153 Value of 1835 book?

What is the value of an 1835 book?

I have said in previous blogs that I might be a trifle obsessive compulsive.

Maybe that is why I volunteer to help with the books at the Rotary Rummage Sale--the ultimate mess to put in order!

I am no longer a Rotarian, but it is for a good cause. This year's beneficiary is Blue Ridge Hospice.

Each year a bunch of books comes in on a different topic. Last year there was a good-sized collection of mushroom books. This year there are about 35 books on woodworking.

Then there are people who must believe any book is valuable, regardless of condition or maybe they just dump everything into a box. We receive wet, mildewed books, dog-chewed books, and other disgusting printed works. They go right to recycling! 

I picked up one old book, thinking it might have some value. I opened it to check the title page and nearly choked--it reeked of cigarette smoke! More recycling. I won't sell anything that I don't want to touch!

There is much sorting to be done so buyers can easily find what they want.

I am not a book collector or dealer who paws through donations looking for gems among the standard novels and nonfiction, but some titles do seem a little unusual.

One thing that jumps out is sets such as the Old West and Durant's Story of Civilization. Sometimes they have value especially if the set is complete. However, on sites such as Amazon.com and Abebooks.com, you will also see single volumes selling. The single book price is a good place to start on valuing the collection. 

I try to find books that described as being in similar condition as I search online. Then I price so a dealer can double or triple their profit.

Will anyone buy 43 Nancy Drew books?

I must have searched about 20 of the woodworking titles to find a few that could sell for more than $1. But then I searched a large paperback that had an attractive cover. It sells online for $56 in a similar condition. I priced it for $20.

Here are a few more teasers of what is coming in the rummage sale books:

Classics, some with special pricing.

Many great children's books

Neil Diamond is Forever sells for $38 on Amazon, $10.

There are also many audio-visual items for adults and children--DVDs. CDs. books on tape, and VCRs. Someone bought all the VCRs last year.

I wonder what will sell this year.

Oh, yes. The 1835 title. It sells for $1.98 online! Not everything old is valuable.

Book-savvy Trish         

152 Whence SABF?

Whence Cometh the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival®?

For the past 91 years, each spring, the valley – indeed, much of the Del Mar VA area – look to Winchester and the Apple Blossom Festival. The 10-day festival period celebrates the beauty and agrarian past of the region – particularly and obviously the apple industry. The Festival is also a focal point of civic pride.

It has certainly not hurt that the “bloom” - as it known locally - is one of the top 10 festivals in the county. It has been written up in Fodor’s travel guides, National Geographic, Southern Living, among many others, and is a travel destination for MARS (a mid-Atlantic travel agency) and other bus tour groups.

The festival also unites citizens in volunteerism. From August to July some 2000 folks participate in shaping the events for the yearly event that covers the last week of April with the parades always the first weekend in May.

Many years of the bloom have had themes. For this year it was “Welcome Home.” As I think back over some 60 years of watching or participating in this monumental creation, I wonder where the years have gone. This is where and how I met many of my friends. Apple Blossom volunteers are a family!

Readers, I think you will find the beginning history fascinating. How did a city and surrounding county with a 1920 population of few than 20,000 bring this festival to fruition? 

1924 was a banner year in Winchester! The first festival. The George Washington Hotel opened. The Empire Theatre (later the Capital) at 111 N Cameron Street was showing both stage shows and moving pictures. On what is the walking mall in today’s historic district there was a wide street with 2-way traffic and parking on both sides. A knitting mill opened on North Kent. Grace Lutheran Church built its Sunday school addition. A Brethren (now United

Methodist) Church was built on North Braddock Street, the Winchester Country Club (golf club) had just opened, and John Handley High School held its first graduation (the building began in 1922). 

Yes, a banner year for our area and for most of the country. 1923-24 was boom time--growth in industry and agriculture; new technologies in these industries along with new consumer demands and spending. People could buy on credit! And a Model T cost only $300. “Newly developed innovations like radios, phonographs, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and refrigerators emerged on the market during this period. These new items were expensive, but consumer-purchasing innovations such as store credit and installment plans made them available to a larger segment of the population. (AP History Unit from the Khan Academy, Google search May 14, 2018)

Picture the Shenandoah Valley in 1924--picture nearly 1200 citizens from up and down the valley gathered in Harrisonburg, VA in January. The goal was to advertise the beauty and economic resources on what is now the I-81 corridor. Created that day was Shenandoah Valley Incorporated. The first president of this new venture said each area in the Valley needed to do more to attract tourism and commerce. He asked the Winchester delegation if it would be possible for Winchester to stage a festival to celebrate the apple industry as Winchester’s contribution. Mayor W.W. Glass, along with the rest of the delegation, reportedly replied with no hesitation: “We are 100 percent behind the idea of the festival.”

This Winchester delegation held meetings on April 14 and on April 22, of business, civic and professional citizens. Fascinating, old-fashioned news articles cite admonitions to orchardists to “bring your blossoms to town” and the women of the various churches were given instructions of how they would be in charge of souvenirs. There was a call for cars and drivers as trains from Baltimore and Harrisonburg were bringing visitors to take orchard tours as well as see the parade. It was not can we, but we will! Apparently there much enthusiasm--the newspaper does not say otherwise.

W.A. Ryan (known locally as Dad Ryan of the Winchester Gas Co) was appointed Director General. The Episcopal minister closed the meeting with a benediction (which is still a part of the queen’s coronation these 91 years later): “the bounties of nature are the gifts of God.” (Winchester Independent newspapers, various 1924 articles, January through May, which can be found in the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives of the Handley Regional Library.) 

Incredibly in only 11 days after that second April meeting, school officials were ready to hold a program at the fairgrounds of music and dance; and Berryville students erected and danced around a maypole. A parade formed on Cameron St (where it still forms) marched to Piccadilly, down Loudoun, over Cork to Washington Street and out Fairmont Avenue, circling an oval at the Fair Grounds where a grandstand had been erected.

30,000 people had shown up to see bands, firefighting units, floats, decorated vehicles, horses, and apple industry equipment. The parade lasted 45 minutes.

The first queen was crowned with a coronet of apple blossoms in a very traditional British coronation ceremony. Young ballerinas performed an interpretive dance for her.

From this simple dance was born the Pageant--which the older folks of Winchester still remember so fondly. It was a spectacle. Winchester School Superintendent Garland Quarles wrote and directed these pageants with the help of his faculty. Every child participated!! Yes, really!

Most costumes were made from crepe paper and every teacher (and every mother) was expected to help. There exists a letter in the Festival archives from the school to teachers alerting them to when the crepe paper manufacturers would be in town to receive their orders. 

Dances were learned in the gym as the winter/spring physical education activity and then moved out on the steps and esplanade of Handley High School as the festival approached. Each year from 1931 to 1981, Quarles had a theme: history, nursery rhymes, dances in pink and green, an apple blossom wedding, the gold ball dance are remembered examples. 

I did not even try to calculate how many children were in the Pageant or in the Parades or both over 50 years of Quarles tenure. Thousands, certainly! [And I wonder with SOL tests, and state requirements as they exist now, could we even consider demanding this participation today?] 

And, oh, and the first festival ended with a fireworks display! This is still a happy tradition after the Firefighters' Parade.

The request of January 1924 was fulfilled the first weekend in May 1924. Press coverage was from D.C., Baltimore, and other east coast cities. I find this early local history both fascinating and poignant--and a little scary that decisions were made without much citizen input. But it worked. It was another time, but the same place. Whether or not you are from somewhere near Winchester, we all have our bits and pieces of what made us, our lore, and our traditions.
I’m looking forward to year 100! 

Savvy Glenne            

P.S. apple blossoms have 5 petals (dogwood 4); the blossoms are pink as buds and turn white as they open. (www.hunker.com 2/4/2010)

151 #metoo

                                 

Say it ain’t so—is the expression that comes to mind as each day as we are bombarded with another sexual offender, abuser, or downright pervert.

Daily we hear more and more cases of blatant, subtle, overt, or sneaky cases of women or sometimes children being subjected to unwanted attention, touches, groping, and more.

The latest offender as I write this blog is another big name in TV. I am in shock and total disgust as I hear and read more about the allegations. What must have been going through the minds of these young women who endured these type of advances for various reasons and were ignored or rebuked when they reported it.


By the time this blog is published, it is hard to tell how many more will be added to the hall of shame. Powerful people have a definite advantage when they control desirable employment that can be used to defile and intimidate women as well as men. But this should never be the case!

from Wikipedia

I don’t think any of us can deny what we have endured throughout our lives is similar to what we are hearing. These examples actually trigger in us the disgust that we felt when it happened and the reaction we stifled or handled in our own unique ways.

Many examples in my own life have surfaced as I hear more and more situations revealed. I guess I had hidden them way back in my memory, but they have been unleashed.

A teacher at our high school could surround you in a way you couldn’t escape when you asked a question during a lab. The answer to this predicament--don’t ever ask him a question. He was also handicapped which was shocking that he could maneuver like that.

Another example was when I served as a guide for high school college night, an older man, representing a Methodist school, wanted to hug tightly and embrace his young, high school helpers. The answer to this was to keep a safe distance and move away before he could land his arms for a disgusting embrace.

I never mentioned these events to anyone. There seemed to be an unspoken code that other girls knew too, but we handled it the best we could.

Other instances took place as I entered into adulthood and reactions were different. The man who exposed himself and continued to masturbate on the subway several seats away stopped when the train arrived out of the tunnel amidst bright sunlight. He exited as if nothing had happened in the least bit unusual. My friend and I shielded our young daughters from the grotesque image and were shocked that nothing stopped this horrid display. There was no one to report it to at the subway station so that made it even more disgusting.

The man who sat by my young daughter and friend in a movie theater found out how fast mothers could swoop down and move them away from his leering before anything happened. This was reported, but it is amazing how fast these predators disappear.

As I re-entered the workforce after taking a break when my children were born, I handled a situation of unwanted advances very differently than I had in high school. When a co-worker touched my buttocks as I stood in front of him in a line, I turned around, took my fist and punched this assailant in the ribs without any hesitation.

I was angry not only for the violation of my body but also because he ran before I could finish my thrashing. This took place in front of many others so that made it really shocking, but at least I wasn’t alone with this degenerate in a compromising situation. One friend who saw it was in total shock and couldn’t believe what she had witnessed.

Believe me, I didn’t stay quiet this time. As we age, I guess we realize we don’t have to put up with the unwanted touches, advances, or other ways of being degraded. We certainly did nothing to warrant this type of attention.

Hopefully, these recent revelations on the national scene will change the culture and make those guilty behave and those that were defiled speak up loud and clear.

Shout it out and don’t let anyone take your dreams and aspirations away or keep you from continuing what you set out to do. Jail sentences and loss of jobs will hopefully be a deterrent for these despicable creatures.

(This is a more serious blog than we usually write, but I felt it is a women’s issue that cannot be ignored.)

Frankly Frances                                      

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

150 Jingles/earworms

More Earworms--Old-Time Jingles

Happy 150th blog! 

In our 19th blog, I discussed earworms, those pesky tunes that stick in your head. Recently I heard a tune or a phrase that reminded me of ad jingles from long ago. Once I dredged up one, more followed. 

I bet everyone remembers different ones! Spoiler Alert: for some of these you have to be pretty old! How many of these can you sing?

The one that started me off was the Hamm's Beer commercial. Do you remember, "Brewed in the land of sky blue water. Refreshing Hamm's Beer."

I have found all the jingles online. Here is Hamm's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o83xxWCel8g

"Try Ajax, the foaming cleanser. Clean pots and pans just like a whiz."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyG3kIgxtk

Once I went down memory lane, it was the Rice Krispies three-part harmony, "Snap, Crackle, Pop, Rice Krispies," that was the most insidious earworm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6TIsxTdrCU

I have quizzed a few people about what jingle they remember best, and Dinah Shore was the favorite of my small survey: "See the USA in your Chevrolet!"

I vividly remember that big smacking kiss she threw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYX1ewPJrFU

I mentioned watching sports with my dad in one of my blogs. That is probably where Hamm's came from and I know Brylcream was from fight nights. I could not imagine putting my hands in greasy hair. "Brylcream, a little dab will do you. Use more only if you dare. Brylcream, the girls will all pursue you. They love to put their fingers in your hair!"

I bet there were no focus groups to choose the name of this product!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYX1ewPJrFUbrylcream

When you watch this commercial, you realize how much the art of special effects has changed:

"Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M30XXrrK3lY&start_radio=1&list=RDM30XXrrK3lY

"You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOhfGezdcXU

Those are on my hit parade of old ad jingles. What ones have stuck with you?

Trish                                 

149 Words

Words, Words, Words

Without words, we do not communicate. Without words, we can express our thoughts.

Most words in a culture, in a language family, stay the same for years. 

I know there are words that we have lost in the American English vocabulary that were brilliant in their time and now rarely used. 

My grandmother used the word “chuffy” often enough that I remember it. What she meant by that, I believe, was stuffy and a bit pompous. She used it to describe a fellow Episcopalian on the altar guild. You know what? I think I know some chuffy people today. 

Grandmother did not, however, ever have a “kerfuffle” with this person that I ever heard about. (Still makes sense in context, doesn’t it?) Maybe she was hoping for divine retribution as a “comeuppance” for snootiness. I will never know, but I think the thought on the right is too clever not to share! 

However (and perhaps, the older “henceforth”), I am adding some brilliant new words to my vocabulary. I love the new teen word “conversate.” Although the Merriam-Webster Dictionary calls it non-standard, it makes so much sense. We are conversing; we are having a conversation. We conversate. Is there a problem?

Other current slang that is working itself into the vernacular vocabulary is “shade.” I can throw some shade when I am irritated. Again, good ole Merriam-Webster came through with this definition: subtle, sneering expression of contempt with or disgust. Just say SHADE! and nothing else. People in the know will get the picture that you are being just a little sarcastic. 

On the other end of the spectrum, do not--unless it is Halloween--say “Boo” anymore to children and teens. Boo now means “my sweetheart.” Since my husband and I have been married for 40 years, I can safely call him “my boo.” Actually, there is a funny story how I learned this word. I was substituting in a local elementary school when a girl got up out of her seat during a lesson and walked out the door into the hallway. I asked her where she thought she was going. She said, and I kid you not, “‘my boo’ walks down the hall to lunch this time every day and he’ll be mad if I’m not there for him.” Elementary school!

I also use my friend Walter’s “

assorterate.” One can both prioritize and sort at the same time. Thus, I have been “assorterating.” And, as always, I have much assorterating I should be doing from cleaning out closets to admitting there are some magazines I need to throw out that I will never get around to reading! I think this is quite a good word.

Also, thanks to texting and Twitter, many of us now use “sup” for “what’s up with you?” I am surprised that “Gucci” is one of the hot slang terms teens use. It means it’s something good or very cool. I’m a little surprised that of all the top labels, Gucci got chosen. 

And, parents of teens, I just today picked this one up. If you see your teens post the number 9 or say “9!” be on the alert. It means they know a parent or teacher is on the alert. A new warning system?

I will leave you with the idea that some old words were great and that there are some new words that will probably stay around for a while.  I think again of my grandmother’s admonition of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Now I can mutter “shade!” 

Or I pull out the Southern saying, “WELL, BLESS HER HEART.” This little sentence we know can mean anything from what a nice person she is to that she’s dumb as a rock and ugly, too.

               Somewhat Savvy Glenne

148 News, news

News, news, and more news

Real news, constant news, breaking news--there is a never-ending barrage of news alerts, minute by minute, hour by hour, everywhere and anywhere.

Cell phones ding as the latest alerts are posted. The term breaking news is almost humorous as news is always breaking--24 hours a day.

I have to admit I have been a news hound all my life—I woke up to the sounds of the Today Show with Dave Garroway from the early age of 6. Our family bought a TV when I was in the first grade. From then on, the morning and evening news were staples in our house. The morning was the national news and the evening the local that came from nearby cities. 

Plus the afternoon local paper and the morning state paper were delivered and read daily from cover to cover. We never relied on just one source.

In between, my dad was the reporter of the local news for the family before the afternoon edition was delivered. He would head to work each morning and circle through town to see what had happened that night. If it was something that couldn’t wait, he would come back by the house to report to my mom who would spread the word through her telephone circle. Events such as fires, break-ins, accidents, vandalism would make the cut.

I really don’t know how he got the scoop that quickly but he did. Remember that was well before cell phones and the Internet. So from this background, a true news junkie was born.

Now more than six decades later, it is a totally different world with multi-faceted sources as well as social media constantly providing up-to-date notices. Newspapers especially struggle to stay afloat because of around-the-clock access to breaking news. Some huge print news outlets such as the Washington Post and New York Times have mastered the constant news alerts but follow up with more details in the paper editions. 

For my generation who still want to hold a paper in hand every morning (afternoon editions are a thing of the past), the print edition still satisfies that tactile desire. For many of us, the digital version suffices and gives us a more portable way to have the news with us. 

Small town papers have a really difficult task as they try to compete with online outlets, sort of like Amazon with brick and mortar stores.

The owners have to have deep pockets and a steady revenue stream not reliant on subscriptions and advertising. The trend is for large companies to purchase these small papers and keep them afloat even though the founders couldn’t do it. What a tremendous mission these owners have to accomplish--saving the newspaper industry.

When network TV news shows try to keep up, it is a struggle. Rarely is there anything new on the evening news shows. The only thing they can do is try a different perspective or reveal some obscure fact that pertains but is not pertinent. The face-to-face interviews are very effective of controversial or epic events. Morning shows have a little advantage since the news of the day is just beginning but it is so competitive as the public has usually been alerted during the night.

We all must do our part if we value news of the highest order. Maintain subscriptions on the local, state, and national levels--print or digital. Digital is a little cheaper so try to at least handle two subscriptions. Share stories that are important to all levels so others are informed with the latest and best coverage.

Support TV news by signing up for alerts and social media postings. Also, share these articles when they are relevant and striking. Try social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and share what is important. More than one source is the best way to go.

I cannot imagine what the next 50-some years will bring, but I am sure it will be exciting. Hopefully, some young news hounds will develop through this intricate maze of alerts delivered in so many unique ways.

               Newsy Fran

147 Prom night--not

Prom night--NOT

I guess I started it all by reminiscing about my accidental College Queen status. But Glenne continued! 

She went to her high school prom as a reporter--with her dad. I should have thought of that--I did not go to mine.

The year is 1965; I am a 16-year-old senior at a Charleston, S.C. high school. It is my second year here after my Navy family moved from Virginia Beach to Charlestown. Somehow in changing schools, I managed to skip my sophomore year.

So I was a year younger than my classmates. I was one of the smart ones too--on the school newspaper staff and in the honor society. I probably did not endear myself to my fellow classmates by telling almost everyone at this segregated school that I didn't see what the big deal was about integration, that I had gone to integrated schools before (not Virginia, but an overseas military school).

And I was also a jock--I swam freestyle and butterfly on the local YMCA swimming team. I had a crush on the tall guy on the high school basketball team. I mean, he was tall; I was tall. He was a jock; I was a jock. I was smart; whoops! Anyway, I don't think I ever said a word to him! By the way, do you remember those guys? They were tall but today's players could probably push them over with a strong breath. That isn't him in the photo; I think he was thinner and less muscular! 

Anyway, I really thought I should go. My (hah!) basketball player had a girlfriend so I cast around for another. My next choice was a lot shorter, kind of chubby, not athletic but very smart. (He got a perfect score on his math SAT.) 

I doubted anyone else was going with him, so I asked him to go with me to the prom. He replied that he didn't do dances. I was part sorry and part relieved. I had wondered if he knew how to dance. I was sure he, unlike my sister and I, was not a faithful viewer of American Bandstand.

So I sat out my senior prom. But I got my revenge in college by attending lots of dances, including the Virginia Tech Ring Dance.

Now Harry says we are too old to dance!

Trish