CHAPTER 197: IMPRESSIONS OF MY LIFE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RECHERCHE POET FARE YE. WELL TO JOBS 2010

 CHAPTER 197 THE FARE YE WELLS TO JOBS.  2010

 

There would be a plethora of books beginning this decade.   One book of poetry, New Castle Lineman and three collections of essays:

 

A Writer Walks and Writes of Walking

 

Modern Inconveniences: Living With Frankenstein

 

This Old Man

There were about to be great changes in this decade that would effect to direction of my remaining life.  

 

The first concerned my occupation as a Stock Supervisor. I had worked successfully  at  Chico’s for a bit over six years.  But at the end
of 2009, for whatever reason, the powers that were in that chain decided to terminate Lisa Butler as the store manager, and somewhere in the same general time, the Assistant Manager Rhona Casey Clarke derided to cut ties as well. Lisa and Rhona  had been long tine close friends, plus Rhona was going through a separation and divorce. After this she dropped the Clarke from her name.

The company was putting pressure upon me to become a cashier. They were doing away with stock people, something I did not agree with. I liked my job in stock and was darn good at it. The sales staff did not like working in stock and was happy I was there so they didn’t have to, but now the company one to make everybody do al the jobs. The sales staff would be required to take their turn in receiving the new items, unboxing everything and hanging uo the clothes.

I would be required to man the cash registers and deal with

the clientele. I did not see myself being good at such a thing. I found many of the women who shopped with to be spoiled and disrespectful. They would come in and cry out to any one they saw with a sharp “hey you” They could often be over demanding and rude.  A Cashier would have to maintain a calm and pleasant attitude with dealing with these people. I have a lot of patience, but I knew how I was. I would put up with so much nonsense and then I would get sarcastic.

I decided ti resign, even though I needed the income. I left in February. 

I was not out of a job for long. Within a month I got a phone call from Lisa, who was becoming the Store Manager for Cold Water Creek at the Christiana Mall. She wanted to know if I would come to that store as the Stock Supervisor, of course my answer was enviously yes.

There was an orientation I had to attend given by managers of Coldwater Creek. It was held in a classroom at the  University Of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.  Om my first day of my new employment everyone was at the Christiana Mall to set up the new store. 

Trucks pulled int a alleyway behind one wing of the building
and  offloaded racks of hung clothes to we workers, along with several boxes of other merchandise. It was our job to take all this material down a hallway inside the mall and fill up the waiting empty store just down  from the entrance to Nordstroms.

The store was right along the wide hallway, across from a J&H and not far up the corridor from the Apple Store. There were great lines that formed at the door of the Apple Store and circled down the  corridors and out to the

parking lot ever time Apple introduced a new iPhone. Some even carried small chairs or stood to sit on while waiting. 

One time I noticed that a preponderance of those waiting were  Asian. I didn’t think we had that many Asi

ans in Delaware, we are a very small state, and I pointed this fact out to Lisa (right). 

“Oh,” I was told. “They weren’t from Delaware. The Asians were  from New York. Delaware has no sales tax. It is cheaper for them to  carpool down than to buy in New York because New York has a very high sales tax.”

We began setting the store in order, stocking it. It was not easy work  because there was a lot of merchandise. There was a lunch break and Coldwater Creek had food catered for us. It was a couple hours after that lunch that I felt woozy. I had to sit down. Never had this happen before. I thought in was really embarrassing, but then, I was much older than most of the other employees.  I had just turned 70. Lisa Butler (right) sent me  home to rest. I was back to work the next day for our opening and thought other of it, other than I was getting older.

My parents celebrated their 70th wedding university on June 21.

 

They renewed  their vows in a special ceremony at Bethal Methodist Church of Spring City. 

My father was now
retired  from driving both truck and school bus,  but at 92 he was still holding down a  job Both he and my mother worked as Sextons at the church.

 

We attended the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival again on 9/21 even though it rained. Maybe it was Nostalgia, for as a teenager my mother had worked in one of the Kennett square mushroom plants.

The same month my wife joined her log time friends for a luncheon. They called themselves theUpper Darby Butterflies. 

Carol Shuplus

Jackie West

Eely Weinmann

Pat West Ensor

MaryLou Marple Pappola

Lois Heaey Meredith

They had their little party at La Laconda, an Italian Restaurant along West Chester Pike near Newtown Square.

Playing games on Christmas Day. 

 

In June my kids took us all to a Blue Rocks game for Father’s Day.  The Blue Rocks are a High-A Minor League  team affilated with the Washington Nationals, and they play in Wilmington at the Judy Johnson Field in the Daniel

S. Frawley Stadium. Prior to 2021 they were affiliated with as a farm team of the Kansas City Royals, except in 2005-2006 when they were affiliated with the Boston  Red Sox. They have been in the Carolina League since 1993.  

It was always a relatively inexpensive way to spend a fun evening because they did a lot of  special hi-jinx

between innings, always entertaining. The Blue Rocks mascots have been Rocky Bluewinkle and the rather strange Mr. Celary. 

In July Laurel was out horseback riding with a friend. Laurel in on the left. 

In the same month she attended the Delaware State Fair in Harrington. 

 

It was on Just 10 that Ronald and I had a reunion with Stuart Meisel. This had been arranged by Stuart’s eldest daughter Leslie, who is a actress out of New York. She has performed in several off-Broadway productions and also on TV.

Stuart, Ronald and I met up in a shopping mall in Pennsylvania, there inseparable boys in Downingtown during the 1950s. Ronald and I have been in almost daily communications on

Facetime. He lives these days in the Lower Slower Delaware County of Sussex in the Southern end of the state, while I live in the North in New Castle County.  Stuart had the furthers to travel since he now lives in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, named for one of the forts build during the Second Seminole War.

 

We three in 1957.

 

We three in 2011.

 

It was in this period that my son and Jackie began going steady.

In October I bought a new  Apple iMac

On November 21, Lois and I  spent a day touring the Homewell Furnace Museum along Route 23 new Bucktown, Pennsylvania. We had Both visited this site several times in the past. 

Laurel, who was known by the nickname of Cat, became one for Halloween. This was for a party at the  shelter. She was in charge of the cats there.

Perhaps this was to be our last calm and peaceful year 

CHAPTER 196: IMPRESSIONS OF MY LIFE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RECHERCHE POET CHICO YEARS: MORE PRODICTION, 2009

 CHAPTER 196. CHiCO YEARS: MORE PRODUCTION  2009

 

I did in this year when I was hanging clothes at Chico’s, a book of Cover Art, a book of collected poetry, Me, Myself and Eye,

 and three books of essays: Bends of the  Brandywine,

 

Life, Death and the Lonely Arts

 

and Morning After the Night Before.

This filled n a lot of my time.

 

On April 1 we made another trip down to Lewes, Delaware, once again spending a couple nights at the Inn on Canal Square, where my friend Ronald worked.

We ate dinner the 
first day at The Buttery. 

That night we spent in our room being very romanic and giving the bed a proper workout. Such activity had not yet become old for us. 

The canal was ablaze with lights, so we could sit in the room and enjoy the view.

The next morning we
went for a long walk about the town. Unlike our prior trip when  it was still cold and blustery and most of the town was closed, now as we entered April things were opening up again and the walking weather was pleasant. 

Here we saw a cat and rabbit on a Hot Tin  Lizzy

\

And the guns of Battery Park 

 

And a house with a porpoise.

 

The three of us had dinner at Striper Bites, that is, Me, Lois and Ronald Tipton.

 

This is the outside of Striper Bites.

The blooms  were beginning to appear while we were
there this time.

These had become our days, when I wasn’t working, taking jaunts here and there. 

On July 3, thought things did not go as planned. We booked into the Courtyard by Marriott in Manchester County, just up and off Route 30 from Dutch Wonderland.  We had come specifically to walk through a corporate park I hd discovered on a  previous trip. 

We thought we could take a
nice ramble looking at the statuary, then spend a week visiting about dutch country, one of our favorite sites we had visited on and off for years, ever since childhood.

We did do a jaunt through the park. Despite it raining on us, then we walked  up the road to the Marriott, had dinner at the Dutch Haven Restaurant, then retired to our hotel room for the night. 

We planned to go to several sights the next day, but in the morning Lois went into the hotel bathroom to take a shower and she fell in the very slippery tub and badly bruised her  side under her arm. She was in quite a bit of pain.

I took this picture of her, then went down to the hotel desk
to complain about the dangerously slick tub. We cancelled the rest of the week I had booked and the hotel did not charge up for the night we had stayed. 

Given Lois’ discomfit, we decided the best thing to do was go home; however, even with her soreness, we did make a stop at the Mennonite Jewish Tabernacle since it was along the way home.

This is an exact replica of the Tabernacle Moses constructed in the desert. The Mennonites give a lecture-tour explaining all about this sacred Biblical place. It is very interesting and if you have a chance, go there. 

We stopped and had dinner at one of our favorite
restaurants on the way home. This is the Revere Tavern in Paradise, Pa. Everything about it is excellent. 

For our Wedding Anniversary on 9/16, we spent another weekend at the Borgata  in Atlantic City. This time I was careful of then mirrors. The  casino isn’t along the Boardwalk, but we could get a good view of the Boardwalk Area from our room

 

The room itself is spacious and nice.

We did take a bus out to the beach front  and walk around.

 

There was a Bark in the park sponsored by the Humane Association on October 23. This is one of the annual fundraisers they put on.  It was held at their headquarters on  A Street in Wilmington.

It is a Halloween Party, so everyone comes in costume. Noelle and her friends came as Nuns, Noelle (in the stripes) was the Nun on the Run. That is a fellow next to her and he was known as Sister Brother.

 

On Thanksgiving we went to the Gables of Chadd’s Ford,
which had become our tradition.  They serve  a large buffet each year and it as your usual traditional foods and then some.  

That is Lois and Noelle at the table in my blurry picture. 

 

We had Christmas at our place, just Lois, me and the kids. Due to age and scheduling we no longer made the trip up to my parents or them down to our place on Christmas Day.