Earrings

Recently I had occasion to call one of my credit cards, to check on the billing date and amount owed.  The card is in my male name - a name now used almost exclusively by females.  I softened my voice a bit, like I did the other day for the call to check on the gas discount.  And Voila!  I was addressed as Mrs, both initially and throughout the call. 

There's no chance that my wife's name or info got stirred into the mix...she isn't on this account.   So, go figure.  Perhaps the clerks there just completed a diversity training class, and she wanted to be "correct."  I'm usually addressed as Sir on the phone.  Could the reason be my now-female first name? 

Do you remember Mom's pretty screw-type chandelier earrings, which I had repaired by a jeweler last summer?  (You've seen this picture before...):

Below is a picture of my mother (face blurred for her privacy and my father cropped out) wearing these same earrings.  (Sorry about the slight fuzziness - that's because I had to enlarge Mom's portion of the picture, to make the earrings large enough to recognize.)  It was taken in 1950 or 51 at the apartment my parents and I lived in at the time, and is the first solid evidence I could find of their true age, since Mom's memory has failed.  "Doing the math" says this was about 66 years ago...   So perhaps they're not costume jewelry, after all?   If they're real, they definitely have a couple of artificial stones in them now.

But either way, they're pretty!

Back then, who would have believed that many years later, her son - well, more appropriately Mandy  (the daughter she never had), would be wearing them proudly?  I just wish there were more occasions for me to be able to wear them!

Now, I leave you with a picture of the Mitchell (SD) Corn Palace, .

Wikipedia says it was originally known as "The Corn Belt Exposition,"  built in 1892 to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. A wooden castle structure on Mitchell's Main Street, it was built on land donated by Louis Beckwith, a member of the First Corn Palace Committee   ^]In 1904–1905, the city of Mitchell mounted a challenge to the city of Pierre (SD) in an unsuccessful attempt to replace it as the state capital.  As part of this effort, the Corn Palace was rebuilt in 1905. In 1921, the Corn Palace was rebuilt once again, with a design by the architectural firm Rapp and Rapp of Chicago. Russian-style onion domes and Moorish Minarets  were added in 1937, giving the Palace the distinctive appearance that it has today.

Those exterior corn murals are replaced and redesigned each year with a new theme. Designs are created by local artists. From 1948 to 1971, the artist Oscar Howe designed the panels. Calvin Schultz designed the murals from 1977 to 2002. Since 2003, the murals have been designed by Cherie Ramsdell.

In 2006, no new mural was created due to the extreme drought.

Based on the age of the cars shown, the picture above, from our family archive, appears to have been taken in the late 60's or early 70's by my wife's parents, now both deceased.   Enjoy!

Till next time, be safe...

Mandy