Spynie Bell

Every summer my mother would buy me a new pair of Keds shoes. 

 They were always white and though I looked forward to getting new shoes I hated them. Summer was for bare feet or flip flops.  Whatever happened to Keds? Are they still around? Why did my mom call them tennis shoes I never played tennis in them, I wore them to ride my bike or go someplace or at my Grannies and grandmothers homes.

Keds is still around and actually there is a 50% off coupon on their front page at the top of the fold. Taylor Swift even has her favorite picks and these beauties come in assorted colors and patterns now. 

They even have apparel. There is a contest involving Taylor too. Not the Keds your mom wore!

They have been around since 1916 and are the original canvas sneaker. They were quiet, made with rubber soles, so you could sneak up on someone.

The company that introduced them was U.S. Rubber; which later became Uniroyal, them Uniroyal Goodrich, then Michelin bought them and then Stride Rite and now Wolverine World Wide holds them.  The name was originally going to be Peds, Latin for foot but that name already had a trademark.

I remember they came with a SupersonicSpace whistle one summer.

Gabe form the parks Department informed us over the weekend that there is a bobcat in the park and they have seen him in the early mornings after they open the gate and drive around the park. Great! That is when we are there in the morning as the open the gate. He says the cat is harmless. Harmless?!!! 

A bobcat killed my dog a few years ago. I found him gutted; his parts strung out over what became a bloody scene of carnage.  I will never forget the sound of him screaming that night, my dog. Except I was unaware it was my dog. I thought it was one of the coyotes. About 6 times a year that darling pack of coyotes would tree that bobcat and he would scream. The coyotes would set to howling and that would start all our dogs to howling and barking and it would be a symphony. Have you ever heard a bobcat scream? It sounds like a woman, a woman screaming in fear or panic, a long frightful shriek. It is a terrifying sound if you do not know what it is. Probably how Woman Hollering Creek got its name.

Of course this is not as exciting as the ghost stories that abound about the creek. You know the typical ones involving Indians, dead people, murdered children. Like the ghost tales of River Road.  

There is a bell in Spynie in Moray in Scotland with the following inscription …

  'This Bell— For the Pearis of Spynie. Me Fecit, 1637.

  Soli Deo Gloria Michael Borgertwys. '

It was in a church near what was known as Spynie Castle and was the seat for the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years.  Now if I take this and Google translate it means….

'This war-For the Pears of Spynie. I did, 1637.

   Michael Borgertwys Glory to God alone. '

It is not translated parish because that word is paroeciam in Latin however in French it is paroisse and sounds like Pearis.  These were Protestant Bishops right up until 1638. In the 1650s Samuel Parris who was living and thriving in Barbados names a son Bishop Parris.

I was just doing some “light” reading over the weekend. 

I just received a phone call for a meeting in an hour.

Ci`ao