In 1978 I got a little pocket coin pricing book, the sort of thing they used to have in grocery store magazine and book racks, and 9 year old me was somewhat obsessed with coins either because of that or before that. I had some penny books with all the slots to pop them in by date and which mint they were made at (San Francisco, Denver, maybe Philly?).
I have a strange memory of walking to school with my friends who lived on the block (Shea and Crissy) telling them some coin facts that I am sure they did not care about, but tolerated, and then a really foul bully (Ronnie Parsons – sorry… I remember you….) riding by on his little bike and circling us while mocking my penny price updates in a fake British accent to indicate that I was stuck up. He was one of those people who would be like “Reading the dictionary, Henry?!!!” A real asshole! Hello you’re in 4th grade. Chill! But no. I think I remember it because it is one of those rare moments that it dawned on me that perhaps not everyone wanted to hear me tell them interesting facts.
I also used to sit on the floor of my grandparents’ closet (the one that had a door into their room and a door into the hallway) dumping out their milk bottle and (bear shaped??? some animal) glass bottle full of pennies and sorting them. So many indian head/wheat penny / buffalo nickels! Wish I had that now!
I started some new penny and quarter books at some point as an adult and in parallel my parents were doing ALL THE COINS including the state and national park quarters, probably as a holiday activity, keeping two sets so that there would be one for me and one for my sister.
I also have crazy envelopes full of different international coins and bills (carefully sorted and labelled, in a big envelope) Which actually comes in handy sometimes when someone is about to travel and I remember we may have that exact currency.
None of these are valuable as they are not “mint condition” or even particularly nice. They are all greasy and worn down. I don’t mind, it is just fun to look at them and feel dragonish.
ANYWAY the point is, my parents (who moved here last fall) handed over the coin books and I found my old 1978 book! Memories! And the 1970s era penny books (not very complete). AND a lot of coins and bills from more different countries from my dad’s business trips in the 80s and 90s and a lot of Venezuelan money from when they moved to Vz in the 90s for a while. I just sorted those into envelopes because I impulsively dumped them out on the table last night and I need the table today to work on!
Observations:
* The (king?) of Belgium looks very much like a frog
* Simon “the nose” Bolivar is so easy to pick out
* Brasil, France, Greece have the nicest art.
* Oh, and Argentina also has great art and design. Very clean and modernist looking. Also a cute bird (a rhea I guess)
* Mexican coins also totally rule
* WTF, the UK, why do you change the coins so often and why, when you changed them, did you make the sizes so weird? Why make the 5p and 10p coins the SAME SIZE AND WEIGHT. Why suddenly make a coin of one value the same weight and size as some older coin of a different value (I have forgotten which one that was, but what the hell!) Make up your minds.
* I found some old shillings and coins with king .. uh… the guy before Queen Elizabeth … george?) Neat!
* Spain, your coins suck, they feel really chintzy, do you not have actual metal? Also I felt very creepy even touching a coin with Franco on it.
* Speaking of creepy and sad, the million peso notes from 80s Argentina. Fuck la dictadura!
I promised an earworm in the title and I hope this does not curse me further but it has lasted for DAYS. A few nights ago in my sleep I acquired “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” and it is truly cursed. Listen if you dare! And it keeps coming back into my head. Oh, my god. For some reason it is mixing itself with The Smiths, Still Ill. Someday I will have to actually create the mashuups that get stuck in my head. (Especially the Satyagraha / Sister ray one – 20 years, at least, of that. )
As I continue recovering from my arthritis flare up and have to lie down a lot with my feet elevated I have been trying out the 20 years ago NYT Sunday crosswords. I mentioned earlier the 30 years ones are nearly impossible for me to complete without looking things up. The 20 years ago are just a tiny bit too easy or annoying sometimes. But 1999 seems to be a sweet spot. They are a little bit difficult, but in a nice challenging way and I can reliably finish them.
Sat. was Milo’s birthday and we had a nice relaxing time at my parents’. The weather didn’t cooperate for the plan of having a pool party but that was ok actually because I had no energy and my ankles and low back are not good enough for me to really swim. Laura and Jack made a delicious lemon cake. We looked at our old model horses. I plan to take at least the small Andalusian family (Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus) but ended up realizing I still felt attached to several others. I do not need 10 model horses and yet –––
My dad also gave me his pelo ‘e guama that he got on his way to work at I think Hato Mata de Barbara in 1966 or so. I can check his memoir. It used to hang on the wall with his spurs and cuatro and I coveted it…. so soft and velvety (it is some sort of fur – beaver? shaved close rabbit?). He explained it was not the fanciest kind (Borselino, with the number of Xs indicating quality) but was from maybe switzerland (actually, austria) and was the 2nd nicest kind but it also turned out to be slightly too fancy for his actual position as incredibly junior cowhand and was more like what the ranch manager would wear. More about the hat later. It turns out he … donated the spurs to goodwill! omg? Why? omggggg. “Because they were not useful really because they are for wearing while barefoot.” OMG. Just like with my grandma’s frying pans (her cast iron pan, and HER GRANDMA’s cast iron pan). Oh well!!!! Anyway, I am gloating over the hat. It is fun to loot my parents’ junk drawers! When they aren’t throwing away the very things that I said I wanted!
I was able to stand up more yesterday though, which was great, and so I put up my grandma’s mirror, and a little bathroom shelf for my cup to take pills with, and a small towel bar by the sink for a hand towel. Some of these installs did not come out quite right so I also shoved some spackle into the unfortunate mistake-holes. The hand towel bar is slightly too large and also rattles but I may just fix it with a little superglue rather than try to re-do it. All very satisfying!