Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

      More Letters From Paradise
       Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
      The songwriter, Jerome Kern, wrote the song which is the title of this entry in my blog.   Not only does smoke get in your eyes, but every where else.  In your lungs, on your clothes, etc.  Girls say that kissing a man who smokes, is like licking an ashtray.
      And yet, people still smoke, in spite of all the health risks.
      I was happy to see that the CVS chain of drug stores will stop selling cigarettes.  They think that selling smokes was poor policy when they were selling health products at the same time.
It all began with the Indians who grew tobacco for ceremonies and peace pipes.  Then Sir Walter Raleigh brought the smoking habit to England.  Remember the story of how he was smoking a pipe, and someone threw a bucket of water on him, because they thought that he was on fire?  Good for whoever he was, there should be a statue for his early effort.  Tobacco became an important crop in the colonies, and men became hooked.
      In London at that time there were coffee houses in which coffee was in vogue.  Coffee never really caught on, and it wasn't coffee that was dumped in Boston Harbor.  If coffee didn't catch on, tobacco did.
      Smoking became a part of American culture.  I remember as a kid (early elementary) trying to copy our elders, by smoking dried Tiger Lilly stems.  They drew really well, but you didn't want to inhale.
Then, among all the candy on the market, there were even candy cigarettes.
      When you watch some of the old movies, everyone was smoking.  Some of the early ads were, "I would walk a mile for a Camel," or "LSMFT,  Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco."  Also Chesterfield, with "they satisfy," or,  "More doctors choose Chesterfields than any other brand."
       Were we nuts or what? Nobody suspected the dangers in smoking.
       During WWII,  cigarettes were included in K Rations along with crackers etc.
       I began smoking in high school.  My father smoked, my mother did not.  He would send me to buy him a pack of Camels. Ugh! no filter either.  I began with a pipe, called a Yellow Bowl. There were many styles to choose from.  One time after I brought home a pack of Camels for him, and I forgot to give him his change, and he looked through the pockets of my coat and found my pipe.  The next morning at breakfast there sat a fine, dark briar pipe.  I played dumb, "So you have bought a new pipe?"  His reply was, "Throw away that damn thing you have, and smoke something good." He went on to say that the pipe had belonged to a British soldier who was sea sick, and was about to throw it overboard.  This was Normandy D Day plus two, 1944.  I no longer smoke, but I wish I had kept that pipe.
      When I was in the Navy, nearly everyone smoked.  I was on a carrier, and we often refueled destroyers while still underway.  Movies were exchanged, along with obscene gestures.  Word was passed, "The smoking lamp is out."  It was also the same when bringing ammunition aboard.  Smokes were cheap.  Guys who were in the service earlier, often said that a package of smokes could get you anything.  They were still only ten cents a pack when I was in the Navy.  Buck a carton, sealed in wax paper.  I smoked sea store smokes during my freshman year of college that I brought back in my seabag.
      When I first began teaching I was still smoking.  I grew some tobacco, twisted it in to fists, and hung it up in the corn crib to dry.  When dry I crumbled it, and tried it out.  Not very good.
I quit smoking cold turkey.  My buddy, George, used some psychology on me.  He said, "Are you in control, or is that smoke in control?"  I always thought I was in control, at least most of the time.  But when he said beer and other food would taste better, I was sold.  He was right.
      If you don't smoke, think of how much money you save.  Smokes here in Honolulu cost $7.80, per pack!  And that's on special.
      And in conclusion, as someone once said, when trying to quit smoking, "In order to quit smoking, call up a friend and go and get drunk."
            Aloha
            Grant
             

Witching

       More Letters From Paradise
               Witching
      Any Canadians reading this blog, please disregard the following question.
      Quick- What is the capital of Canada?  If you answered Ottawa, congratulations.  Most Americans can't answer the question correctly.  The school where I taught was some forty miles across from Canada.  Yet most of my students didn't know the answer.   So I taught a class about the history and culture of Canada.  I obtained, with some difficulty, Canadian text books.   I met with the head of the history department at Assumption High School in Windsor, Ontario.  His name is Reno Bertoya, who  used to play third base the Detroit Tigers.  He and his associates were most helpful.
      What has this to do with witching? you ask.  Well, in one text which was sociological in nature, there was a chapter on witching.  It seems that there are men who are employed by Ontario Hydro who use witching to locate  underground water pipes.  The article went on to describe how to cut a wire coat hanger so that you have a long piece of wire.  Bend it into a right angle about four inches long. If you have followed directions, you should have an L shaped tool.  Then holding the short side loosely in you hands, do not grip, seek the source of water.  If there is water, the long wires will point to the source. Or, you can hold the long part of the wire, and the short part of the wires will move and sometimes cross.  I know this is true, as I have seen it done.  I took my students out onto the football field, and knowing in advance where the pipes were located, some of them could locate the pipes.  But, strangely, not everyone could do it.  Old timers will tell you that some people could use a peach branch in the shape of a Y, and then tell you where to dig a well. The use of a willow branch is often mentioned too. Try it, don't take my word for it.    

           Aloha
           Grant