The Velveteen Rabbit Effect

Morning all. Coffee. Then I may have something to say.

My beloved childhood companion Fred Bare.

NOW, we're cooking with gas.

http://www.petermanseye.com/photos/566301

Mine, in time of real need, came from surprising sectors. A couple from The Eye, but more from people from my life who stepped up with love, prayer, comfort and hope and have remained by my side as a source of strength. It isn't often that you can find what your actions have meant to others. It isn't often that you're granted the knowledge that you are their courage and strength, their Veveteen Rabbit.

Pengy....it was a stuffed penguin. For a second there I could see from the height of a five year old,it being put on the shelf,in the closet,as I was getting too big ....ahhh,a dim memory. But for one whole second,I was there!

We still like to tease my oldest sister that she has no sentimentality.  The youngest boy in our family has a baby blanket that he toted around for YEARS, much like Lynus from the Peanuts comic strip.  My oldest sister was embarassed to be seen with him because he always had the blanket and it had become quite ratty. 
 
When she was 11 Kris went to a sleepover with her friends, she had grabbed a random sleeping bag from our attic to take with her.  The bag she grabbed had been the sleeping bag my brother had used when my dad took the boys to our church's father son campout.  At the party when she unrolled the sleeping Jim's security blanket (by now it was more of a rag) fell out of it.  She kicked it away from her to avoid the embarassment of being seen with it and one of the other girls found it and threw it away because she thought it was just a dirty old work rag.  Kris saw her doing it and didn't stop her.  Jim was heartbroken and looked for that blanket for almost a month before Kris finally admitted what happened.
 
I think I inherited the practicality gene from my mother and the sentimentality gene from my father.  I have several jeans, shirts, sweaters, and other items that are so worn out they are almost indecent, but I can't bear to part with them.  Part of me clings to them because of the memories they bring and another part clings to them because of the old refrain "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.".  My rule is that I cannot replace an item of clothing until it has been patched at least 3 times and is no longer fixable.

Hello, testing - testing - 1,2,3, is this thing on?
 
*crickets chirping*.
 
So anyway since the topic has not inspired much chatter, it is officially zucchini season here.  I've made chocolate zucchini bread, regular zucchini bread, zucchini lasagna, zucchini stir fry, and garlic parmesan zucchini latkes.  I'm out of zucchini ideas, any new recipes for this rabbit of the garden?

Zucchini fries, stuffed zucchini, noodles with sourcream and/or cottage cheese with shredded zucchini (shred on box grater, let sit for a while wring out water do not cook...heat of the pasta does it)& cheese, ratatouille, scalloped zucchini with onions, tomatoes & potatoes, roasted zucchini.....

Chefdeb thanks, I will try scalloped, fries, and ratatouille, I knew I could depend on you!
 

oh and a delicious chilled soup!

We may be missing so many because like me they have not received an Eye today.  I've been coming in the back door: going to yesterday's and clicking on "today's discussion."  How about the rest of you here?

I had a glass horse. I know it was an inanimate object, I know it didn’t have a native warmth to it like a stuffed or cloth animal, but it was something I could talk to, joke with, bounce a few ideas off its noggin. Then one day it dropped to the floor, shattered. I swept it up and wrote a poem. I could have asked “Is that all there is?” but I didn’t. I wrote a poem. I don’t want sympathy, empathy or another glass horse. I just want it recorded in the Village that at one point in my life, many years ago I was a sensitive kind of guy like Stoney or Peter Lake for instance. This is the poem.

Had he found warmth in that blanket of dust
As a shelter from cold night air
The glass horse would have dreamt a journey
Or grazed the spiral stair.

A crystal vision
Racing the waves
Over warm, biting sand
And hidden sea caves.

A misty vision
Through fading day
Matching quick gaits
‘gainst the swift salt spray.

Fleetly glass gelding
With an ocean night
In his dreams
Drifts out to sea.

I had a small, brown teddy bear named "Festus" (yes, after Ken Curtis' character in Gunsmoke) who protected me for years from the blood sucking vampires in my closet...

nachista~I've used several recipes from this blog and they've turned out very well (especially considering the fact that I'm usually a failure in the kitchen). The marinated zucchini salad with olives, artichokes and feta cheese is exceptional :)

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/08/twenty-zucchini-recipes-for-sneak-some.html

Only, ONLY, ONLY
because Mr. Peterman asked.  He did
ask and I like to stay ON topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Natg7SB_vI

GRAYGOOSE:
I printed out the marinated zucchini salad recipe. I like most of the thing that are in it and I think I'll give it a try.

"Are those REAL?" asked the bunny one day.

someone better stop me, that paragraph is not finished.

Meanwhile, I had a bloom last night and went out onto the deck this morning to check the other buds to see how they're coming along.
What to my surprise, I found one plant invaded with what looks like course black coffee grounds and stripped black and whitish caterpillars.
I cut it all the way down and put it in quarantine.
One of the others I removed a few branches, the other two look okay.
Any other suggestions from our gardeners would be gratefully accepted.
Should I spray it with garden and house plant spray?
 
These are like my velveteen rabbit.

Graygoose, thanks! 
 
Ahh Paolos, you made me smile.
 
Korthal I am always upset when my tiny garden gets invaded.  It is funny how attached to plants we can get.  Currently I'm battling wooly afids, grasshoppers, and wasps.  I think I'm losing.  Speaking of which if anyone has a sure fire way of getting wasps out from under siding I am all ears.

Then there is the velveteen Walter.  Talk about an unconditional chum. This is for all my friends in Wisconsin, Rings, Eli, Stoney...did I miss anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRsgaexTWng

RUSTY I came in the back door as well.

Do you think that people can be velveteen rabbits too?  Sometimes even the people I love, and who I know love me in return, seem to wear me a little thin.  Is that a horrible thing to say?  I don't want to be put on a shelf and ignored but sometimes too much attention gets old too.

Rusty....me too

I loved my dolls and bears as a child. I really could look into their souls (I thought). Those loved ones brought out the best in me.

I had to find my way in here today too. Paolos, I'm also a cheese head. Funny link.

I just made a zucchini gratin last weekend. It was pretty good. It was from either America Test Kitchen or Cooks. You slice a pound of zucchini, salt and let drain in a colander for 45 minutes, then place in between towels to get out as much moisture as you can. Take 2 onions, thinly slice them and carmelize on the stove in some olive oil for half hour or so. Thinly slice two tomatoes, salt and drain for 20 minutes and also place between layers of towels to get as much liquid out as possible, but do not seed because that's where there is al ot of the flavor. You make a mix out of fresh thyme, garlic, and olive oil, (about 1/4 c total volume) mix half of that with the zucchini. Put that in a greased gratin dish, top with the carmelized onions, then top with the sliced tomatoes. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes, then take 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs, 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and the rest of the olive oil, garlic and thyme mixture. Spread on top raise oven to 425 and bake another 10 minutes. This is from memory, so I may have some details wrong, but it was pretty darn tasty.

Yep, I came in via the bacpk door too (it sounds politically incorrect) and will check back ifrom the office......paolos, love your poem, I really do, it drew pictures in my head. Has anyone seen the current showing Ted, about a little boy's that teddy bear that grew up with him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxKfC77XAp8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

PAOLOS!! the poem is beautiful! I'm so glad you shared it...It brought back memories of a very special horse I used to have as a child...It coliced beyond the point of salvation and I had to make the decision to let him be put to sleep. I was 9. My first true love, my first REAL heartbreak...

All of life's tribulations pass easier in the companionship of a horse.

I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK. It is beautiful, charming, sad, & wonderful.

STONEY.....................when you're cooking w/ gas we all are! Your energy is palpable!
 
PAOLOS...............Beautiful poem..................the "are they real," could be taken several different ways....................hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm..........................

Graygoose...this photo is especially for you

http://bostinno.com/2012/08/08/a-horse-hugging-a-young-woman-redefines-adorable-photo/

Paolos, a touching and beautiful memory for you,thank you for sharing.My daughter had and still has a blue Grover doll from Seasme Street. This thing went everywhere with her, even on a trip where she forgot him and he had to be mailed back. She thought he could not breathe in the box and cried when she opened it. He sat at the dinner table too. His eyes and fur are all loved off. She has wonderful memories of safety and security with her Grover.

This is a bit of a tough topic for me today.  My dogs have gotten me through so much...illness, divorce, loss of a parent...and now one is dying.  It hurts so much to see them go, but she'll be better off in another place.  We're still in a holding pattern right now, but it won't be too much longer.
 
Andy, I'm glad to hear folks from the Eye helped you, because I'll need you all when the time comes.

I had a panda as a child, and like the Rabbit, it was real.  I talked to it, and pulled it's eyes off and wore its fur off...and it was never more beautiful to me than it was then.

SPRING:
That was a great photo. Horse and girl in love.

Been thinking of you and your dog all day Ginger...I knew this would be a sad subject...

I don't remember being attached to any embodiment of security like a toy or blanket. My sister though, had a pillow that smelt to high heavens.  However I did have Holy pictures which I would put under my mattress. I did, at various times, also carry images that embodied my hopes or ambitions. Like a little plastic puppy when very young, an aeroplane in my teens, a car as a young adult.  The mobile phone, unfortunately, became an extension of me at work, so much so that I was still on the phone with the office when I was in labour (I was running the dealing desk). I know a lady who actually gave birth on the floor of a dealing room.

Today, I still do feel insecure without a cell phone, but not as bad as before since I moved to Australia

RIP.....Helen Gurney Brown. Love, hate, or feel indifferent about COSMO magazine, this woman had bocce sized balls and a drive to be successful and make something of herself. I bet she's got pedicure stations spread out all around her eternal resting place................
 
GINGER.............being an animal lover I feel for you. It is heartbreaking to see a friend falter & fade..............Enjoy every minute you can w/ your beloved dog....................

SF~I do love the photo :) the mare I have now is a black and white paint that I've raised from an orphan...she & I have a special bond. At least for now, she feels like my one and only. I will post a picture soon. She's beautiful...
Great topic to induce comforting memories...

Thanks Graygoose.  You were right.  I almost couldn't comment.
 
Spring---couldn't send you a message so I left a note for you under my Mom's photo.

Ginger ~
You are in close company and when, as it must, the time comes, do what I have always done… cry.

When I was little, the creatures under the bed were afraid of me. I could hear them begging for mercy. The ogre in the closet hanged himself just to get it over with.
I had a stuffed chum who spent every night, nap and hospital visit with me. He shared with me: tears, dots of blood and snot from the times I was treated unfairly by my parents.
He will be part of me until there is no more me. He met his end in a bonfire as a result of some kind of epidemic and went bravely. People cried but I wasn't one of them.
 
http://www.petermanseye.com/photos/609741

I must have thirty tee shirts long sleeve and short. None has a pocket. There is a reason for that.

Miss IMarjorie ~ I knew there was another one out there, You are in good company. 

Walter can be a bit crass, but next to Spring's TED he is a choir boy. Thank you ladies for the kudos and Miss Nachista, any day that I can bring a smile to your face, I will count as a good day indeed.  

To all who have had to say farewell to a beloved pet remember that without the tears we would not understand the smiles.  They are related.

My dog is my kindred spirit.  I just received a message that my friend's dog died today.  It makes me realize how precious every second is  I have with my own dog.  My heart aches for my friend this evening.   My best friend and I believe soul mate lives 3,000 miles away from me.  If you have a dear one close, cheirsh the simple things, like holding hands and holding one another.  

Two weeks ago my 20 (!) year old cat suddenly became ill--I think he had a stroke, but the vet says no--and that hard decision had to be made.   The comfort is that he didn't really suffer at all....he had about a day's worth of confusion when he could no longer use his back legs to go places or turn over in sleep, but all in all, he had a peaceful end.  We are still full of sorrow at the hole in our lives, but we are at peace knowing that his end was quick and peaceful and he was fully himself until just before that day.

Stoney, I wish you could have shared my horse.

Sweet Escape
http://youtu.be/Zvj5yGp702U

Goodnight Village~sweet dreams :)

"Sweet Escape"
 
 
ESCAPE ... One of my very favorite Perfumes, on a Woman ... A subtle, alluring scent ...
 
ESCAPE for Men ... doesn't smell anything like the Girl Stuff ... and quite frankly, smells of Mold commonly found on the surface of the soil, in Flower Pots ...  Makes me Nauseous ...

Good to know.

Something to help us make it through the day?

Or night?

Oh, just drop in on the Village now and then.

And then all is well.

Just back from a brief few days in the cool of the 3,600 ft. mtns. of NC with friends, and am grateful for the topic and all the good sharing of memories and love objects. I appreciate the pictures and the girl loving the horse in a hug is especially sweet, Spring.

I am glad so many of our Villagers had love items to cling to if it made for a more stable childhood. I cannot remember ever having anything at all to hold on to. None of my dolls or toys were cling-worthy, and my mother threw away all my childhood things when she left my father and we moved away.

I guess what I missed most were my hundreds of comic books I had stacked 2 feet high in my closet...all gone in a day, we were in the car, mother driving away, and then we were in a totally different town and living in one room in a girls' dormitory in Jacksonville. It is odd, now that I see it in the context of all your good memories of teddy bears, blankets, pandas, and penguins.

I have "The Velveteen Rabbit" and read it to my own 2 children and I think they "got" it, as both had blankets and favorite stuffed animals. With them, I cut the blanket down til it was about the size of an index card, made sure it had satin binding, and kept it going through the laundry with the other clothes so it was clean-- his was yellow, hers pink. He's 43, she 41....wonder if they have those.

My favorite perfume is "Anais-Anais" by Cacherel of Paris. It is hard to find. On others I like "L'Air du Temps" or Eternity. It is said the smell of things is the most evocative sense for memory, so I suppose to remember childhood, we need to have something that smells like our home did in the early days.

Carol - Sympathy for your lost kitty. Twenty was pretty old,a nd I liked the way you described its life right up to the last day when it could not go. We could all hope to go like that! And for Ginger - I will be thinking of you as you say goodbye to your pooch of many years....It is sad to have to let them go, and that they don't have the same lifespan as humans.

Yes, like others mentioned, I just got here by clicking on yesterday's topic. Guess the Peterman's Eye Guy is taking a siesta. Which is where I am headed, but for 8 hours, as I had a long day of travel. Going to the pillows.

Ya'll up there in the club car .....behave, now, you hear?!! Some of us are asleep!

Still on the set. I still hit the mark eventually and like VR, I know that to become real you must be prepared to be a little uncomfortable.

Graygoose ~
Sweet indeed. Thanks for that.

bebe ~
Same could be said about you and has been.

Here is a hint: frame it. That old "T" shirt, pin it to a backing, and frame it. Same with those jeans, (make the letter "M" to fit the frame)...put them in a play-room, or attic, to be brought out for great anniversaries, or, like the 35th reunion, .....  Carole and I  both had Airdales (long before we met), that we missed very much. When we would take those long drives in the RV(huge front window),or just walk, the fluffy clouds in a beautiful sky could indeed form the shape of an Airdale on its back,feet up for a belly rub, or kneeling in the "dog speak' for "let's play"...we often saw our Airdales playing together...

Actually, the photo provided above is my now bear. He joins me of an evening out on the porch for a nightcap.
Chilled when it is sultry; tonight, hot tea
His main function these days is backup: let's say I'm going on about all the things I hate about Bob Beckel, and I was.
After a pause, he will remind me: "We have seen him eat."
"Oh, gawd, yes- thanks for reminding me."
"It was nothing."

A lot of bears theses days come to a sad and syrupy end in a smarmy funerary tribute piled up among the hastily purchased bouquets, photo paste-ups, guttering candles and other assorted melodramatic crap presumably to honor someone who has been plucked from our midst in an untimely or unreasonable way.
In the end rained and pissed on they are gathered up in great green garbage bags and tossed into the back of a truck.

I heard a young woman whose attractiveness was on the wing, describe how she dug around in the reject bin behind Goodwill the better to find a suitably worn example to present as her own.
The fact that I am ambulatory is all you need to know about why I didn't get the rest of her story.
Not much of a hurdle for the imagination though: "My dear Jason, I never thought that I would ever, ever part with my beloved teddy, Jack Dawson, (honk if you don't get the reference). For my whole life, he has as they say (and I wish they would stop saying it) been there for me. He has always had as they say (now, I'm begging) my back."
Really? Maybe having left your front, sides and ends exposed, he ought to have been called Derelict.

Time to curl up with the little pillow, Bucky Badger, for the night. On Wisconsin!

Wake up Miss Puffy.

The tech guys must be cuddling with their Velveteen Rabbits.

OK...i've been circling round and round, upstairs and downstairs and in my nightgown, tapping at the window, crying through the lock, are the tech guys still in bed, for bed's really for MY clock.

Tommy, I agree with your post, you do have be get hurt in order to become REAL. The story has so much in it. I read it to the senior citizen execise class I teach last year, they all loved it. I especially enjoyed those seniors who GOT IT!

I just got my link for today and it the Velvateen Rabbit.
What's up Doc?

Korthal, me too. Maybe the weekind for the techs is still going on.?? My thoughts and heart go out to those who have beloved pets that are near their end here with us. They will always be a part of who we are. My Aura May had to be put down 4 months ago, she is still alive and well in my heart. Blessing to all of you.

Stoney, your description of the bears' final resting place brings to mind a roadside marker I see each day on a road that leads to a road that leads to a road that leads to my cow herd...It marks the final resting place of a young child who was killed in an RV accident while her parents were taking her on vacation. At first, the "Descansos" bothered me to see it and I questioned the tradition. It made me uncomfortable. There was a white cross, a solar light, some flowers and, alas, a small bear. After years passed and I grew accustomed to seeing it, I noticed that the parents' visits were few and far between. The bear had become quite weathered and the flowers faded...the light disappeared. So, I began to tend to the anonymous little girl's descansos myself. Bears are cheap nowdays...They don't make them like they used to. But, in my own personal evolution, I've come to admire the tradition of the markers and when I refresh the young angel's place along side the road, it makes me feel such a deep sense of gratitude for the health and well being of my own children and my own life...I am so fortunate, after all...

Graygoose ~
Nicely said. You might appreciate this and it wasn't clear where or when it took place but someone at a county board meeting suggested banning road shoulder memorials: "Our cutter drivers have to stop, deal with them and replace them."
The cutter drivers stood to respond: "With respect, Sir, that information is incorrect."
"Are you," said the supervisor, "calling me a liar? I have had calls from someone who has witnessed this."
"I have," said the driver, "a list of numbers to call on mowing days. Someone will walk, bike or drive out to remove everything. We smile and wave without even slowing down and they replace things. So, whoever told you that they saw the truck stop for that, lied and you have repeated it." Badda bing.
This issue was tabled.

A separate little video piece on the donated crosses and stars was included. They were made of heavy galvanized channel box metal and painted dark green with a wreath hook and a welded two foot pointed stake. Very nice and one had been in place for twelve years.

And you are right. T.B. is a single malt bear.



 

In Chicago,there is the fairly recent culture of White Bicycles,as markers to the scene where someone met a tragic demise. These are maintained,and adorned,as flowered Headstones may be,at eternal resting places. I'm not sure about others,but to me it is a reminder to be vigilant as we share the road.

As Spring Fragrance and others have queried......

Why are we talking on Tuesday, Aug. 14 on the same topic page??

Where is our Mr. P moderator who puts up a new topic each day at 12:00 midnight?

Has the Village Sepia Train derailed or been diverted to a siding? Has the earth tilted on its axis?

Where is the topic for Tuesday, August 14, 2012??????????????????

Pssst, follow me down the rabbit hole: http://www.petermanseye.com/community/sporting-life/11541-the-game-of-kings

In absentia.  You can
thank me later, Tommy.

http://www.petermanseye.com/photos/566401

I'm behind, obviously.  I'm glad I missed this subject.  It's not one I like to talk about or think about or hear someone else talk about, so so sad, to lose one of these lovey sorts of things, especially pets........................Did make me think, and realize, with surprise, I don't recall loving a particular stuffed animal,I can't imagine why, I loved animals.  Maybe it's because I don't remember even having any stuffed animals - I had dolls.  Baby dolls.  Every kind of Baby doll, the ones that wet and the ones that didn't, and I had all this baby doll stuff, like baby doll strollers and baby doll beds, and it was always dolls.  With hard plastic hair.  Maybe it was supposed to prepare me for later life experiences, like being a mother to lots of little babies.  It didn't work.  I must have had my fill of wet baby dolls because I only had one child, deliberately.  Meaning I didn't long for two.  One was just right for me.   I wonder where those baby dolls went though?   My stuff - if I wasn't holding on to it - got given to neighbor kids (like my BARBIES!  orginal BARBIES worth a fortune, my mother gave away to a little girl named Jeanie without asking me) -  now I'm working myself up into a Mad at Mom thing, better stop.  I guess she was just sharing my stuff, but really, don't you think she might have asked?  My prom dresses too...to resale at the church, oh now I am mad.  Not like I'd wear them, but they were fabric memories, some very good ones ... oh well.  Spilt milk.  Poo.

For my best friend that I lost in 7th grade due to her going to a different school. Her name is Susan Lance. We were best friends since 4th grade and now we are opps  women don't tell their ages but we sat next to each other every year even the year that our one teacher seperated us we still stayed best buds. Nothing could seperate us. Lots of girls wanted to be our best friends but they never were like us. We competed in everything from reading to math. I wonder who was the smartest? We had our scables and fights but we quickly made up because those girls again wanted to take her place. Not happening! We never dimed each other out nor told any harmfull things like they do now on one another.Gosh how I miss her. Our best times were camping and playing Barbie's. They too were our favorite toys. We could pretend to be anybody. Even thou I don't know where she is I will always think of her and all the fun in grade school and the cool books she would read. If it were not for her I would not be reading books like she did. Girls were jealous of what we had but that's what best friends are. Cover each other's but and may the best friend not be on the opposing team which we were occacionally on but me being the Tom Boy I always gave the 100 and 10 percent. And sorry to say my team always won and she would be mad but got over it quickly and we would be back to being best buds. So here's to you Susan I miss you and wish for one day to be a kid again and have the time of our lives in 4th grade when we first met. Gale from Pa.