i had passed on car washes for a while, though i know they are usually for charity. guess i am used to having my car washed by the rain. but i went over and asked them a few questions and said i would be back once i got some stamps at the post office, and i did. wanted the katharine hepburn stamps, not available. but they had movie cowboy stamps, seemed apt when i am writing a lot about a western writer. i liked listening to some of the people at the car wash, like the 'treasurer' and one of the customers. they spoke of local football teams, one of them was a participant. contrary to popular belief, i do like listening to people. some think i like to talk, which is not always true. i think of myself as an 'everyman', and i tend to be comfortable in most environments. i try to find out what i have in common with people. we should look for what unites us, not divides us. it goes back to my college days, where one of the football players-a defensive end from suburban st. louis- would say hi to me whenever he saw me on campus. i figured i should at least get to know his name since he must be a decent person if he greeted me regularly, since not everybody was willing to do this. kind of like the coworker i spoke of recently.
i said it was heaven to me to be at the franklin exhibit. i even had answers for people when they wondered about things. one wondered if he had invented insurance, of course he didn't as the concept has been around for a while. one only needs to think of lloyd's of london. but he did create the first fire insurance company in america. i liked how franklin was a progressive man, unfortunately some who are labeled as such are not well-liked by some. guess it's because some fear change, and of course the root word is 'progress'. there were plenty of different versions of his autobiography on display, translated into various languages apparently. in the gift shop i did get some souvenirs, comes as no surprise to those who know me this included 2 books. one was the autobiography, another was his quotes. the third was a button with his quote how a penny saved is a penny earned. i think many are largely unfamiliar with how he can claim all of those quotes listed since they are so common now. there was one about how the doors to wisdom never being shut was one i wrote down on a homemade poster in my room while in high school. had to be careful about what books to get, since i had been to the franklin home in philadelphia in 2003. i bought the 'poor richard almanac' book then.
after the evening meal of tacos and then watching the end of a baseball game on t.v. i put in a dvd, the other one from blockbuster. it was 'chaplin', a biopic with robert downey. not a big fan of downey but i like bios, i think he did fine. good cast, recognized many of the actors in it. a coworker spoke of it after i said i liked 'great dictator', when chaplin made fun of adolf hitler. i had found 'dictator' at the local library, and was pleased that somebody was willing to do such a politically charged movie. i've liked bios ever since i saw 'la bamba' as a youngster. it led to my family going to a buddy holly weekend in clear lake, ia., where they renamed a street for holly and dedicated a monument outside surf ballroom to the 3 musicians who died in the plane crash. last thanksgiving, i finally went back to the surf.
i did do more research on the national register of historic places, now i've looked at just half of what's in iowa, 51 of 99 counties. recognized one listing in particular, the herbert hoover historic site in west branch. toured it many times already. another was of a turner hall (or turnhalle in german) reminding me of visiting new ulm, minn., for oktoberfest. they have a turner hall there,
and i go have a drink there in the rathskeller while in town. i liked reading about the history of the organization. they believed in things like physical fitness, as it would hopefully keep conquerors like napoleon at bay. quite a few buildings in new ulm are on the register, toured many of them. this includes schell's brewery, the hermann monument, the john lind home (former governor), as well as the wanda gag (pronounced gogg) home. wanda was a children's book writer, and as a writer it meant something to hear her story.
i am pleased at what i am finding is on the register. i wondered what other sports venues were on the list, found out camp randall stadium in madison, wisc., is one of them- a college football stadium. i thought it was odd to hear such a name for a sports venue, until i saw it one time while in town for a hawkeye-badger basketball game. it was a civil war training center as well as a stockade (prison).
i also noticed how there are plenty of sites related to president abraham lincoln, not just schools but also statues in his honor. at first when studying lincoln and the civil war it was hard to understand why he is written about more than any other president. but it made sense eventually, and i gave 3 reasons as to why. he was a common man who became president, though not the first. andrew jackson did it before him. second, the civil war president. the war changed our country forever, with 3 amendments to the constitution. in addition, a civil war in any country is usually written about extensively, be it england, spain, or anywhere else. though the third and final reason is the most compelling one. he was martyred due to being assassinated. books i have read said he was considered to be one of the worst presidents ever while alive.
i did go to order some more emerson hough books, one of them being 'mississippi bubble', his first best-seller. according to the brief description, the 'bubble' refers to finance, and the bubble bursting. likely still has some relevance today. it was said about the dot-com boom of the 1990s, how the bubble burst there, and as somebody once said many became 'dot-bombs'.
the other hough book ordered was 'way to the west', where he wrote about wild west figures like kit carson, davy crockett, and daniel boone. i like how getting used copies means paying less, i tend to do the same with CDs. why pay more if you don't have to? it's usually of similar quality, hard to notice the difference. i thought about ordering one of his movies but couldn't find any on the site, but i can try ebay of course. those are 2 words i've heard often in recent years- 'go online', if one wants to find something. and they're right.
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