Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Mmmm Lammmmb

Stop reading now if you think that the consumption of fiber bearing animals is cruel. You can resume reading after the next paragraph.

O.k., the rest of you can salivate as I explain that I entered the apartment to the smell of lamb sizzling on the stove. Pair that with mashed potatoes, grape tomatoes and a good red wine and then imagine how I feel right now. Comfy, sated and nice and relaxed.

The day was of neutral character -- nothing bad, nothing wonderful -- kind of a dreary, half rainy, sun never really came out sort of day. After work I headed over to Knitty City to check in to how the Harlots visit will go. Pearl gave me the dope and I got info on some other happenings there and left with a new book and some more sock yarn. Hey, did you really expect me to walk out without yarn?! That made the day a little less neutral, on the side of good. Dinner finished the transition. I really love lamb!

And now, for something completely different.

When my mother-in-law passed on last June we spent the summer cleaning out her apartment. We let a lot of stuff go to the liquidators but while they were doing the final clearout, they found a roll of papers and showed them to us. Including in these papers was this:Grandma Rose's teaching certificate. In the upper left-hand corner, third item down, is her file number, the gold standard of identification for a NYC teacher. I thought I was in shock when I realized last summer that DMILs file number started with a 1. (As in 100,000.) My file number starts with a 6 and teachers coming in today are numbered starting with an 8. Yes, the numbers are given out sequentially. Grandma Rose's file number starts with a 7 ... as in 70,000 ... and was issued in 1922. While my brain understands that obviously there were people with file numbers going all the way down, having the paper in my hands and being related, even by marriage, to one is really wild and warming. Over the next few days I will try to photograph more of these documents so they will be somewhat preserved. This is a small piece of history that I am glad the liquidators did not take.
And this may be the future of our world of education. We could do far, far worse.
And, if anyone still cares, these are one of the new pair of shoes. I shed them as soon as I walked in the door. My toes are a bit sore the heels were a bit too high. Flats tomorrow ... old flats!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooooooooooo! Lamb!

What wonderful things to find.

Cute shoes, but the girl is cuter.

Anonymous said...

I loved seeing that file number! I wonder when they began and if anyone really #1? This is something we always used to joke about at school. I'm retired now, but my file # was in the 400,000s.

Kirsten said...

Sorry about the fine new shoes hurting. :(
I find old documents like that amazing - so wonderful to have from a loved one!
So what did they say at Knitty City about the Yarn Harlot's visit. I was thinking it would be mayhem. The e-mail I got said that the only ticket you need is the book. That store isn't big enough to accomodate the crowds she's been attracting. I would love to see her though.