From a Fallen White Walnut Tree in the 1970's Mountains of Virginia a Very Kind Man to Who I am Today...

 May 30, 2024

#490

Gentle reader,

Facebook is a wonderful place to connect with like-minded people. For instance, we have an old Volvo wagon and a Cadillac performance car. Yes, there are such cars. Plus, we collect lots of different things, thus the name of this blog. If you are interested in something, chances are there is a Facebook group about it. 

Image found on the Internet.

If you are wondering what the three digit number is above is about, this is the 490th article I have written for this blog. I write two others: Pictures of Nancy. The Love of My Life. and People Say I'm Special. But I Don't Know Why.

Finished Black Walnut wood above verses finished White Walnut wood, below.

To begin, there are various types of walnut trees around the world. Mr. F. referred to the tree as "White Walnut". Sometimes they are called English Walnut or Butternut. 

All three of the images above were found on the Internet. We had black walnut trees on the property of one of the houses we lived in long ago. They have thick green husks which kind of look like oranges, but which are much tougher. Very hard to remove, even a car driving over them did not break those husks. The walnuts many of us have eaten are Butternuts or English walnuts. 

The "This..." in the subject line (title) refers to this cabinet. Without having met and dated L., it would not exist. Her father was the definition of kindness and patience. 

This is a picture of her from back in the day. She had posted it on Facebook a while back. 

I did not own a camera until 1980 when my first son was born. We bought a 110 camera from JCPenney because my mother worked there and there was a family discount. Our first TV was also from her store.  Image found on the Internet.

Because money was tight and babies kept coming, shooting a film picture, having the film developed and printed was expensive to us. Thus, the photo had  to be of something very important. As a result, the photo above and the one earlier in the article are the first images I shot of my stereo and the cabinet I had made oh so long ago. The images  are from 1995, the year I finally had a little money which I could spend to buy myself a "real camera". 

What fit that definition to me was a 35mm SLR. The first one I saw was in the 1970's being used by our friend S. She was taking photos of us playing ultimate Frisbee on the quad at the Seminary. 

What I chose (I knew NOTHING about cameras and the Internet barely existed then) it was an Olympus OM-10. Fortunately for me, it was designed for the new user and thus very forgiving.

This is the very first picture I shot with it. That's Nancy, very much the love of my life and my forever wife, but at that time, we were dating.

The cabinet is sitting RIGHT next to me as I type this. I'm still using that chair. While the room looks quite different twenty-some years after these digital images were made, and the contents of the shelves have changed, the cabinet remains in the same spot in "The Office". 

Since this house has four bedrooms and we had two kids, we had decided  to set aside this small bedroom as a home office. Although neither of us ever worked from home.

The job I did of gluing to top to the walls all those years ago, was not so great. I had to later add metal brackets and a screw or two through the top to secure it to the four upright pieces.

The only things, aside from the records in this image, which remain in my collection are the cabinet and the three cars to the right of the turntable. Everything else has gone to other people's homes.

As you can see from this 2008 image that all of the components are completely different and we have a lot more records.

Initially, the stereo (as seen above) had been in the living room which is at the opposite end of the house. When Nancy bought us our first HDTV, a 32" Samsung monitor, I moved the stereo to the dining room. Then, later on into the office. I had run ten gauge speaker wires through the attic to the living room for a pair of speakers which remained there then.

This 2005 image shows the much less cluttered steel and glass desk. I also built the cabinet on the wall, from reclaimed wood, which (then) held my film camera collection. 

I also made this shelf of 1 x 12 pine wood. I made the top shelf specifically house small diecast cars and our HO slot cars. There is a cover made of 1/4" Lexan which keeps out the dust and is very strong. Again, almost every book on that shelf has gone to other peoples homes. Our tastes, interests and what we collect have changed with both of us over the 30 years we have been together.

The following four images are from the end of 2020.

The camera cabinet now houses larger scale diecast cars and the 2% camera collection. I had over 500 film cameras, not all at once. What's left is less than two per cent of the total.  The shelf on the right was built by my camera-collecting-mentor, the late Colonel Bill Arps. He made it to hold one of EVERY type of Kodak 126 Instamatic cameras. 

A good view of most of the cabinet's top. It is now 49 years old. Wow. Where did all that time go?

Mr. F. helped me pick out interesting pieces of the wood to enhance the cabinet's look. Those are worm hole possibly made more than a hundred years ago. Hard to imagine that worms could chew through wood. But then, think about termites.

It really bothers me to see people whose lives seem to revolve around their phone. They seem to be constantly looking down at them, even groups of friends or entire families in a restaurant or other places, are not TALKING with each other! They are not enjoying each others company. They may be showing each other what they are looking at on their phones, but they are not ASKING each other how they are or what they have been up to lately. Or even how they FEEL. It saddens me.

Yes, I have a smart phone, but 99% of the time, it is in my pocket. I have SO many friends and family members, yet, I prefer to talk face to face. Or, I call them. Smart phones are a blessing and a curse. I chose to use mine as a telephone which also texts. Occasionally, I will get it out to look something up, but once I have, back in the pocket it goes. Why? Because it is just a tool. I don't go on Facebook with it. I don't watch videos or play games with it. Occasionally I will shoot an image with it. But, if I have a real camera with me, that's what I use.

I thought I had an image of all three digital cameras. Neither of these do I now own, having upgraded each. But, they represent what I now call a "real camera".

So, why did I chose to write this article, using the white walnut tree as a lure?  I glanced over at it, and immediately remembered where it came from. That memory made me smile. I had not thought about Mr. F, and Mrs. F. in a very long time. Or, L., for that matter. I had not lived in that city since 1982. As Nancy will gladly tell you, I think too much. And this is a result of that...

We all make choices as to how we treat every person we ever encounter. Mr. F. by being so very kind to me, teaching me all kinds of things my own father never did almost fifty years ago, he  shaped the way I have chosen to interact with people ever since. And I did not realize it until today.

I talk to everyone and will hug anyone, if they need one. Perhaps I am a dinosaur because I chose to live in the present and enjoy whatever place I happen to be and whomever I happen to be with. But, I am OK with that label.

Some time ago, I wrote this on my Facebook, "In one word, describe how you think of me." Over and over, my friend's answer were: Kind or Kindness.

At my retirement party seven years ago, so many people said to me, "You always made me feel special." "That's because you are special.", I replied. One man, who had quickly risen within the company ranks said to me, "Scott, if it were not for you, I would not be where I am today." I'm tearing up remembering that. 

So, how about trying something different today? Do NOT reach for your phone. Look at the person next to you, smile and say, "Hey, let's talk. What have you been doing lately? How's your Mom? Have you bought anything new you just love? Let's take a walk and enjoy this beautiful day. Hey, let's go to the mall and try on ridiculous shoes! Let's drive around and find a restaurant we would never chosen to eat there.  Let's go for a drive in the country and see new places. Let's go the rec center and swim." 

Let TODAY be the beginning of your new life! Break old habits. Every morning when you wake up chose to try something new and different to do. Take the smart phone blinders off of your face and LOOK around. Life is short. Chose to LIVE it! Chose to LOVE others and let them know that you do. If I can do it, so can you.

Scott Robb

May 30, 2024

#490