Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Forks, spoons, license plates and beavers

Happy April Fool's Day! Today is sort of a mixed bag of nuts, but I suppose that's not anything particularly new here.

I will begin some pictures I took a few years ago of license plates on vehicles owned by two of my uncles in Virginia. Quirky runs in the family:






I think this started quite by accident MANY years ago when my Uncle Franklin randomly received a plate that was all numbers. Now, both he and my Uncle Stewart get these license plates for themselves and other family members. I'm pretty sure they don't pay extra; it's all about "Who ya know." Texas is my home, but being surrounded by laughing, fun loving Virginia kin folk in my very formative years helped shape who I am. I've got a big, goofy smile on my face just thinking about them.
My Uncle Stewart lives in Mechanicsville. I spent many fun days and nights with my dad, mom, sisters, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins at that house. Most notably, I remember catching fireflies in a jar at night. I'll will likely write about how places you remember from childhood seem somehow smaller and less significant when we return as adults, but Uncle Stewart's house is exactly as I remember it. This is due in part to the fact that it is EXACTLY THE SAME AS I REMEMBER IT.

It has been in a time warp for the past 35 years, which just brought joy to my heart when I went back there after all this time. I wish I had taken a picture of the wall shelf that had the same astrological sign coffee mugs on them as when I visited as a child (circa 1970-1975). He gave me a whole new appreciation for the term "waste not, want not". I did manage to snap a picture of what was on the opposite wall, unchanged after 35 years:
I ask you, who needs a new fangeled cordless phone when you have a cord that can reach around the house?

And speaking of Canada...

In honor of my friend Tamara, who was born in the Great White North and because she emailed me the link in the first place (or maybe it was Jeff) -- I forget. I was distracted because I was talking to Jeff on the phone about googling pornographic cheese butlers when Tam interrupted to ask, "has Kathy seen the beaver video?" Anyhoo, the following video was shot at the U.S./Canadian border. Enjoy!

Welcome to Canada!

17 comments:

Beth in NC said...

Ha! There is something about that generation that DOES NOT believe in change.

The license plates are strange. They like the big numbers don't they? Ha.

Emmy said...

Man, that beaver had some superclose calls!

Helen said...

Katdish, thank you so much. Not everyone gets immortalized with tatoos on a pornographic cheese buttler. I am speechless, but definitely feel.....unique.

Candy said...

We have a Mechanicsville here in IA too. Seriously, there is more than one?

Nice butt-ler, Helen.

kat, this post was definitely a casserole.

Nick the Geek said...

THe video was too awesome for my computer.

Word Verification: laters

Laters katdish will get the video fixed so I can see it.

Sherri Murphy said...

Please tell me you put the tattoo on the PHOTO , and NOT on his real live sweet cheeks!

Billy Coffey said...

Yes, we Virginia folk are a breed unto ourselves. Which may be a good thing for the rest of the country.

Your pictures reminded me of my parents' house. Nothing has changed since I left home. Just the way I like it...

katdish said...

Beth in NC - I think they just like being quirky. It's sort of a family tradition.

Emily - No doubt. That video could have ended very badly. My favorite part is at the end where he smiles and says "Cheese!"

Helen - I was actually going to do an entire post w/all the different tatts you came up with, but that was way too many butts, even for me.

Candy - I bet there's one in Texas, too. As a matter of fact, I live right next to Richmond, Texas. My family is from Richmond, VA.

Nick - Sorry. It should be fixed. I was attempting to use my daft computer skills to get rid of the ads, with predictable results.

Sherri - Don't think I didn't seriously consider that, because I did. But that kind of thing on an arrest report has got to look really bad...

Annie K said...

The immortilization of Helen. Suh-weet / cheeks.

Helen said...

Katdish, congratulations. Why is Stacy from Louisville the first to know? I would have thought Sherri or me (after Ron, of course....)

jasonS said...

I like the pic of the one with a cat body underneath the truck (I assume it's dead of course, but I like to assume most cats are dead). Anyway, great post to lift my spirits!

wv: clote- I don't like to clote but I never misspell words or mispronounce them.

katdish said...

WARNING: Tomorrow's post will be of the non-ridiculous variety and will contain a long quote from C. S. Lewis.

(Just thought I should let Jason know. Didn't want him getting whiplash or anything.)

Beth said...

The big fork and spoon!!

That reminds me of my favorite Everyone Loves Raymond quote ever: "Don't let a suitcase full of cheese be your big fork and spoon."

You have to watch the epidsode to get it, but I'm laughing up a storm here...

katdish said...

Dude - that is my all-time favorite Raymond episode! Mostly because it hits very close to home. I love it when he comes downstairs with the Walmart bag instead of a suitcase.

Richard said...

I heart that beaver. And don't worry, my blog is Soapbox friendly... and the whole Jesus is my Boyfriend thing got a jump start when Rebecca St. James started making music.

Stephanie Wetzel said...

A potpourri post of perfection. Especially Helen's - I mean the buttler's - butt.

My favorite thing was your first comment, katdish. When you spoke of using your daft computer skills.

Apropos, methinks.

♥ Kathy said...

Helen does rock :D I love the spoon/fork/shelf doohickey! It's really cool. I'm a huuuuge packrat. I never throw anything away lol

ps I got worried for the beaver..glad he didn't get splatted