I visited family this weekend, and left there with a jigsaw puzzle. My paternal grandmother died nearly 30 years ago and my grandfather, well, it’s over 50 years ago now. My older sisters remember them together much better than I do. They often did puzzles together, and apparently my grandparents amassed scores of them for when my family made the 10-minute drive to their place.

My oldest sister was the one who really wanted them, and we were all too happy to let her keep them. Well, those puzzles had spent another couple dozen years in storage–from my grandparents' attic to my sister’s basement.

She’s doing something of a Swedish death cleanse, and got rid of the crumbling boxes that stored them, and then transferred them to Ziploc bags. The retired scientist she is, she’s nicely labeled each bag of puzzles–complete with the number of pieces, puzzle dimensions, and other similar metadata–and moved them into bins, with plans to donate them (to senior centers, I believe).

She thought I might like this one, though, which depicts the 34 presidents at the time, including the just-elected JFK. However, one of this puzzles' 250 pieces was missing. Could my dear sister have misfiled a puzzle piece? I think not. Either way, a few missing leaves from a branch on that tree in front of the White House doesn’t compromise this bit of Americana to me. It was fun to piece together yesterday evening, and will make me smile when I walk by the kitchen table these next few days, before I dismantle it and return it to its Ziploc and return to her. Maybe. 😉

With five AAA ballparks left to see, and firm plans to see one of them this year, of course my biggest road trip of the year will have me hit four AA ones instead.

Then for the four AAA ones I’ll have left, I note that one of them could be set up next year with a road trip to see a few Texas League ballparks. Such a trip would have me in the low 20s for AA venues.

And, as the last three AAA ballparks I will need are in the southeast, I’d have to at least check the schedules for the AA ones that I’m missing in the area too, right? Right? I mean, that’s how my brain goes from thinking “I’m not trying to hit every MiLB ballpark” to “Well, I’m more than halfway there now and…” 🤦🏻

These are the MiLB teams for whom I’ve seen a home game. I’m hoping to hit the halfway mark this year.

These were the two biggest pieces from my grandparents' old bedroom set. I remember seeing them in my grandmother’s basement whenever we’d go over. Primarily used for storage or perhaps just kept because they were too nice to discard, my grandparents got a more modern set I think in the late 1950s or early 60s, relegating these to their cellar for well over 30 years.

Not pictured are a small nightstand that had a built-in electric clock and a makeup stand. There was a second nightstand, but after retiring the bedroom set my grandfather–a shipbuilder was one of his trades–joined one nightstand and the makeup stand into a three-drawer storage unit for his shop on the other end of their basement.

When I got my first apartment, my dad asked if I wanted the two dressers and nightstand. I of course took them. Attempts were made to get the clock in the nightstand fixed at any clock shop I could find, but nobody could fix it. Oh well. I had an alarm clock anyway. And of course a smart phone.

The bottom drawer of the taller chest had a cedar cover to protect sweaters, and there were more small drawers for storing things than I knew what to do with them.

About five years ago–on Christmas morning no less–I went to pull out a sweater and let the hinged cedar cover crash down on my hand. I honestly thought I severed a finger and that I’d see it at the bottom of the drawer once I stopped seeing stars. I did lose the fingernail and a little blood, but the finger was fine. The cedar cover was detached soon thereafter.

Yeah, that may have been the beginning of the end. It seemed any time I opened certain drawers, sawdust from the drawer above would be collected on the clothes below. When I moved here nearly 20 years ago, the movers did a fine job, but did put a nice gash on the top of the longer dresser. Those large drawers were awesome, but there were far too many (7!) knick-knack drawers between the two pieces. I would have traded most of them for one more storage drawer.

Anyway, this set, built in the late 1930s from what I’ve been told, has now been discarded, with the last of it brought to the dump this morning. The furniture no doubt served me well all these years–and my family for nearly a century–but this old set is no more.

I wish I took a few more pictures of them, but only found these recent ones. I likewise wish I took a few shots of the joinery. It’s amazing how a rubber mallet enabled me to get the drawers into manage pieces for disposal. The dovetail joinery used for them did their job for all these years. They don’t make them like that anymore.

I don’t mind when social media sites change. I know some would panic with FB changes, but not me. The IG layout change of my timeline hits me a bit differently. The posts will look the same, but I post predominantly landscape shots–not portraits. It does feel a bit like the Gram is saying it doesn’t want my kind there.