There is much to be said about time. I am going to take a tick-tock at time pieces. Before we begin, I want you to hop back into your childhood and listen to a time piece in your mind. Before my kids knew how to tell time, they were calling 842-5115 which was time and temperature.
Personally, I like a clock chiming in the house. It must have started with the clock my grandparents had. To modernize it, it was painted over many, many times. I don't what happened to it, I do know I wound up with the key and the pendulum. Look at the picture with the blue tassel laying next to it.
But the clock they had later was one of those illustrated in the poem, Hickory, Dickery, Dock. And it struck on the hour, half past, and on the quarter hour. I only remember waking up on their blue 'horse hair' sofa covered with moth ball smelling quilts and wondering it it was 12:30, 1:00, 1:15, 1:30, or 1:45. But I couldn't get up because not only was I tucked in but there were chairs by the sofa so I wouldn't fall off. It had Roman numerals and I still think about the clock when I write the numbers 1-12.
The pocket watches belonged to Philip Lundberg. I remember looking at them when I was little and liked when he let me twist on the knob to wind it. I have never had them cleaned, they have always been in a jewelry box along with little trinkets turned treasures. Obviously I took the pictures without looking at the background and now see how many special items are in the drawer. There is a story in each, to be announced.
My parents had a cuckoo clock and when my grand parents lived with us during mother's 23 month bout with TB, it cuckooed faithfully because Grandpa always pulled the chains and kept it running. The weights looked like pine cones and were heavy. It may have been a good weapon against my brother during a Monopoly fight but we weren't allowed to touch the clock, except of course when they weren't there and we had cuckoomania.
When mother came home, the clock stopped. It hung on a wall somewhere but was never set. As a gift, it was given to us shortly after we were married. The only nail in our apartment at 503 North Duluth was in the bedroom. About three hours worth and the clock was stopped. I have no clue what happened to it.
The Seth Thomas in the first picture came from my parent's house after mother died in 2002. Although mother said it wouldn't run, it did after Tom figured out it was hanging a bubble off a level. As you can see, the level has become part of the decor. Occasionally it will stop and he readjusts it. Funny thing about clocks with weights, you always wonder what time they will stop when you go away for several days. It chimes on the full and half hour.
Now, the other clock, which I call the Cherub clock was a gift to mother from Daddy while in the san. It is a beautiful china clock with lots of little places for dust to gather. As you can see, it is very, very feminine and has matching candle holders. I don't ever remember having the clock as a centerpiece nor do I remember the candle holders being used. It makes a little growl but does not run. It sits in the north bedroom with numerous music boxes. (This is the room where my cousin Judy was afraid all the "crap" was going to fall on her during her sleep~~Judy visited last summer and stated if we ever moved to a nursing home we would have a lot of stuff to get rid of. Judy died last November and it was not from being buried in a room full of 'crap').
We do have an anniversary clock. It is in the craft room--notice, I didn't say "crap" room. It chimes on the quarter hour. One can play two different tunes. When it was first set, it was playing something we didn't know so we didn't know what time it was by listening to that clock. It is now set on "Westminster" Dong, dong, dong dong, dong, dong, dong, dong. (I need a video for this. Bud, help me out here. Nevertheless, each quarter hour has another line so you know where you are in time because of the tune.
Now, at our house in Fargo, when we have a power failure, we have a lot of PF! Power failure.
I don't know just how it happened but suddenly or not so suddenly, we had five clocks in a kitchen, which not counting the size of the room which houses cabinets, appliances, etc, the space in the middle is maybe eight feet. Now why would anyone want five clocks in a room that size? It is technology. Everything you buy now has a clock: stove, under cabinet radio, under cabinet coffee maker, microwave. Are you with me? The only clock that doesn't get PF is the battery operated one, which is the official clock of the kitchen, the king pin. So, I run around in an 8 x8 space trying to get all digital clocks operating at the same moment.
There was a man who made clocks before he came to the nursing home. It keeps great time and is battery operated. It is hidden in the plants in the dining room because one is not to have a clock where you eat, it is bad karma.
The living room has the Seth Thomas and of course any electronics have their own digital in red.
The sun room was only the computer clock, which is official for ME.
Let's go up stairs.
Bathroom. Battery operated wall clock. Shower radio with clock. This makes sense because you need to know what time it is in the shower AND out of the shower.
The CRAFT room. The anniversary clock
The north bedroom, kindly called Max room by Jaeme. One small brass Boliva alarm clock and the cherub clock.
Our bedroom. Now you have to stop and do this so you know what I am talking about. When I first came to Fargo, already in multi lensed glasses, I didn't think much about what time it was. But Tom wakes up at night, just like Daddy did, and needs to know what time it is. WHY? Well, I don't know except that is one of the quirks I have allowed myself to learn. Here is what the problem was: The numbers on the clock waaaaaaaaaaaaaay across the room were too small for me to read without my glasses. So Tom says, " Make a fist and look through the opening with the thumb next to your nose and you will be able to read it." DO THAT. Of course it works but then you are awake!!!
Now I am the kind of person who says good night and means it. I go to sleep. But the thing with the clock had me thinking, "Okay, it is 2 am, I am getting up at 4:30, if I can go back to sleep, I can get x much more rest." THEN I AM REALLY AWAKE.
So I prayed for the old digital to malfunction. And I prayed hard. And it worked. That is, the clock got this growl and Tom couldn't sleep to it. We bought a new clock with numbers as big as the kitchen floor and I can see it across the room without putting my thumb up to my nose!
The only other one in the room is part of the stereo system which I do not reset. If a squirrel flicks his tail two blocks away, the clock goes out.
No time to waste!
Alas! in Wonderland.
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