Used Books, Cataloging, and High School Reunion

UPDATE - September 9 - September 15

-- More Books for Lucy

It used to be my weekly practice to visit the library every Thursday evening on my way home from work. The Book Cellar, in the basement of the Gale Public Library, is a treasure-trove of used books. Many of the books are from the library's collection, now being removed. Others are books donated by local citizens who want to contribute to the library. These donations offer a great opportunity for finding great used books. The prices at the bookstore run from 50 cents to two dollars. It's hard to beat that.

Some recent new titles for Lucy

Lately, I have been able to also visit on Tuesday, during the day, when the store is open from 2PM to 4PM. My more casual personal schedule makes this easier than hazarding the commuter traffic at the intersection of Route 122A and Rt 31 in downtown Holden. Not that this compares to Kelly Square in Worcester, but it is a source of certain backups from time to time.

Lucy has developed a "surprise" syndrome, part of which is our fault. She expects surprises when she visits, so it's always good to have a backup of "new" books for her. Many of the books are kept here although occasionally she asks if she can take some home for her Daddy to read to her. That's always a request we honor. The more she reads, here and at home, the happier we are for her.

-- Film Research Continues

I spent quite a lot of time continuing to scroll through the old 8mm movie film to see if I could find footage from my days in the Air Force. There was one section of footage where I could clearly identify a half dozen of my fellow airmen. The problem with the footage is that I can't tell exactly when it took place and where we were going. The C-130 was clear enough on the runway, but there is no destination footage to indicate if it was the Pentagon, the SAGE headquarters in Montana, or some other TDY location that we went to during that period. I will keep looking at film.

-- Cataloging Continues

-- My other working project is the cataloging of my Father's newspaper columns. I continue to look for a method to catalog them without overdoing it. No one is going to want to cross-reference them to any great degree. But, I am trying to find a way to select a group of them that I might compile into a publishable collection. I will keep working on it.

-- 50th High School Reunion on Saturday

Cake Makes is Offical: 50 Years

It was hard to believe that High School was 50 years ago. But, on Saturday, we held a class reunion at Indian Ranch in Webster, MA, which was well attended. Patti and I drove to Webster not quite sure what it would be like, but it turned out fine. Ray and Nia were there and so were a lot of old friends that I hadn't seen for a very long time. I spent a lot of time reintroducing myself to a lot of long-lost characters and I'm sure glad we got to go. I have come to realize that high school friends unless they have really stayed nearby, were really easy to lose touch with. The same can be said for the college and Air Force friends as well. We stayed in touch with so few as time went by that it's hard to find them now. With today's access to connected access such as social media, it will be much easier for the current generation to maintain contact in the years ahead.

Autographed 

Reading Update: More than once I have found autographed books for sale at the library. A recent find was the war memoir Inside the Battle of the Bulge, A Private Comes of Age, by Roscoe (Rocky) C. Blunt Jr. The book was written in 1994 over 50 years after Rocky endured the hardships of being a foot soldier during World War II. Rocky later became a well-known newspaper reporter for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. The copy I found had an inscription by Rocky, "To Charlie Hugo: Frozen feet in the Orient hurt as much as frozen feet in the ETO. Warmest regards always! Roscoe C. Blunt Jr. 16 Dec '94.

The book is relentlessly candid about his feelings, his behavior, and his evolving attitude about the war, himself, and life in general. There is a gritty detail to his daily interaction with fellow soldiers, enemy soldiers, and the army superiors that he had to deal with as he crossed France, into Belgium, and into Germany. I have discovered that he wrote other books so I will be on the lookout for those too. Based on incomplete research, Charlie Hugo could have been from Holden MA and passed away in 2005. Rocky passed away in 2011.