Pickles by Brian Crane for July 06, 2012

Last chance for you to change your mind, Nelson. Just think of all the excitement you might be missing out on.

“Bake your own cookies from now on Nelson”.

Oh Goody, THREAD, last time it was yarn — or was that yawn…

…followed by ice-cream at the drug store!

Fabric store!? A place more exciting than the laundromat!

Unlike for many of you, this is actually humorous for me. I had spent so much time in the yard goods at that age with my mother that by the time I was actually working at the Dept. Store I was one of the very few guys that could properly measure fabrics with the machines and knew what notions were. Helped keep me out of trouble and on the payroll until I went off to College.

Knowing that, I don’t think Nelson would have changed his mind. I sure wouldn’t have. Been there, done that and hated every moment of it.

Opal I suggest you rethink your idea of fun.

If you’re going to force a choice, then you gotta live with it without slapping on consequences after the fact. I’m guessing most boys would choose to do something fun with grandpa over grandma. And after a certain age, most boys would choose to do something with dad over mom – assuming reasonably equal and affable parents and grandparents, of course.

Sorry Opal, Nelson is the wrong one, you need a grand daughter to go thread shopping with you. I have 5 grandsons and I just have accepted that they would rather spend time with the guys in the family than me or their mom. I have 2 grand daughters but they do not live close so we don’t get to shope together, besides, they are too young to shop.

picking out thread at a store is not what a little boy would call fun.

Be still my beating heart! Joy of joys, picking out thread! Yeah, sure. That should be a world of fun.

Hmmm, picking out thread or blowing up weeds with firecrackers… it’s so hard to decide which is more fun.

Yes, but who’s their favorite when they get hungry???

I’m sure Nelson will really miss that trip to the Fabric Store.

I think Opal forgets Nelson’s a boy.

Ken Coffin: I had fun in a fabric store with staff reactions. I went in with a micrometer to measure some thread. They were finally convinced I wasn’t totally nuts when I explained I was repairing a ship model at the maritime museum and needed to duplicate the rigging.

Awwwwww. Poor Opal.

Ask your daughter next.

xxx

GRANDPA !!!!

I adored my grandmother and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. She could be strict ( and very often was ) but she was always kind, warm, and understanding – and an incredible baker and cook. But fun ? I don’t think so. Neither she nor my grandfather came from a generation where parents or grandparents were supposed to be fun. They were too busy working to put food on the table and clothes on the kids backs. Although my grandson loves his Mamah and enjoys his time with her, I know ( and yes it’s a male bonding thing ) he’d rather hang out with me or his step-father.

When my sons were growing up, I asked them if they knew who their father’s favorite was. They told me without hesitation. Then I asked them if they knew who my favorite was. That stumped them, they had no answer. That told me I was doing my job right and they wouldn’t be lying on a couch in later life saying “mom loved him better”. In reference to Grandma’s, my paternal grandmother was the greatest grandmother. We knew she loved us unconditionally.

I got dragged to many a fabric store with my mom in my childhood. The worst part was there was never anywhere to even sit down, because the stools at the pattern counter were always taken by customers, chatting or shopping or both. For some reason, fabric shops made me intensely sleepy—I literally just wanted to curl up somewhere. Mom blamed it on me being bored and obstreperous, but now I think it was sizing and dye chemicals. I know many people retired from the textile industry at one or another level and they speak of acquired sensitivities. As a kid, maybe I was just very sensitive to what they refer to as “out-gassing” (a term that would have cracked me up back then.)

I too sometimes suffered the trips to the fabric store

or the laundromat as a kid (no babysitter handy.)

But it was OK with me because mom didn’t like to cook,

so I knew that I had a tasty cheeseburger and malt to

look forward too afterwards at the drug store..

Leghorn: Yep. Next time I came in, they asked “Black or ecru?” Black is coarser for the tar-preserved standing rigging, while ecru is the thinner raw hemp running rigging. I had explained it when I was in that first, obviously memorable, time.

Be still my heart! I can’t wait! Grandma wins! NOT!

I’m reminded of an episode way back of Home Improvement where mom tried this on her youngest, about 10 at the time I believe.

“Would you rather take gymnastics” (with gymnastics pronounced in the most syrupy sweet way) “or karate” (quick deadpanned pronunciation as if to get over saying this dirty word quickly)

Her son’s response was analogous to Nelson’s.

“I can take KARATE???” (Oh boy! excitement)

Yes, the first three words of this comment are a tribute to another character on that show.