The Missing Sock Dilemma

Yesterday when I was outside gardening I realized I was on my last pair of socks. I always wear socks inside my wellington boots , even if it is 100 degrees. Which made me start to think about socks.

When both my boys were living at home I would be forever finding socks all around the house. They usually were rolled up in a ball as I think most teenage boys throw their socks at something automatically when they take them off. Some socks ( very few) would land in the laundry basket but some of the other places they were found in were quite a mystery; under the seat of the car, always at the farthest point under the bed , behind the couch and quite often out in the yard. Not always the boys fault with this last place as we always had dogs and old ( and new) socks were and are, a favorite play toy for dogs. Something about the smell I think.

Mike has a plethora of socks and even now always seems to be buying new socks. I, on the other hand, have just a few pairs which get worn out, holey or just lost. Which leads me on to my thought 'Where do lost/missing socks go?

When I do laundry I just hate washing socks. I sort them into lights and darks. That is okay. I get them out from the dryer and I have this mountainous pile of socks to sort but do they ever match up into pairs again. NO!

Have you noticed even when you buy socks in a set , say 4 pairs all the same color or pattern, after they have been washed they never seem to match up again. I spread them all out over the bed and perform the matching game. The ones that have a different knit, the short ones from the long ones but always there are some that never quite seem to match be it a variation in color shade, a different feel to the material, wrong size and of course , at the end of the game ,there is always the inevitable lone sock.

So I look in the dryer and its not there. I look on the floor by the washing machine and the bedroom , under the bed but no matching sock. This happens time and time again. Occasionally at a later laundry time, I might find the missing sock returning from its vacation and be able to match it but I still have a forever growing pile of odd socks waiting for its partner to turn up.

I noticed when I mentioned this to a friend she said the same thing happened to her . Just where do all these missing socks go? So if you want an answer to a question the easiest way is to 'Google “ it. Right ,so that's what I did. Would you believe there is a”Bureau of Missing Socks”. I thought it might be rock group or a infamous painting but no. It's supposedly an organization set up by the USA government at the time of the civil war to deal with issuing socks to its soldiers and continues to this day going through all kinds of strange and interesting changes. As I read all about it, it sounded like it would be the plot of a zany movie. Read about it here ( with your tongue in your cheek) http://www.funbureau.com/History/history.html

and decide for yourself if it is our tax dollars at work or just a wonderful fabrication. I still think it would make a great movie! And as an added bonus you'll find out how the catch phrase “Sock it to me “ originated. I bet , like me you thought it came from the TV series “Laugh In”

So I continued researching .

Well then I found out about sock gnomes and sock goblins. I bet you didn't know about these mysterious creatures either. It seems they are arch enemies . The sock gnomes have 4 feet and they are the ones that pilfer the socks but along come the sock goblins,the good guys, probably they wear white hats, and they are the ones that bring the missing socks back. I don't think they are winning this game so far at least in my house.

Rambling Through My Dreams

The best reason for having dreams is that in dreams no reasons are necessary. 

~Ashleigh Brilliant

Its already hot and humid in North Texas making it easier to fall asleep in the afternoon.

I usually sit down after lunch and read and quite often I drift off for a little nap. I do notice though that on these catnaps I never seem to dream.

Mind you, I have noticed even at night, I don't seem to dream much either or maybe I should say I don't remember dreaming very often. Now Mike, on the other hand, seems to remember in great detail all the convoluted twist and turns of his dreams. His dreams seem to be concentrated on mostly the ordinary things in life; work , projects, traveling etc. He has reoccurring dreams too of running through the airport trying to get to the airplane on time. This must be a relic of his working days that has stayed with him after all these years. He often wakes up with a person on his mind who he saw in the dream , someone he knew ages ago but can't remember the name. And then comes the invariable question, “ Remember that guy we went out with in London, the one with the piercing eyes and funny shirt? What was his name?"

When I wake up, immediately any dream I might have had, has disappeared. Just gone. I do remember once waking up because I was giggling and laughing so hard that it actually woke me up .And what was the dream about? I was in a dentist chair and had been having my teeth pulled out!! Dreams are very strange. Maybe it was my brain reminding me that I needed to go for a check up !!

The only other dream I can remember in detail was a dream I had when I was a very small child. I must have been about 3 or 4 years old. I was on a high wall of some kind in the middle of a big battle; there were soldiers wearing red and black uniforms and the noise and smoke and fire was everywhere, It was very real. Movie picture quality. Suddenly I felt a pain in my body and saw myself falling over a high wall,. I screamed , everything went dark and I woke up. Young as I was I can still feel how scared I felt. It might have been a night mare but it has lasted with me all these years. Where did that dream originate? I have thought about it and the dream could have been a reflection on the war and all the talk about World War 2 I would overhear but at my young age would not understand . This was in the days before television and I'm pretty sure I was too young to read so where did this dream come from. I often wonder about that.

The other thing I have noticed about dreams is that for years after we had moved from England to Canada and then to Texas , the dreams always seemed to reflect England. Even if I knew the house or the person in the dream was in Texas or Canada it always seemed to be in an English countryside. Now is that because I grew up in England and those are the oldest thoughts in my mind or because subconsciously I have never left England.

Some people reckon that if you take note of your dreams you can solve many problems. Seems logical to me. After all if you think and think about a problem during the day, maybe at night your mind can work on it at night and then the answer is solved in a dream. Maybe that where the expression came from “ I'll sleep on it”.

I know at one time they ( remember the department of they) said that if you wanted to learn anything you should tape it and put in under your pillow at night so the information would go into your brain and you would learn and remember your new subject. I have never tried it but not sure I could go to sleep with a voice coming from under my pillow.

Dream catcher 

photo wikipedia

Then there is the other kind of dream that maybe originates at night but becomes during the daylight an aspiring thought; something you plan or dream to do at some time. Maybe we should ask kids,"What do you dream you would like to do when you are grown up?" rather than "What do you want to be when you are grown up?" I think the answers would be very different. Dreams give you the idea of infinite possibilities. Maybe that is why we dream at night because then all our dreams become possibilities.

So as the song goes Dream on, dream on, dream until your dreams become true.

Or you could invest in a dream-catcher. That way only good thoughts and dreams will filter through the web and bad thoughts will fade with the light.

And do listen to Gary Wright singing . “Dream weaver” at youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N1wnJoFAl4 and continue to believe in your dreams.

Sweet dreams you'all.

The Eyes Have It.

Elizabeth Taylor died recently. She was one of the most beautiful ladies of all times, a classic beauty and a great actress and truly a star. As I was watching the reports on TV, I heard of her beautiful violet blue eyes, a color very special and rare but I didn't know she was also born with a double set of eyelashes which added to her allure and beauty.

Eyes do make a lot of difference to a person. If you are like me , it's the person's eyes that can make all the difference to my understanding of them. It is the part of the face that I can't help but notice and also the part I am drawn to. The eyes are supposed to be”the window to the soul” and I quite believe that. What is it that makes one person so special to us and another one, we can't abide. Could it be a glance in the eyes gives you a glance into the soul or being of that other person?

I think the color has something to do with our fascination with eyes. Think of some of the famous people you know, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra and immediately you think “blue, blue eyes”. I read somewhere that the blue eyes gene does not mutate like the brown eyes gene does . There have been people over the last 6000 to 10000 years that have had blue eyes and so in fact because of this blue eye gene, they are all related to each other. I am sure both my daughter in law and granddaughter will be very pleased to hear that they might be related to Paul Newman , Frank Sinatra and even Elizabeth Taylor.

And thinking about Paul Newman and his car racing career , I think there is something very special about racing car drivers and their eyes. They all have very penetrating eyes, no matter what the color. Is this something they are born with or does it develop with their skill? In the high speed sport in which they are engaged and where a lack of concentration can mean life or death, is this a trait they must have?

Now good actors , on the other hand, have the ability to show within their eyes different emotions and different characters .Even so, some are very much typecast by their eyes and how they appear. I can't imagine Robert Redford playing a nasty or cruel person not with his friendly eyes . Likewise Antony Hopkins just makes you shudder. Just think of him in “Silence of the Lambs” his eyes are just scary. Now we have such great technical make up and effects that can change a person's eyes and features so even Brad Pitt could become a monster.

 Bette Davis must have had outstanding memorable eyes because she even had a song named after her eyes. Remember “she had Bette Davis eyes,” kind of soft,sultry and sexy at the same time.

It's the same with cats' eyes . I don't mean the great device for helping us see along roads in the dark although I can quite see why those are called cats' eyes. Catch a real cat out in a dark yard and cat eyes really glow. 

Cats ,unlike dogs, do not show affection within their eyes but seem , at least to me, to be analyzing the situation and deciding on what their next move will be. That is not to say their eyes aren't beautiful because it is also a thing much noted in a cat. A cat's eyes are actually blue for the first 9 weeks and only gradually change color and sometimes what wonderful colors they end up with as well. Colors you would never see on a dog. Marmalade orange and emerald green and even yes , sometimes blue .

Dogs on the other hand have open, readable  eyes and you can see what they are thinking. Their emotions come through. See that sparkle when a dog gets a treat or you pick up a leash to go for a walk. No escaping the happiness gleam coming through. Likewise check out the dogs in a cage in a shelter .Nothing so pathetic and heart breaking as a sad dog's eyes waiting for someone to take him home.

Then of course there are the people and pets with odd color eyes. Most disconcerting in both I find. With animals, it can be a mark of deafness or some kind of eye problem but in people it has long been a note of high superstition . It led to accusations of being a witch or of possessing the evil eye , not a good quality to have in ancient times. I only remember Margaret, a lovely lady, who had odd eyes, a brown eye and also a green eye and she was the kindness and most loving and considerate person you could ever wish to meet, Certainly no witch but she did have outstanding but disquieting eyes.

NB. I do know my title should be 'The Ayes have it” not “The Eyes have it”but who wants to think about politics these days!!