Delight Springs

Friday, May 21, 2021

Spring cleaning

 It has begun, the big project I've postponed for years. Decades. The clean-up, or clean-out, of my Little House. My wife insists: everything must come out, much must go. She's not wrong. 

 

 
“I’ve been escaping the world here since 1996. It’s accumulated a  
lot of “stuff” (see George Carlin) over the years, some of which
probably needs to go. It all certainly needs a good cleaning. So that’s
about to happen, we’re going to cart everything out into the sunshine
and see what’s worth bringing back. The place will never be the same
again - for better or worse. So here’s a little tour, before the purge.”

Electricians are coming to re-wire it today. Someone else is coming to help empty it next week. My job now is to begin sorting and boxing, getting stuff organized and transportable. The goal is to make the place better than it was before, a cleaner and more efficient workspace/retreat (I refuse to call it a "Man Cave").

The job has its satisfactions. Yesterday I went through the glass cabinet that contains my little shrine to baseball, and uncovered a few delights. 

There were all those old autographed baseballs, including the one I got Joe Torre to sign back in the early '70s when he played for the Cardinals, right before my sister's old Doberman Pinscher "Bo" teethed on it...



and the one I caught in the upper grandstand of Al Lang Stadium (before the "Devil Rays," before the desecration of futbol) during Spring Training of 1992, the only ball I've ever snagged at a major league contest (off the bat of the Phillies' Dale Sveum, later a Brewers and Cubs manager)...



And there was the autographed copy of George Plimpton's wonderful April Fool's saga of Siddhartha Finch, the book that I got him to sign in Cooperstown a couple of years before his death (his hearing must have been a bit off)...

 

And the mugs my dad bought for me, when the Cards won in '67 and lost to KC (and the 1st base ump) in '85. (Dad and I attended game 5 at old Busch Stadium.)

 
Another reminder: I don't know what time is, but I do know it's the most precious thing we have in shortest supply. So, time spent revisiting treasured artifacts of times gone by is anything but wasted. I almost look forward to getting back out there and rummaging some more.

==
Postscript. More interesting objects pulled out of the clutter...

  
This photo w/Older Daughter c.'96


 

 

 

And most ironically...



This all calls for a musical interlude. In '98 this was Older Daughter's favorite song:


"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone." Henry nailed it, once again.
==
Postscript, May 29. Let a lot of things alone, once the dust settled, but hauled a lot away too. Gonna miss that chair...

    









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