Betty's Attic
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Friday, May 27, 2016
John Wayne would have been 109 years old yesterday. Born Marion Mitchell Morrison, "The Duke" was one of my favorite cowboy heroes. Tough. Fair. And for a man of so few words, he always had something smart to say.

As I was watching some of his old movies on DVD this week, I decided to gather up a few of my favorite quotes to share with you in honor of his birthday.
  • Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
  • Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much.
  • Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.
  • Get off your horse and drink your milk.
And my favorite of all:
  • When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I'm not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won't be disappointed in me.
I was never, ever disappointed in a John Wayne movie or in the man. To me, he was and still is, one of America's greatest heroes. On screen and off.


Posted by: Betty | 12:00 PM | permalink
Friday, May 20, 2016
Memorial Day is coming up on May 30th. It's one of my favorite holidays of the year. We get a day off of work. It's not too cold and not too hot outside. And we always do something fun, like going to one of the parties or backyard cookouts in the neighborhood or packing up the car for a camping trip.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are from the first holiday weekend of the summer season.  But my parents never let us forget that Memorial Day is about more than pre-summer parties. It's about honoring the people who gave their lives to serve our country. After we were finished swimming, playing and eating, we'd all gather around my grandfather and listen to stories about the brave soldiers he fought with. It was our small way of paying tribute, remembering and honoring the fallen.

Today, I continue the tradition in my own family. No matter what we do or where we go, we always take a couple of hours to settle down and listen to a soldier.  To remind us that we enjoy our freedom because of the men and women who were (and are) willing to risk all — and give all — for their country.

Posted by: Betty | 10:20 AM | permalink
Friday, May 13, 2016
Raggedy Ann is looking pretty good for her age! The iconic doll turns 101 years old this year and she hasn't changed a bit. She still wears her traditional calico dress, pinafore and striped leggings. And she still has all the features I fell in love with — from her red hair to her button eyes to the I Love You heart on her chest.

I must have gone through dozens of Raggedy Ann (and Raggedy Andy) dolls when I was a kid. I dragged them around with me everywhere. Sometimes by their arms or legs, sometimes by their red yarn hair. That was the great thing about the rag dolls. You could wear them out, but you couldn't break them like some of the other dolls I used to have.

Most of my Raggedy dolls are retired to the attic now, but a few of them hold places of honor next to my 'adult' collection. Sure, they're a little bit worn and faded, but they remind me of those long ago days when Raggedy Ann and I went everywhere together.

Posted by: Betty | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, May 6, 2016
My grandfather introduced me to numismatics (coin collecting )when I was just a kid. We'd dig through bag after bag of unsearched coins looking for a rare find — like a minting error or a coin that could complete some series he'd been working on.

My granddad was always on the lookout for the Million Dollar Nickel. We'd have piles of nickels spread out on his card table and he'd tell me the story of The Liberty Head Nickel (even though I'd heard it a thousand times). The nickel was first issued in 1883, without the text to indicate its five-cent denomination. It didn't take long for some unscrupulous folks to cash in on the mistake.

The most famous was a deaf-mute named Josh Tatum, who allegedly gold-plated the nickels and passed them off as five dollar coins. The popular story is that Tatum wasn't convicted for his crime because no one could testify that he had said anything fraudulent.

But the story doesn't end there. In 1912, the mint was ordered not to produce the nickels in 1913--they were supposed to wait for the new Buffalo nickel design. So how and why did five or six 1913 nickels get into circulation? Nobody really knows, but the last one to surface in 2013 sold for over $3 million! The buyer said he would have paid $4 million. I don't know about you, but I'll be looking closely at every nickel I see from now on!

Posted by: Betty | 8:00 AM | permalink
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