TJ Ray

 

By TJ Ray

Columnist

Sd Kfz 140 Ausf M Flakpanzer 38(t) Gepard German Tank Model Kit, 1/35 Scale. $38.98

Memory Days!  Those wonderful times when we recall happy moments from long ago.  One might be the old days when that tank kit would have cost a kid $8.15.  Perhaps cost is one of the reasons kids don’t build models anymore.   Also, it might be noted they spend so little time at home.

Thinking of model making triggers thoughts of other pastimes that are passed times.  The winds of time have blown away many endeavors that were once popular.  In no particular order, there are sewing, collecting all sorts of things, non-school related reading, and walks in the woods.  

I well recall my fascination with foreign stamps, carefully placing them in the many stamp albums I started in spurts.  

I can vividly see Mom and Grandma sitting around a big frame Dad had built, slowly piecing together a new quilt.  Even the patches they added recalled the old shirts that would have a new life.

Given that no young ones live on my hill, I may be wrong in thinking they do not do much casual reading. My bet is their primary amusement stems from cell phones or digital games.  

Are there times when they turn on music and have a quiet moment listening to the notes?

My computer steadily airs songs I find on the internet, tunes I know all the words to and I enjoy remembering, thinking of those days we rode around after school just listening.

One of the boons of my world is that I can burn compact discs, making it child’s play to create a CD with a favorite song on it half a dozen times.

And there was family, sometimes all together in the living room, listening to Ed Sullivan or Red Skelton.  Those were very sweet moments, and I miss them.  Perhaps — just maybe — possibly they made a happier world than errands, committee meetings, and reading obituaries of friends who’ve slipped away.

Part of the debris left after one gives up a hobby are the books and stuff that once had the magic answers to how to do it right.  Or the collected stuff which has become junk.  For instance, the hundred or so mugs from Scout camps all over the map.  Or the dozen or so books of needlepoint patterns.  

Available to the taker—just ask!