Tales of the Whetstone River made its debut in this paper more than a year ago. From November 2019 to January 20, 2021 twenty columns have appeared. Previously blessed with a good memory, I find I’m increasingly forgetting things.
“It’s the pandemic. Because of the stress involved everybody seems to have lost their focus,” a friend reassures me.
“All of us, as we grow older, are having the same problem,” another person says.
Our brains begin to fill with memories the moment we’re born, though we can’t retain them until typically we’re three or four years of age. As we gather more and more, some are pushed down, making way for more recent ones, and in time we have layers and layers of “forgotten” memories.
“Misplaced” would probably be a more appropriate term, as in the frustrated cry by young and old alike, “Now where did I put my cell phone?” Recently when I visited my son, I heard my nine-year-old grandson asking, “Has anyone seen my iPad?”
I’ve written about geodes and ice fishing, angel food cakes and red maple blossoms, frogs and music. In so doing I’ve spotlighted acts of generosity and stubbornness, risk taking and common sense, and thoughtful time-consuming actions of love.
I hope you won’t think I’m presumptuous if I ask you, my reader, a few questions to test your memory. How much do you recall of those columns? Here are a few questions. For the answers, please see the bottom of this page.
1 What was almost lost on an ill-fated fishing trip?
a) fishing pail
b) winter gloves
c) ice house
2 What composer’s music was compared to nature’s sounds?
a) the Beatles
b) Brahms
c) Beethoven
3 What unusual plants did I care for on my terrace?
a) holly
b) weeds
c) avocados
4 What gift did my mother give my siblings and me each birthday?
a) stockings
b) angel food cake
c) a dollar bill
5 Which name is not a name of a brother?
a) Bob
b) George
c) John
6 Which town did I not travel to shop for clothes?
a) Aberdeen
b) Ortonville
c) Watertown
7 What was in the box from North Dakota?
a) oatmeal cereal
b) toilet paper
c) apples
8 What small, slow-moving creature made it across the road?
a) caterpillar
b) turtle
c) salamander
9 What scary thing lurked in the corner of the science room?
a) a rotten squash
b) a spider
c) a skull
10 What color did a piece of fabric and a waterfowl share?
a) orange
b) green
c) teal
11 What items did not make it safely from Illinois to Manhattan?
a) jars of jam
b) glass ornaments
c) tomatoes
12 What weed did my father hate the most?
a) dandelions
b) leafy spurge
c) thistles
Missed a column? Want to refresh your memory? More of my writing and all of my columns are on my website barbarascoblic.com.
Now, where did I put my cell phone!
ANSWERS:
1. c
2. c
3. b
4. b
5. b
6. a
7. b
8. c
9. c
10. c
11. a
12. b