Thursday Thirteen

I don't do "Thursday Thirteen" on Funny the World, but I do do it on Airy Persiflage. It's a weekly meme that just lists 13 random things every Thursday. Everything from "things you can find in my purse" to "Things I Love to Smell" to "Ways to Stay Warm" to "Things I remember about the 1950s."

(If you're interested you can go to Airy Persiflage, the mirror image for this site, and check the right column for "Labels" and click on "Thursday 13," which will bring up only those entries. I've been doing it for 82 weeks now.)

This week's Thursday 13 was a list of "things I can see from where I sit at my desk" and Kwizgiver left a message, What a delightful collection! And I bet the stories that go with each item are very interesting!

So I thought I would write the stories that go with each item. You'll note that most of them are very dusty, and most not really all that interesting.

1. A back scratcher. Actually there isn't really any special story about this item. My back itches frequently and I started buying back scratchers many years ago. If they break or a drop them and a dog gets to them, I just go and buy a new one.

2. A Simpsons clock. This was a gift from one of the kids, I think. Probably Ned. But it seems as if I've had it forever. It hasn't worked in years.

3. A Gumby keychain. I gave this to Gilbert once, which makes it at least 25 years old. I took it after he died and it has hung on my cork board ever since.

4. A clock from Austraila. This was a Christmas gift from Peggy about ten years ago. I keep it on Australia time.

5. A portrait of me painted by my doctor-boss. This was a 1998 going-away gift from Dr. Conrad-Forest, when I parted company with Women's Health. She was experimenting with painting at the time and this represents what she thinks of me. I've never figured out if this is a good thing or not! (I don't know if she still paints...I should ask her...)

6. A cobweb covered calendar displaying July 1986. This was hanging on the styrofoam board it still hangs on when Gilbert died (he died July 14). I took the board, posted it in my office and have never taken it down.

7. A paper apron made for me by a kindergarten class. I think this was Paul's class, because I used to go and teach cooking in the class once a week. Originally it had a check pattern on it, but it has been hidden behind other things for years and I haven't seen the front of it. There is a post-it note attached to it, but the words have long since disappeared.

8. A publicity photo of Judy Garland in A Star Is Born. (I won't bother to photograph that)

9. A canned wombat. A gift from some weird lady in Australia.

10. A gargoyle sucking its thumb, which was a gift from my friend Lynn, who now lives in Texas. She just thought it was cute and wanted to get it for me. It sits in a line with a bottle of Fiji water, which I just kept because it was a pretty bottle, and an angel, which Peach bought me one year because she just had a feeling that I was going to need an angel to watch over me. Two years later, David died.

11. Buttons from gay pride events, from the days when we had a Gay Pride day in Davis and I used to work at the prize table for all of the give-aways.

12. A ceramic goddess. This was made by a woman who visited our writing group one day and brought a goddess statue for each of us. This actually is the Venus of Willendorf, which I believe I first saw in England.

13. A cardinal beany baby. I bought one of these after I returned home from Houston many years ago. I had gone to help with my friend Mike's partner, Bill, who was about 3 years away from dying of AIDS. Bill and I would spend hours in the family room watching birds at the bird feeder in the back yard. It was here where I saw my first cardinal and I loved those birds so much that when Bill went into the hospital the next time, I bought him a cardinal and sent it to him, and got one for myself as well. He had it in his room when he died.

The cardinal is joined by a stuffed emu that Peggy sent to me for Christmas one year, and a little kangaroo that her dog, Chippa brought to me the morning I left Australia.

And there ya have it, Kwizgiver. I hope this answers all your questions!