"Ye Olde Clock Shoppe"?

  Some of you may recall that a few years ago, I was hospitalized for a "possible" stroke.  Fortunately, nothing much came of it so things went on as normal...or, at least, as normal as possible.  For several months, I was restricted from doing much strenuous work and was confined to what I dubbed as being the "Small Gardens".  Those were the rambling gardens surrounding the house where I reigned as self-proclaimed "Queen".  (Boredom is a rough thing for someone like me.)  Both my youngest son and my daughter set a rather stiff regime of "dos" to go along with those "do nots".  I was to start with stretches and then do cardio exercises.  Darling Daughter is a speech pathologist so she sent over quite a number of worksheets for me to practice and both of them demanded that I "learn" something...anything...just learn.  So...at that point of their plan, I fired back that I was going to learn antique clock repair!  I was actually being a bit facetious.  The words came out of my mouth before I thought the matter through.  Why?  Simply because my mom's old mantel clock was sitting idle and that was the first thing I saw.  I never guessed that they would hold me to my flippant statement.  They did.  So, I am repairing clocks and now the living room greatly resembles a clock shop of old.

  Since Mom's mantel clock was the first thing I tackled (and repaired!), it only seemed appropriate that I would finally get around to fixing another of her clocks.  This tiny chain-driven timepiece never worked since she got it way back in the early 1960s.  Pop was doing handyman work to supplement the farm income and one of his clients asked him to clear out a storeroom and discard everything.  He asked if he could have the stuff and the owners readily agreed.  He was told that the clock was from the '20s and was from Germany.  So, that was the whole story behind the non-working clock. Several people tried to fix the clock for Mom but none could ever get it to running.  The clock was stowed away in the closet until it came home with me some 30 years later.  The wee clock hung on the wall here still in bad shape until this week when mouthy me decided to have a go at fixing it.  The case was broken, the pendulum was missing and the mechanism was so gummed up with some sort of blue gunk that nary a gear would turn.  It took 3 days to finally clean and then oil the clock. Borrowing a pendulum from another of my clocks, I found that it would indeed tick!  That pendulum was returned to its original clock and, instead of ordering a new pendulum just yet, I handcrafted one out of a popsicle stick and a wooden (bird) ornament.  I fully expected that to be a flub but it worked!  The clock has been ticking steadily for the past 5 hours and keeping relatively good time compared to the many other clocks nearby. I think Mom would be thrilled!

  While all this is fun and I am learning, it suddenly occurred to me that "Ye Olde Clock Shoppe" look is really taking hold of the living room.  It is quaint.  It is interesting.  It would drive most people crazy.  The rhythmic ticking, the outbursts of chimes, gongs and chirping and the cluttered walls is enough to send folks running.  Me? I find it soothing....and I am learning...something my kids keep encouraging.