For The Love of ...Old Stuff.

Sorry, but I just love old stuff; lots of old stuff. It may be from an underlying belief that not much has been improved upon in the last 100 years. And some stuff has been messed up in that time. For example:

Old Towns - I just love visiting old towns. I often wonder why a town was established, what made it thrive, what made it decline, who are the founding families, what was its primary industry, and who there is still alive that remembers the glory days of the place.

Old Houses - I am enamored with old houses, even old buildings. I marvel at the craftsmanship, remembering the unavailability of power tools, the attention to detail. My friend Ron owns an old 2-story home in Galveston. Up in the attic the work on the roof beams and joints, and how everything comes together is truly a work of art. And that's in the part of the house you don't see!!!!!!!!

Old Glass - the stained, beveled, and cut glass from 80 - 120 years ago is just beautiful. Hard to find workmanship like that today.

Old Radios - I love the old tube radios, and my favorites are the AM/FM type that showed up in Europe before America. Mine still work.

Old Clocks - I love the idea of my old clocks keeping time for people no longer living, for times that are now past, often with a tick-tock, and some with chimes marking the passing of seconds, minutes, quarters, hours, days.

Old Guns and their Cartridges - I like older guns. I see new guns and cartridges as improvements on old designs, and often just for the sake of marketing. I am building a custom rifle using a 1943 Turkish Mauser 98 action. Some believe the Mauser 98 (as in 1898) to be the pinnacle of bolt action rifle design. It is chambered for the .35 Whelen cartridge, a 1922 design. I love this stuff (my wife calls me obsessed).

Old Furniture - I love old furniture, especially old wood furniture. I like to see an old arm chair or rocking chair that the arms are worn smooth and patinaed from someone's granddad's hands upon it. I love to caress the worn places and imagine the previous owners hands where mine are.

Old Hardware Stores - There are a couple still left that do things the old way, with courtesy and respect for the customer and their project. I love the hardware stores in New Braunfels, Texas and the one in Placerville, California (thanks Mark Adams). You can still buy gold mining supplies at the one in Placerville, where the California gold rush began.

Old Places - These would be the things still left virtually untouched and unspoiled, the kind of placed that when you gaze upon them a sense of wonder comes over you as you ponder to yourself "This is the way it looked 500 years ago." This would not be the case with rivers as they change with each flood.

Old Music - What can I say but the 50s and 60s for country and the 60s and 70s for folk and rock music. I do like lots of new stuff, but as I think about it, usually when it sounds like the old stuff. Again, I do not consider rap or hip-hop music, but perhaps that is because I myself am old (be nice).

Old Friends - Of course these are the most precious of all old things. An old friend would be someone you've maintained relationship with for 25+ years or more. In some cases this would also mean you and your friend are also old (sorry Brewster).

Of course I do appreciate some of the new things, not least of which are new friends. But new roads, new cars, new A/C units, new jobs, new babies, new cell phones, new flowers, and new love are not too shabby either in my opinion. Of all my favorite new things, new birth is Christ (who by the way is also known as the Ancient of Days) is the most exciting.