Thought for the Day (Sept 21)

Subject: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 09:44 AM

Sept 21 -- Nature, like all great artists, has one or two guilty pleasures, where she just lavishes attention way beyond need. Degas had paintings of his he never sold; Michelangelo had little sculptures he chipped away at, obviously simply to express his exuberance. One of Nature's guilty pleasures is the horse chestnut tree. In our city, the downtown is graced with thousands of horse chestnuts, planted after the American elm blight at the turn of the century. As a result huge chestnuts grace many streets -- and at this time of the year, the streets are full of chestnut pods. Can there ever have been a tree that gives such unnecessary, quite different, and yet wildly spectacular beauties? In May, the chestnuts flower in immense towering white candelabra covering every tree, so one walks down an evening street feeling as if there were footmen standing there illuminating your passage through some glittering green ballroom. Then in the fall, the whole tree becomes covered in the equivalent of those wicked medieval bulbous spiked maces, the chestnut pods. And one morning, the street litters with busted pods, and inside are the most beautiful chestnuts, polished to a deep brown sheen like tiny exquisite wooden tabletops. When horse chestnut trees were imported from Turkey (their original home), it was believed that these chestnuts helped horses with breathing problems, hence the name (in Latin, hippocastanum). The streets run with them, and by the museum the hot chestnut sellers are beginning to rev up for fall. I have picked one of these little ovals up, and carry it with me today, rubbing it, and marvelling at its fine shape and ingrained pattern. Nothing really, just another of Nature's old chestnuts..... (p.t.)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Bert
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 09:47 AM

Which reminds me of a question I asked in another thread, "Do the kids over here play conkers?".

Bert (Shut up 'Spaw)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Allan C.
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 09:59 AM

Sure they do, Bert. Well...I think they do. On the other hand, maybe they don't. That is to say, they might if they knew what it was. Or maybe they do, but call it something else. Can you tell us how to play "conkers"?

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 10:00 AM

How could I forget to mention conkers? What a tree.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Bert
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 10:15 AM

To play 'conkers' each kid has a horse chestnut (a conker) a hole is drilled through from to to bottom and a length of string threaded through the hole. The first kid holds up his conker suspended on the string. The second kid swings his conker aimed at the first kids conker and (with luck) hits the first kids conker. Then the positions are reversed and the first kid gets to swing at the second kids conker. They carry on like this, each hitting the other's conker, until one of the conkers is destroyed. The surviving conker then gains a point and becomes 'a one-er'.

During the season the game is played by everyone in the school and kids who own the highest scoring conker gain great esteem.

Due to the intense competition, cheating is rife, and unsrupulous kids resort to devious methids (such as baking) to impart additional strenght to their conkers.

Bert

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Allan C.
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 10:35 AM

Cool! I'll bet if the kids I grew up with knew about that game, we would have played it.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 10:50 AM

Embellishing slightly on Bert's crystal clear explanation, there were deep disputes about whether it was the hardness of the conker, the swiftness or angle of the blow, or magic, that would signify a winner. Some people rubbed them a lot, because it was felt that they would slide off from impacts on their own oil. They seemed to get better as time wore on, perhaps because they dried out, or the insides got slightly crushed if they didn't break apart. There were also expert drillers, because of course the drilling weakened them. I had one that nearly became school champion, but lost in the semi-finals.
I never thought about cheating. Could such things have gone on? Could the fix have been in? I never did trust Harrison anyway. I wonder where he is living now, could I phone him up and accuse him? Hmmmmm.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Bert
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 11:01 AM

Of course it was a real 'no no' to use a conker that had been kept from the previous season. Any very dried and wrinkled specimen was suspect and very often banned from competition.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Mían
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 11:18 AM

maybe that is how tetherball evolved here - sort of like bashing a conker in effigy...

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Emily
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 12:02 PM

Thanks Peter T. for bringing back some wonderful memories. I grew up in New England and the house at the top of the street had a grand horse chestnut in front. Every fall we'd fill large grocery bags with these beautiful brown nuts. We never did anything with them, but they were just too beautiful to throw away. It was sort of like picking up shells or pebbles on the beach, each one as wonderful as the last and too precious to just leave there.

Oh the joys of a New England fall. I now live in Texas where and I don't think the trees even know about seasons. My pecan tree just isn't the same as the lovely horse chestnet tree.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 12:43 PM

Pecans are good. Chestnuts are good. "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't...."

Peter T...the word-portraits you create are so vivid before my mind's eye I feel like I can almost reach out and touch them. Instead I linger here for a while, from a small distance, and ponder; playing over the image, imprinting all the rich subtleties until something (like work) drags me out of my revelry. (I hate when that happens). Thank you for beautifying my mental landscape.

P.S. I still laugh out loud when I think of that send-up of "Casablanca." A stroke of clever and hilarious genius!

Regards, Neil

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 01:47 PM

I always appreciate the thanks, and am a worrier about whether the reader will get fed up, so, well, thanks for letting me know you like these. My problem now is I have to find a kid to play conkers with -- Bert is too far away.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 02:13 PM

I'm not fed up...just miss the heron, that's all.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 10:58 PM

Very interesting information on the horse chestnut. I always carry a horse chestnut (buckeye) in my pocket. It goes way back to my childhood and my grandfather. He always carried a buckeye in his pocket and I remember him telling me that carrying one would prevent rheumatism and all sorts of other medical problems. Carrying the buckeye always reminds me of my Grandfather and his wonderful stories. He was a great story teller (lived to the ripe old age of 92 when he fell off a ladder ~ never did have rheumatism either).

There are not very many horse chestnut trees growing in this part of Michigan. One of the most unusual places I have found one growing is in the old fort out on Mackinaw Island in Lake Huron.

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Sept 21)
From: Bert
Date: 22 Sep 99 - 09:35 AM

That's a great story Cap't Bob. I love it. What better reason to carry a buckeye around in your pocket than to remember your Grandpaw. Everyone should do that, sure would cure a lot of ills in this old world.