Critter Alley

Critter Alley

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Finding Treasure...In the Basement
















At my house things tend to land in the basement with alarming regularity. In anticipation of storing some of Daughter's household items as she and Son-in-Law build their new dream home, I decided I couldn't wait until after I retire to clean out the basement. Pictured above is only one small corner of the chaos, and believe me, it's going to take some time to make room for any incoming items.

One would think that with a purpose in mind, the organizing/weeding would go quickly. Problem is, I am easily distracted. All it takes is a pile of old photographs, and I can say good-bye to several hours. Did I mention my basement is full of old photographs? Needless to say, not much got accomplished this weekend.

Among the piles of family photos, I also found some of the outcomes of my youthful letter writing habit. Many times, famous people wrote back to me. I re-discovered autographed photos of Lee Majors, Tim McCarver (from his pre-broadcasting days when he was catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals), Dal Maxville (another Cardinal player from years ago), and William Shatner. I found a letter from Robert F. Kennedy and one from Teddy Kennedy.

Oh, how I used to love writing to people in the news.

The treasure trove made me wonder if celebrities/politicians get emails rather than letters these days. And do they reply via snail mail? Email? Not at all? How sad if they don't send a good old-fashioned letter. Nobody stores emails in a box in the basement. But on the other hand, no one has to worry about being distracted from cleaning duties, either.

Is anyone writing letters anymore?
















Sorry, Mom. It's way too hard to hold a pen in my paw.

7 comments:

Tammy said...

What a coincidence! It just so happens I am playing with blogs in order to avoid basement cleaning. Robert F. and Teddy Kennedy? If they're handwritten, it's my understanding they are worth quite a lot to collectors. Either way, your basement junk is WAY better than mine.

Sketching with Dogs said...

In England, you rarely find basements so all my stuff goes in the attic - I am expecting the ceiling to fall down and crush me any night now when I'm laid in bed!
Not surprised you are distracted, it must be fascinating to look through all the old letters and photos, wow, specially the autographed ones.
I do write letters to one person and it is so nice receiving a reply instead of the usual junk mail and bills.
Lynne x

Linda O'Connell said...

You are in possession of some collector items. We tackled a portion of our basement yesterday. I didn't come across anything good. How neat that all those people responded to your requests.

Two French Bulldogs said...

We don't think any buddy writes anything anymore
Lily & Edward

Lassiter Chase and Benjamin said...

Pawsome letters in your basement. Mommy used to do chain letters with gradeschool friends but that fad wore off quick in snail mail. Wish email chain letters would go away too.

Saku said...

I was a letter writer many, many years ago, when telephone calls were ridiculously expensive and there was no e-mail. I have the last letter my mom wrote me which is very special.

I suspect the letters you've received from the famous, especially the Kennedy's have more than sentimental value though. Maybe you could retire early? ;)

Have fun going through the memories in the basement!

Unknown said...

I love that you received a letter from Dal Maxville! That's my husband's favorite player -- he will be impressed! He has a signed baseball card, and a few years ago, I had a Dal Maxville jersey made for him for Father's Day. I've got Jimmy Edmond's autograph on one of the world series jerseys they wore when they won in '06. Needless to say, that's a cherished item!

I definitely know what you mean about cleaning and sorting and getting side-tracked, though. Have been doing a little of that at my house and it's so time-consuming.