Saturday, April 7, 2012

G is for Gadgets, Graffiti and Gracious

- My dad was the ship's cook in the US Navy during World War II (he enlisted the day before his 18th birthday so that he could join the navy and "see the world.")  Oh - and see it, he did.  He was on a mine sweeper in the Pacific when all the ship's cooks were killed one day in a battle - between breakfast and lunch.  They asked for volunteers who could cook and dad put up his hand.  His father was the cook in the family and dad had learned a bit from him.  So he cooked on that ship and then another until the end of the war.  He resumed cooking when he retired.  Mom happily gave that task up.  Their house is up for sale now and every time I stop by to check on it, I bring home more of his kitchen gadgets.  I didn't have a pizza cutter and the white spoon - well, I used it so many times helping him stir that I decided I wanted it.  But that gadget on the left mystifies me.  What is that?  Does anyone know?  It's mine now, whatever it is.  :)

- Up the street from my office, a budding artist apparently had lots of time to apply some graffiti. I think this graffiti might have been commissioned for this business.  I always hope that graffiti skills will be put to employable use some day. My friend Jerry was a graffiti artist in the Bronx, New York, back in the day, and is now quite a big deal and a very successful graphic designer.


- The Alling-Bethune-Combs-Humphrey house, circa 1895, on South Liberty Street in my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia. A favorite in the historic district of Milledgeville, for its twisty-turny rooms that include a sleeping porch on the second floor. It was the gracious home of my beloved kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Combs, and now belongs to her daughter.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you will see that there is a G banner on the front porch, which just made this photo a perfect choice for the G post.

Happy Saturday, friends!  It's Day 7 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge featuring the letter G, which includes three things that give me pleasure. 

The rest of the Sundays in April are off posting days in the A to Z Challenge - so see you back here on Monday and I'll see you at your blogs.  Cheers!

30 comments:

Shannon Lawrence said...

What a neat story about your dad! Is that gizmo to get the zest scrapings off citrus fruits??

What a beautiful house!

Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z

Elephant's Child said...

I would agree with Shannon. It looks like a zester to me.
G is also for Good, Gentle Lady.
Gorgeous post. Thank you.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynn .. looks to me like a zester ... beautiful area - love the house, and the graffiti - and glad to know that your friend has utilised his skills to good effect ..

Happy Easter .. cheers Hilary

Snaggle Tooth said...

Gee, cool G post! Don't know about the gizmo... some one out here must be certain! Good Graffetti. "voce" in Portuguese means "you"- hmmm! Pretty Nook n Cranny house- so many corners n angles. Happy Holy Saturday n Sunday Off!
Happy Easter!

Granny Annie said...

My Navy spouse loved the cooks. When his shipmates complained that the food sure wasn't like their mother's, Ron would say "It sure isn't and that's why I joined the Navy." I would guess the gadget is for removing corn from the cob.

Graffiti is great...sometimes.

Since none of the house residents had "G" names, I am guessing the "G" is for Georgia. I love that house by the way!!!

I am soooooo happy that we can once again be allowed to receive emailed follow-up comments. It is fun to see what others say and any comments you might make back.

G. B. Miller said...

Cool pics and a great way to celebrate the letter "G".

Marta Szemik said...

That little gadget looks like could be used to scratch the zest off a lemon or an orange. But I have no idea what it's called.
Happy Easter!

Lynn said...

Shannon -

Thank you - the rest of the story is that the first lunch he was in charge of was chili. He said it was so eerie - all the fixings had already been laid out. He was contemplating the industrial sized can of chili powder when someone stuck his head in the door and said, "Make it spicy. Those other guys never made it spicy enough." So dad poured the whole thing in - and you can just imagine all the running for more water. :)

When we were growing up he would make omelets for us, that kind of thing. But he came into his own with cooking later in life. Hence having a zester. You are exactly right! I Googled zester and that's what it is. I have been using a microplainer for that, so this looks easier. Thank you!

The Elephant's Child -

That's it! I'm excited to know.

And thank you - you are Good, Gentle and Gorgeous yourself. I'm so glad we are blog friends now.

Hilary -

It's a zester - I'm excited to know.

I plan to post more about Milledgeville on the M post. It is a beautiful area. That home also was the first pastorium of the church my mom and dad belonged to - First Baptist - just around the corner. Later pastors (from the 1960s on) opted to used a ranch style house in a modern neighborhood. Probably easier to heat. I'm glad Mrs. Combs daughter has kept this one so beautiful.

Happy Easter!

Lynn said...

Snaggle -

There's some sort of city ordinance against graffiti artists in Atlanta now. I don't mind it, used in appropriate spots. I heard that someone is making a documentary about it that I hope I get to see. I used to ride the commuter train into the city when I was going to my urban university a few years ago to finish up school - and I used to love spotting it from the rails.

Happy Easter - I hope you have the weekend off, Snaggle.

Granny Annie -

Hah! Ron cracks me up. Dad was just looking for a better way to eat. He said that while the rest were eating powdered eggs for breakfast, he was having the same steak breakfast the officers were having. Quite resourceful, I say.

We have an indentification - it's a zester, but I'm thinking you could use it for removing corn from a cob.

I'm wondering if the G is for her first name, since her last name was Humphries. Her maiden name would be Combs (she inherited the house.) I love it, too - especially the thought of that sleeping porch.

I'm glad they added that follow-up feature back, too. I like that you come back and read comments.

Happy Saturday, GA - no post tomorrow - I'll be back on Sunday.

G -

I also celebrate that you came by, G. Happy weekend!

Marta -

A zester! Thank you - I'm excited to know.

happygirl said...

yep, a zester. remember to only zest the colored portion of the citrus and not the white pith (it's bitter) LOVE the house. Graffiti just isn't my thing. It just looks, well, vandalized to me. :)

Fireblossom said...

I love that house!

T. Powell Coltrin said...

This is a great post. He was on a mine sweeper? Whoa.

I don't know what that is.

Nice to meet you!

Teresa

S. L. Hennessy said...

Wow, that house is beautiful. I WANT it!!
Great post and happy A-Z blogging.

Tara Tyler said...

cool hodge podge of g stuff! great!

Lynn said...

happygirl -

My wish for graffiti artists is that they use their talent to the greater good by becoming designers like Jerry did.

Thanks for the zesting tip!

FB -

Can't you just imagine sipping an Arnold Palmer on that porch and waving to passersby? Arnold Palmer - half iced tea, half lemonade. Yum.

Journaling Woman -

A mine sweeper looks for exploding devices (or mines) meant to cause harm to ocean vessels during war.

SLH -

Me, too. :)

Tara -

Thanks - it is a bit of hodge podge, isn't it?

Louvregirl said...

Lovely home! what is a 'sleeping porch' exactly?

:-)

I think that I 'want one.'

Lynn said...

lg -

Back in 1895 when there was no air conditioning, they would often sleep outside on a porch like that in the summer, where they could be cooler. That one is on the second story, where one could sleep unobserved by passersby.

One of my friends bought a home built in the 1920s in Atlanta that had a sleeping porch and that was the first time I had heard of that, too.

Donna B. McNicol said...

Enjoyed this mix of "G" topics!

Betty Manousos said...

how fun!
i love that beautiful home.

happy easter!


big hugs!

p.s. thank you so much for the follow.

following you right back!

Laura Eno said...

What a gorgeous home! I'd love to explore something like that.

Isherwood Wildwalker said...

I like the mystery of having unknown gadgets around the house. It keeps me humble of how little I know of this world, and if I always stay in my comfort zone, will I ever experience a full life?

LA Nickers said...

Gadgets galore! (Don't look in my kitchen utensil drawers. They're scary spots!)
I’m stopping in as an A to Z blogger. I invite you to visit my blogs, leaving a link to your own post, so my readers can find you too!

All on Blogspot.com and all in the A to Z Challenge:

Heart of a Ready Writer – Bible &Devotional
Meme Express – Daily Blog Prompts (A to Z)
Nickers and Ink – Featuring favorite classic poems from A to Z
Practically at Home – See what fellow writers are cited – with article links!
The Mane Point –Pprofiling special horses from A to Z
Working in Words – Writing How-to’s

Simply Snickers is not posting daily in the A to Z Challenge, but you are invited to comment with your A to Z/NaPoWriMo poetry links!

Click my name/icon for links to all these blogs! Happy A-to-Z!

Riot Kitty said...

Neat! I would be interested in hearing what you use that gadget for.

Just catching up on blogs after being very, very busy. That house picture is gorgeous.

Jaycee DeLorenzo said...

Beautiful home! Over from A-Z.


My A-Z

Lynn said...

Donna -

Thank you!

Betty -

Big hugs to you, too! Thanks for following me - I always thought I had followed you before, but realized today that I hadn't. Hope you are having a wonderful Easter.

Laura -

It's on a street will similar homes - just lovely.

Wanderoke -

I hope so. Thanks for coming by.

Linda -

Wow - that's a lot of blogs! Thanks for stopping by mine.

Riot Kitty -

It's good to be busy, huh? Hope you are doing well.

The consensus is that is a zester. Dad must have used it for orange zest for a glaze I remember him making for coffee cake.

Jaycee -

Thanks for coming by -

Cloudia said...

cool post! Gracious is the word of the day!


Warm Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral

><}}(°>

Janyce said...

I love the story about your father. Serendipity. That is a lemon zester. I have the same one.

I like a lot of graffiti. I used to watch for the train just to catch the graffiti on it. There is some real talent out there.

The house -- beautiful! If I could live in an older house I would think I had died and gone to heaven. I would love to see the inside!

Louvregirl said...

"The only Haiku you'll ever see here..." Noooo Lynn~ let's have more!
:-D

Suz said...

Thanks for visiting me. I like your take on the alphabet.That is a great house. Often thought a sleeping porch would be lovely.

Lynn said...

Cloudia -

Thank you -

Janyce -

I'd love to go in there, too - I probably did as a child. Thanks for coming by!

lg -

Only if Kim writes it! :)

Suz -

Thanks for visiting me back!