  Drama
This week: Museum in the Basement Edited by: Fyn-elf  
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Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. ~Mark Twain
Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~Samuel Ullman
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. ~Douglas MacArthur
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili Davis
In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long. ~Nikita Ivanovich Panin
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. ~Mark Twain, Following the Equator
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? ~Satchel Paige
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During a rare visit from the grandkids, they were down in the basement, 'exploring.' A couple of hours later, the youngest came up for a drink and I asked her what they were doing down there.
"We're in the museum, Grand."
"Museum?" I asked.
"Yes, the one with the old trunks and, you know, museum stuff."
No. I really didn't know. Downstairs we went and thus i was transported to the dark ages of 'oldness.'
"What's that? asked Nathan, pointing at a 45 record player.
"And these?" asks Audry holding a stack of 45s. "Old Frisbees?"
"Let's find a plug and I'll show you."
"It doesn't work on batteries? I couldn't find a USB cord," offered Max.
I showed them what all the kids in the fifties and sixties played their music on. Suffice to say they were unimpressed.
"The music is terrible!"
I didn't ask if they were thinking the music itself or the semi-scratchy old Davy Jones 45.
Sigh.
They saw (and knew not to touch unless an adult was there) Grampa's 1963 Ludwigs drum set. "See, grand? That's really old!"
"It is from 1963."
"That's OLD!" Audrey grabbed my hand and dragged me back onto the other side of the basement and pointed to a trunk up on a shelf, "What's in that, Grand?"
"That's my grandmother's grandfather's trunk," I said. "That would make it your great great great great grandfather's trunk," I said getting my husband's help to put it on the floor. "Right now, it is full of things from when your mom was little and when I was little. The stuff that was in it when I was your age is now in a real museum!
"When they came from Ireland in the early 1800's, they could only bring with them what they could fit inside the trunk."
"I brought more than that when we went camping last summer," contributed Nathan. "What did they do with the rest of their stuff?"
"They had to leave it all behind."
"What this?" says Nathan holding up an old stereo-optican.
"You put pictures in it like this," I showed her the tin slides with the double pictures of a Model T on a muddy road. "Now look through it."
"It makes the mud look squishy!"
"That's something like 3-D," chimed in Max, the oldest who, at twelve, knows everything.
"Ohhh look!" squealed Audrey, pulling a a lace veil out of another trunk and unwrapping it from the layers of yellowed tissue paper. Helping her fix it on her heard, I explained that this was her great-grandmother's wedding veil. The train on it was three times as long as she is tall. I showed her the black and white photo taken in 1933 of their wedding day.
"Why isn't it in color? asked Max.
"They didn't have color pictures back then. In fact, most people didn't own a camera. You went someplace special to get your picture taken."
"Oh. They didn't have much, did they? How could they live without cameras or TVs or . . .cell phones?" he added as his rang.
"They lived very well," I told Max. "It was just different. They didn't miss those things because they didn't have them to begin with."
Ken told them a bit about the family farm and how each generation passed it on to the next. He told them about how, as a child, he'd help his dad in the barn with the cows and of bringing in fresh milk from the barn at dinner time.
"They didn't get milk from the store?" asked Audrey.
"Nope, they got it straight from the cow. Farmers milk the cows and eventually it gets to the store where you buy it."
"Well, at least they never had to worry about running out," laughed Nathan. "We always run out of milk."
"Look at the old-fashioned rocking horse, Aud!" says Max.
"Wow! It doesn't even look like a horse, much!"
"Ken's great-grandfather carved that," I say, "Look, here's the date -1823."
"I told ya, Grand. You have a museum in the basement!"
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--Fantastic! short story!
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| |  | Veiled (E)
Ageing may hide beauty but it cannot hide love and feelings.
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I am including one of mine this week at it tells in more detail the story behind my grandmother's grandfather's trunk!
| | Trunk (E)
True title is My Grandmother's Grandfather's Trunk
#947871 by Fyn-elf |
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irish_hussey69 wrote: I loved your NL on all the things we can enjoy while the snow piles up and the power blinks off. You painted such vivid images with your words. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. *smile* This is what writing is about, now isn't it?
RipRoaringWriter says: Thank you, thank you, for this! I hope to be able to lure readers so deeply into my writing someday. I'm inspired! This is my very first short story - if you have the time or inclination, or both.....I would love to have the opinion of an expert. Thank you again......you're my favorite newsletter!
See above and it was excellent!!
lindamv adds: Fantastic newsletter Fyn! It is so true - all we have to do is look around us and there is so much grist for the writing mill. Characterization? Lots of great ones in your image-filled report. Loved it!!!
As usual, I try to show you all what details and 'moments' can add to writing rather than tell you all and giving examples!
Redtowrite  submits:This was written quite a while ago but has been recently edited. It was nominated for a Quill Award. Thanks for considering it.
Good luck in the Quills! It is exciting, isn't it?
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Drama: February 16, 2011 Issue [#4244]
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