Mary Louise Eklund

Category: Uncategorized

  • UGH Slept This Week Away

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    Yes it feels as if I have been sleeping in a log for the past two weeks. I am recovering from a nasty sinus infection that when into nasty pneumonia. So everything has been piling up undone outside my chosen log of a bed. (or did I impersonate a log while in bed) Any way. Monday is the eclipse and we traveling the 20 miles that will take us to the path of totality. Wow that’s cool should be a novel by me “Into The Path Of Totality” hmmm…. I’m thinking sometime next week I’ll get back on the blog horse. Sorry but I had to take care which apparently means I sleep… or hibernate which ever you prefer. Until I’ve fully recovered. Later. **crawls back into her den of recovery**

  • Monday Marginala – We’ve Got Bees

    When it is hot weather bees don't always go into the hive at night. They 'beard' the hive to keep cool. Think of it as sitting on the front porch on a hot evening. Here's our hive 2 one evening after 100+F day.
    When it is hot weather bees don’t always go into the hive at night. They ‘beard’ the hive to keep cool. Think of it as sitting on the front porch on a hot evening. Here’s our hive 2 one evening after 100+F day.

    It all started when one of Mike’s Wisconsin coworkers would talk about his 10,000 pets. He had a bee hive for his farm. Since then Mike has wanted a hive. Moving here to Tennessee we finally got enough space to have one. (more…)

  • Freaky Friday – The New Jersey Watcher

    Menacing By Michael Summers. Who granted use under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). His street photography is great do check out his website Canonsnapper. He has a wonderful eye for composition and his choice of black and white compliments it well.
    Menacing By Michael Summers. Who granted use under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). His street photography is great do check out his website Canonsnapper. He has a wonderful eye for composition and his choice of black and white compliments it well.

    Imagine you have finally saved enough and found your dream house for you family. That’s where Derek and Maria Broaddus were in June of 2014 when they purchased their dream home for $1.6 million in Westfield, New Jersey. Before they moved in a letter came explaining the house came with more… it came with a stalker who was at least the third generation stalker of this particular home. He thanked them for new blood and asked by name where each child would have a bedroom. They never moved in but that didn’t stop the letters or their problems.

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  • Monday Marginalia – Harley Motorcycles

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    When we moved to Wisconsin Harley was having their big 100th anniversary celebration. It was only fitting that we made sure we saw their museum close to our leaving. So on our July visit back to see the kids we went to the Harley Museum with Aaron. We bookended out time in Wisconsin with a Milwaukee grown world wide business – Harley Davidson.

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  • Throwback Thursday – Belated Happy Father’s Day

    Bright, Sidney pharmist at lunch counter Rexall East Gate Shopping Center Greeneville, TN
    Sidney Bright, my Dad.

    My blog was dormant during father’s day so I thought I’d share one of my favorite pictures of my dad.  Here he is at the lunch counter where he worked.  I’m pretty sure this is the Rexall (later Revco) Drug in the East Gate Shopping Center in Greeneville, Tennessee.  I’m guessing it’s about 1969 to 1972.  I remember enjoying meeting him there with Mom for lunch when he worked.  It was near the toy aisle and he’d get me a little something.  I loved silly putty and a newspaper to pick up the pictures. I was always impressed that everyone there knew him and many called him Doc.  These are fond memories and yes I came by loving my coffee honestly.  Love ya Dad and very belated Happy Father’s Day.

  • Freaky Friday – Lost Cosmonauts

    Whoa, I just won a Mercury space suit, the iconic silver wardrobe of our dreams and the first American astronauts. by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr. He gracious granted use under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0). Thanks Steve and BTW congratulations!
    Whoa, I just won a Mercury space suit, the iconic silver wardrobe of our dreams and the first American astronauts. by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr. He gracious granted use under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0). Thanks Steve and BTW congratulations!

    Today’s Freaky Friday isn’t about Cosmonauts that were edited out of Soviet photos for misbehavior, expelled from program, and medical reasons.  Which is interesting in and of itself but is hardly Freaky given the well know editing of the May Day parade reviews in the 1960s and 1970s were how the West got clues as to who was in favor and who was out. What is is about is the idea that there deaths in the Soviet space program that were covered up except for a pair of Italian brothers who happened to record their transmissions with improvised radio equipment they built to listen in on the Soviet space program. (more…)

  • Monday Marginalia – Mattie’s Spurned Beau

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    Remember the interesting postcard from a spurned admirer?  The one to Mattie Longmire?  Well I found a follow up one that seems by the writing to be from the same admirer.  This one is from June 1908 in Lu___, Tennessee.  I couldn’t read the month on the other so I can’t tell you which comes first.  Again it’s hard to read the writer’s message, partly due to age, partly due to penmanship, partly due to cramming so much in there.  This one gets very creepy in a crazy stalker kind of way.  I’m not sure if that’s my modern woman mind alarms.  I’m thinking this after the ship card because he seems to say it was the 28th.  I’ll do my best.  So shall we continue the story of Mattie and her suitor?  As always if you can improve on my attempt at transcribing please let me know.  The comments are open below.

    greyhound-pc-back

    My Dear Little Girl Mattie,
    How are you by this time I am sorry you have to _____ for wash. If I had my say I wouldn’t let you do anything. I thought I would send you a lot of doges this time to match all the cats. (in pencil) Ha Ha (end pencil) I believe you said you thought more of dogs than you did cats. So you know I _______ to ___________. ____________ You live best I have been fl____ today been(?) hot and mad at the old nite (?) Flys they have been something my sister and I all with. They were dead. I have killed sveral of them today. (in pencil) by by you (end pencil)
    Well the lost letter came today to OGR I this to be a fool for I not the rich(?) man as he go__ ____ and was ___ not the 28th

    So why write to a gal about killing flies then go back and write in by by you? Same for the ha ha after the comment about the dogs on the front. It seems Mattie wrote a letter back. It appears she claimed it was a misunderstanding about dates. However our writer seems to think it’s the money the other many has. Oh and he had his dates right…. and is a good fly killer.

  • Thursday Throwback – The last Spring Break

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    Spring 1987

    It was Spring 1986. Mike was about to graduate college the next quarter. Yes quarters then not semesters. I was just a year from graduation. We were on our last Spring Break of our life. It was a cool windy March in Florida and in the ocean was a bit cold on the windy day so we flew a kite. About the shorts? What can I say it was the 80s and neon was cool baby.

  • Monday Marginalia – A fine Violet Postcard

    Violet postcard frontViolet postcard back

    This is a lovely embossed design on the card. All the flowers are embossed to give them depth and texture. I just found it lovely and imagine it cost more than regular cards at the turn the of the century so I expect the Leo was trying to impress Freedy on her birthday. (more…)

  • Wednesday Words – Kentucky State Oath of Office

    Image from page 124 of
    Image from page 124 of “The Victrola book of the opera : stories of one hundred and twenty operas with seven-hundred illustrations and descriptions of twelve-hundred Victor opera records” (1917) shared by the Internet Archive of Book Images as a member of The Commons on Flickr. Shared with no known copyright restrictions

    I was listening to Unsolved Murders:True Crime Stories podcast about the assassinated Kentucky Governor William Goebel.  There they mentioned that the Kentucky State Oath of Office still contains references to dueling that came from Goebel’s duel with Sanford.  So I had to look up the current text.  Do beware if you have been involved in dueling in any manner you are not eligible to hold state office in Kentucky.  Read on to see the oath as it stands today. (oh BTW great podcast follow it fun & entertaining way to learn history) (more…)