James had the day off today as compensation for working last Saturday. Thankfully, he hit Publix after his trip to the bank and his trip to Kaiser to pick up prescriptions. I guess I had a productive day at work, as I got an order out that had to be out today, and put two more orders in Will's box for signature. It's at that time of year that I am wondering if anything is really getting done, and thinking I am ready to proceed with something only to discover I need one more clearance or an updated quotation, and the sheer madness (along with the 80 degree temp in my office) makes me a bit crazy.

We had supper at the West Cobb Diner, and then did the Kroger shopping, so we are free for the weekend, except to go to Nam Dae Mun or one of the other ethnic markets, as James is out of ghee and we can probably use some roasted garlic teriyaki sauce, which none of the regular markets carry. (Not sure I want to go to Nam Dae Mun now, though, as today some drunken driver tore through the parking lot and apparently destroyed nine cars.)

I was thinking about working on a story tonight, but instead found myself immersed in Rinker Buck's book The Oregon Trail, the story of a man and his brother who travel by covered wagon pulled by mules to cover what is left of the Oregon Trail and see how the resulting decades have changed it, from places where the wagon ruts remain in the countryside (as Alistair Cooke showed in the "Gone West" episode of America) to the interstates. It's also a history lesson about mules, covered wagons, and more along the way, I'm sure, and he also talks some about his family. I hadn't really thought about his unusual name until I hit page 95 and he started talking about his father by his full name, Tom Buck.

And then it hit me. I knew this guy Rinker Buck. Oh, not in person, but from a book. In the 1960s Tom Buck, one time associate publisher of Look magazine, published a humorous memoir called But Daddy! about his multiple-child Catholic family. It was one of my favorite books in the Hugh B. Bain junior high school library, and ten or fifteen years ago I found a copy in a used bookstore (or maybe at a book sale, who knows). And I remember Rinker and Nick, and his brother Kernahan, and all the other kids including the cute little sister who got left on the potty seat one day and forgotten in the tumult of all the other kids. And now here I am reading Rinker's book. Absolutely gobsmacking!

Labels: books, history, shopping

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:21:00 PM

Comments:

I know it's been 2 years since you posted this, but I had the same experience. I was listening to an NPR interview with Rinker Buck and had the same realization: I know that name . . . ? Then they mentioned Tom Buck and I thought "But Daddy!" a book I, too, had found at a thrift store or used book store. Just thought I'd share the moment.

# posted by  Anonymous : 12:18:00 AM

 

Post a Comment