My Life In My Gems

This isn't where I planned to start, but have been working too hard already just to get these pictures posted so here goes. These are my jasper gems, or the ones I still have in my position. The jasper rocks came from a fittingly named place, Jasper Beach. It is located at Bucks Harbor Maine, the next peninsula over from where we rented a vacation cabin for ten years from Mrs Alley in Jonesport, Maine. Sometimes would spend nearly a week looking out the window with fog so dense you couldn't see the car to get to it, let alone drive in it. But most of the time we lucked out with great weather. I think I miss those vacations in Maine more than I miss my hometown because nithing satisfied me so much as the serenity and beauty of the area. The insurance job I had in those years was so stressful, probably brought on by myself as I didn't like the role I had to play, but stayed with it because everytime I thought of leaving I either got another pay raise or a promotion. So I stuck with it for ten years putting aside as much money as possible to buy my dream business, a greenhouse operation, but that's a story I not prepared to write about, and perhaps never will. Anyway Jasper Beach was this wonderful place were as far as you looked right or left it was a wide beach made up of primarily egg shaped rocks, like the ones they must have used to make those Pet Rocks . The Beach was so different and so unusual from other beaches I knew and usually deserted. Stayed there for hours, mostly just relaxing and contemplating. The spaces between the larger rocks were filled with smaller ones, much of it jasper, that even in its unpolished state glistened when wet and had a slick, greasy- smooth feel. The rest of my time was consumed collecting the best specimens of jasper I could find plus I'd cart off bags of the larger rocks. By time I had to drive back home, I would have to put the suitcases in the back seat as the trunk would be filled with rocks and also some bags of peat moss I would dig in the area myself and seaweed collected on the beaches. These items I used for my rose bushes back home. Must have worked because I grew some beauties, especially compared to the frugal results I get here. At the end of Bucks Harbor there was a Air Force installation but I don't recall ever seeing any troops around. Never did any swimming there as that water was soooo cold. I would remember wading in and in that crystal clear water seeing my feet and the part of my legs under water starting to turn blue. Over in Jonesport, there were a couple of places were the water pooled up and sitting in the sun must have warmed it some as that would be tolerable for swimming.

In that time period, one Christmas my brother had bought a rock tumbling machine for one of their sons as a Christmas gift, but then decided he was a little too young for such a gift so, instead, I wound up getting it. That started a new hobby for me for maybe a couple of years. The machine was just a little motor with a couple of belts you could put two pint size cans. You filled the cans with rocks and water and a gritty material and let that motor rotate the cans continuously. Even though the cans had a rubber liner it still made a racket, so in the daytime I set the machine in my bedroom while I was away at work and then in the kitchen at night as couldn't sleep with it. All of the apartment was wall to wall carpeting, except the kitchen. As the rocks tumbled in that gritty mixture, gases would build up so periodically you would have to open the cans to let the gas escape. Of course, it was just a matter of time when once I forgot to open and vent the cans. It would be while I had the machine in my bedroom that they 'blew' up. It couldn't have happened in the kitchen where it would have been messy, but cleanable. No, it erupted over that carpeting and that grit penetrated those fibers that no amount of cleaning and vacuuming would remove the large stained area. I still managed to produce quite a bit of jewelry and glad to still have a few pieces left that I can occassionally take out of the draw and fondle. The lagest one on the bottom is my favorite and has the least flaws so I have it on a chain. Occassionally I'll wear it for awhile, but eventually, like with all jewelry, I find it 'bothersome' and have to remove it.

All the items of 'jewelry' - what consists of my 'gems' is in the above picture and probably pretty well represents the history of my life. The top row are pins I got for service in my business career. The one on left was for 10 years at Nationwide Insurance and next three are for anniversaries at Park Seed. I never got a pin for the intervening five years between Nationwide and Park Seed when my brother and I owned a greenhouse/nursery operation ,which although unsuccessful was by far my favorite career.

The second row are the gems from my educational career. The first pin on the left was for NASC Student Council. I only served in that capacity in the 8th grade. Our 8th grade was in the high school so probably got to go there a year earlier than kids generally did in other school systems. Now they have Junior and Senior High schools so the distribution of the classes must be completely different. The next item is my Class of 1954 high school ring. I don't think I wore it much. My hand must have been miniscule then as I consider them even small today, but that ring doesn't even fit over my pinky now. It always bothered me having small hands, primarily because I could never palm a basketball. The last two pins were for scholarship at Ossining High School. I was a pretty smart kid, or so I thought. Then as I advanced in years I realized that I didn't learn a heck of a lot - it was just that I was very good at memorizing. And that ability steadily eroded over the years, leaving me with the knowledge that I haven't learned much for all my years . But being smart never went to my head as , for some reason, all the smart kids that Ossining produced seemed to wind up in the Class of 1954., thus I was only rated 21 I think on the honor roll and that was with a 90+ average. I didn't get any pins or awards in college, but I managed to get a diploma. I remember when I got it being astonished by the size - like a big poster. I thought that was going to be tough to manage carrying it around on job interviews. The only pin I got was one my folks payed for as I joined Theta Chi fraternity lambda chapter in my freshman year. That's the pin pictured between the first and second rows from the top with the crossed swords. That may be the most precious gem as it is encrusted with small jewels, although the Park Seed pins are supposed to be embellished with small real rubys. I didn't bother with a College school ring, but did buy a Beer mug with detail painted on it which some girl, much to my dismay, quickly took into her possession.

The rest of the gems pictured were from my military career. I was a draftee. I had hurt my knee in senior year of college so when I finished up in June it was still pretty weak so I didn't feel I could try to move up my time for serving. I worked for a local florist about a year until the Army go to the point where they needed me. I tried to tell them about my bad leg, but they ignored that. The lapel pins are from basic training at Ft. Hood, Texas, 2nd Armored Division. It was mentioned enough that I couldn't forget that it was War hero and movie star, Audie Murphy's Division. In the middle was the Marksmanship badge. You had to get that to get out of basic. I'm sure whoever was scoring must have helped me some as I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. I did enjoy sitting in the pit working the targets and raising maggie's drawers when someone missed the target completely. The red badge with the three bars on each side is the Good Conduct Medal. I don't rememebr getting it, but it says so on my papers. I was inducted in Jan, 1960 and served most of my active tour in Verona, Italy. At first we were the 110th Aviation Co. and then we merged with the 202nd Transportation Co. to become the 1st Combat Aviation Co.(Provisional). We were stationed at an airfield, shared with the Italians, in Boscomantico, nowhere but the boondocks 9 miles on the outskirts of Verona. The bus took an hour to get to the main post each way, so spent most nights at a little bar on the other side of the runways run by an Italian girl. I was a clerk in the orderly room and grateful for the chance to get overseas and see a little bit of Europe. Some of my touring plans got waylayed when after saving up nearly 30 days leave time, I suddenly got called home on 30 days energency leave when my Pop had his first heart attack. At the bottom are my dog tags which I drag out every now and then as it is the one place I know that my blood type is recorded - Type A. In those days the term of service was really 6 years - two years active duty, 2 years active reserves, 2 years inactive reserves so my official discharge date was Dec. 1965. In reality my last duty was in March, 1962. I would have been home for Christmas because of the holiday schedule, but in October my tour was extended 4 months because of a crisis. Now I can't even remember what it was but think it was over the Berlin Wall. Probably because of that extension of active duty, I never got called up for the two week active reserve duty. One of my friends who was in about the same time, got called for 2 weeks active reserve duty almost immediately after he completed his active tour. I sweated it out as knew I would never be able to fit in my uniforms if I got called up and the prospect of buying a complete set of uniforms was most unappealing.

There was a section in our local Sunday newspaper, Readers Choice Awards, where they announced the winners in a recent poll to pick the top local businesses in different categories. My eye was quickly drawn to an ad by a businessman who thanked the readers for picking him no. 2 and that he wouldn't rest until he was no. 1. It made me sad, not that he didn't come in first, but that he was still going to try for no. 1. You see his business is right in the main part of town and everytime I pass his store I'm reminded of a sad episode in my life.

Several years ago I brought My high school graduation watch along with another watch to be repaired. In due time I got the other watch, but my prize watch, a Hamilton , was never returned. I would have understood, I think, even if I had gotten an apology or somebody saying they were sorry that they lost my watch, but it was never forthcoming. I made several trips to the store in pursuit of my watch. Everytime it was like they didn't know who I was and then would go through an extensive unsuccessful search of the store. Most of the times it was one of the clerks conducting the search and then they would decide it just had not yet been returned as they had to send away for repairs. Perhaps it was the last time I inquired and that time the owner even put my name and telephone number and information down on his pad, but I never heard anymore from him. It just kind of surprised me because he had done other repairs for me, like a cuckoo clock for $50, and at one time his daughter had worked briefly with me at Park Seed, plus at one point I had told him I was his guardian angel, and , I understand, he is also a man of the cloth. I suppose I should have complained to the Chamber of Commerce, took him to small claims court or some action, but I guess I just kept hoping he would do the right thing and come forward. It brought back the memory everytime I passed the place all these years. The last few months the windows of the store were plastered with signs going out of business and announcing sales. I thought and was elated, well at least when he is gone, I won't be reminded so frequently, and now to see in the ad that apparently isn't going to transpire is very disheartening.

Well, enough dwelling on that. The watch in the picture is not the treasured Hamilton, my 1954 high school graduation gift from my parents. I can't remember the price but it was expensive for them. It was my first watch. Probably for a lot of my peers it was their first watch, too, as that was pretty much the standard graduation gift in my time. By time the next generation of my nephews and nieces came along, the standard was more like a new car. I'm not sure what it is now - I guess maybe a cruise and vacation to a place like Aruba, but maybe now parents will start rethinking watches.

The identification bracelet I'm modeling on my wrist was purchased at the same jewelry store as The Hamilton. If my memory serves me right the name of that jewelry store on Main St. was Griffen Jewelers. Sometime in my high school years, identification bracelets became the in thing. I was delighted to get this as a Christmas present one year. In those days I was "Murph." probably nobody knew me as or called me David. It was a nick name given me by my oldest brother when I was probably about 4 years old. My father used to cut our hair, correction: shaved the hair off our heads with a pair of clippers. He did it down in the cellar in one of the spooky rooms. You sat in what we referred to as "The Electric Chair." It was the one of only a couple of pieces of furniture my Pop built and it was so ugly she wouldn't have it upstairs. Apparently there was a comic strip character named baldy Murph and he was rubbing my head and calling me "Murph." It was either that or the story one of his best friend's dog's name was "Murph" and he thought that was approproate for me. Either way I don't know why I let myself live with that name. It was probably through College before I dropped it. I don't see my friends and aquantances much from those days, but there are some who still know me as Murph. When I got the ID bracelet I rushed right down to the Jewelers to have my name inscribed on it. To my great dismay and chagrin they inscribed it 'Murphy.' I wasn't Murphy, I was Murph. They should have given me a new Id bracelet with the correction, but they wouldn't do anything. I should have been warned then to never trust a jeweler. The bracelet lost appeal almost instantly and I hardly ever wore it. The fad must have died pretty quickly also as I don't remember anyone sporting them on their wrists.

The ring on my finger in the photo is of much more recent origin. I purchased it for $19, I think, from Home Shopping Network when I first retired. I had nothing to do at that time except watch shows like that and get hooked as I waited to get my fortune, my profit sharing, released by Park Seed. I bought all kinds of things I didn't need, but when the announcer would say they only had a few left of an item, then I would just have to call and and order it.

I have always had lots of rings in my life. Anytime I went to a carnival, fair, cheap consignment shop or places like that I would always pick up one of those rings. I always figured if I could get used to wearing a ring then I would buy a good piece of jewelry. So far that hasn't happened. I bought this ring about 6 years ago now and just started trying it out. So far it feels good and my finger hasn't turned green. Now I have finally conquered that materialistic attitude I carried around for so many years that I don't want a costly piece of jewelry and too cheap to spend the money on something like that. Have to admit though I try to avoid going to the consignment shops and stores just so I don't fall back into any bad patterns.

The watch in the photo above is my current watch, a $6 WalMart special - you know, the place where the prices are always going down. Someone on the internet was asking if the prices are always going down, then why aren't they free by now. I had really gone to WalMart just to get a new battery for my previous watch, which was a $10 special and hadn't lasted a year, but when I saw the price, I figured a new watch probably would cost about the same as battery for the one I had. I still like the other watch and keep it thinking maybe I'll get the battery anyway as it matches my computer. They both have blue lights. I think why I bought the computer is I was taken in by the blue light bars on each side of the processor. Otherwise I'm sure I would never have bought the computer the store used as their display model and knowing they were about to be going out of business. Think it turned out I was probably their last customer. I like the computer and just hope it keeps going. Pretty sure it is older than my original computer. It's a AMD Athilon (TM) Processor 604 mhz. I never heard of it before, but somebody told me that was a good one. Here's a picture of that watch and the processor. Aren't they pretty.

The bars on the processor actually glow much brighter than the picture shows - all the way from the top to the bottom, brighter than the light on the watch above.
Have a Happy, Dave