The Blaisdell Blog

I recently posted a picture of myself and my husband on a hike up Spencer’s Butte in Eugene, Oregon.   Last year our opportunities for hiking were rare so this trip, on my husband’s birthday, was a genuine treat.   When I posted the pictures I was, once again, struck with a feature that has always dismayed me: my crooked teeth.                         Those who are about my age know that there was a time when braces were considered an affectation for the rich, not a medical necessity.   When my teeth started coming in in every direction they were first ignored and then, when family finances finally got to the point where dental care was an option, were given the standard fix.   If there isn’t enough room for the teeth you’ve got, take out a tooth and let the remainder fill in as they will.   Now, mind you, God and nature have given me many wonderful gifts and I wouldn’t trade a single one of them for pretty teeth, but vanity is a sneaky and pervasive imp.               In a

Do you have a default setting on your books, television, music, food…?   Most of us do.   When wandering through a bookstore my first stop is biography.   My music is Sinatra, food is salty/crunchy, and television is Turner Classic Movies.   I love the old black and white movies.   So, the other day I switched on the television and went straight to TCM for something to watch while folding clothes.               I tuned in mid-movie but still knew exactly where I was.   It was the hospital scene in the 1948 movie I Remember Mama .   The curmudgeonly Uncle Chris is trying to relieve the suffering of his grand nephew by singing a Norwegian-American ditty.             “ Ten thousand Swedes Came Through the Weeds…chased by one Norwegian!”             In a single phrase I was time traveling.   My Dad loved to recite that doggerel.   He would carry on for more than one verse, always ending with the homage to the daring and infinite resourcefulness of my father’s people—that one red