Gramps

I am so happy that today is MonoMonday! I am not firing on all cylinders today and it really was great to have an assignment to do for today's blip. Yesterday evening, after my lovely day, and after I posted my blip, while watching TV, suddenly I had to run to the kitchen sink fast. I don't want to go into the gory details, but I seem to have developed stomach flu. I thought it was about what I'd eaten which was far too rich and greasy. But four trips to the sink later and still feeling really rotten today, I realize it is in fact stomach flu. Not my favorite disease. And It has been years since I've had it. That is good! So today I've mostly been lying about recuperating and eating very light. Also drinking lots of just plain water. Phew, I've even been napping which I almost never do. And I have hardly any energy which isn't like me either. Okay, enough about me. What do you think about me? (Bada Bump!)

I sat on the deck awhile and took some lack luster bird shots. Was going to blip one anyway and then while poking around blip on my iPad, I saw that today was mono Monday and the subject was metal. Bingo! Naturally I had to blip Gramps.

Gramps is an amazing member of our family. He joined our family in 1980 when I was visiting my parents in California. I was living in New York State at the time. And I was a clock collector. I loved going to auctions in the countryside near where we lived and had amassed a small collection. Consequently when we were doing some sight seeing with my parents in the Bay Area, of course I was looking at clocks.

We went to the clock shop. Too expensive. Nothing I really liked. Then we went to a more general antique shop and there he was. A beautiful, 18th century oak tall case clock, English, with brass face. In great condition. All original with a few early repairs to the mechanism. I fell in love. He of course was way more expensive than the little clocks I had seen so my father was a bit confused until I told him what a great deal it was for an 18 century clock. Dad said, "I'll lend you the money if you want to buy it." Wow! I went to the dealer and he said the clock was sold. Oh no! So I took his card and went home. I called him that night and said I really really wanted that clock. I saw "Ja Todd Bradford" and thought he was the maker. Bradford is a family name so I thought it could be a relative. (Later I learned the maker is Ja Todd and the city where it was made is Bradford.) The dealer hemmed and hawed and finally agreed since the other buyer had not given him a down payment. We rushed back the next day to buy the clock, after verifying with a neighbor who had a key to our house, that it would fit, and after finding a company that would build a huge wooden crate to ship him East in. And he has been with us ever since. He's made two moves with us and is still as gorgeous as he was when we bought him. I still love the clock and will have him with me where ever I live. To see more details, look large.