown again.

Things that don’t change are rare but somehow satisfying.  The old olive tree in the front yard of our first house in Yorba Linda, CA said home … but when I drive through our neighborhood, it’s gone, along with the brick retaining wall I built around the base.  When we first moved into that house, a small newsprint magazine showed up once a week in the driveway.   It was filled with advertisements for local business and classified ads of every sort.   It was called the Pennysaver.  It would mysteriously make its way from the driveway to our kitchen table where it became light reading for breakfast time.  I never advertised a single thing in the Pennysaver or bought anything from its classified ads, yet for thirty-one years, it showed up weekly.   At some point it began to arrive by mail.  And, believe it or not, in an age of e-Bay and Craig’s List, this newsprint relic still shows up like an old friend at our house in Anaheim Hills.  Sometimes, I look for stories in the ads, like this one:

Why didn’t Mom receive her bear?  Tragedy?  Family argument?  Or did she receive it and learn how much they’re worth, opting for the money?   Under Neighborhood News, there are churches of every description vying for my attendance but tucked between Spirit and Truth Worship and Calvary Baptist Church is Fun, Flirty Local Women.  Call 714-xxx-xxx, Try FREE.   Talk about trolling for sinners among the pious.  Maybe people looking for God in the Pennysaver aren’t all that pious.  There are pages of garage sales, including extravaganzas like the one at the right.   There are personal messages, like this one: ANTHONY, Good luck on your job interview.  I know you are going to great.  Love, Mommy.  Are we talking child labor or is Mommy having trouble letting go?  Hopefully, Antony doesn’t grate.  Do people actually find these messages or do you have to tell them, I left you a message in the Pennysaver?  Does anyone ever respond, Why not a card?

Then there are the items for sale, usually in the Antiques and Collectables section.  Here are a few of my favorites from this week:

Now, excuse me, I have to call about those crystal shots.

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Tags: favorites, feeling older, Friday Favorites, home, Life, Monday smiles, Pennysaver, postaday2011

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