The color green + healing

Lumpy

Captain_kangaroo
Mr. Green Jeans, Captain Kangaroo, 1960

Jessica Kantrowitz has a Substack. Her recent “free-write Friday” prompt was  “The color green + healing. You can interpret the prompt however you like.”

“(Adjust to your own preferences.) Sit with a notebook or device and set a timer for 20 or 30 mins. Write whatever comes to mind, either as random thoughts (journaling style), a poem, or a short story. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar, just put words on the page.”

Okay, I will free associate here.

Growing up with the name Green was an interesting experience. On the phone, I would say my name as Roger Green: “Roger, R-O-G-E-R; green, like the color.” About 10% of the time, people would ask, “Is that with an E at the end?” and I would say No. I thought “Green, like the color,” was a clarifying statement. Yet, it seemed to confuse people about 10% of the time.

Growing up, I lived in a green house with asbestos siding. The worst thing about it, besides the possible carcinogenic impact, was that if you happened to rub against it, it really hurt. You could get a nasty little abrasion on your arm.

Neighbors

Down our little one-block, 16-address street, Gaines Street in Binghamton, NY, there was a family named Greene with an E at the end. Their house was white, but it had green trim. We would get their mail a fair amount, and they got ours; fortunately, we are very friendly with each other. The kid over there, Danny, would sometimes come over and play in our backyard. We had a very small backyard; there wasn’t much greenery.

When I wanted greenery, I usually went to Valley Street Park, a few blocks away, where a ball field was located. I’d also go to Ansco Ball Field. The easiest way to get to Ansco from my grandmother’s house was to cut through Spring Forest Cemetery, which had great greenery among the headstones.

I most appreciate cities when they have greenery. I like Recreation Park in Binghamton,  Central Park in New York City, Washington Park in Albany, Central Park in Schenectady, and various other parks I’ve been to. Parks and greenery make a place feel civilized, something that tames the urban concrete jungle. I need greenery.

Every time I saw stories about Baltimore in the news, I noted the lack of trees, at least in the urban areas. This made the streets feel not only barren but hot.

I like trees. When I was a kid, there was a chestnut tree on Spruce St, about halfway between my grandmother’s house and ours. I would collect the chestnuts, keep them for several months, and then throw them away in the spring. I liked to collect them, appreciating the smooth feel of the chestnut. It was comforting.

TV

As a kid, I used to watch Captain Kangaroo. There was a character named Mr. Green Jeans. An inordinate number of people used to refer to me as Mr. Green Jeans; I think it bugged me when I was much younger, but I became rather insulated from it over time. Hugh “Lumpy” Brannan played the character. I always look for green characters on TV; Green Hornet, which I watched a bit, featured Van Johnson as the title character and Bruce Lee as Kato. Later, of course, there was Kermit the Frog.

When I was 25, I worked as a bank teller for about a month. I didn’t love the job, but I learned to keep the greenbacks in the right order. They are always facing up and in the same direction. I implemented this process at the comic book store where I used to work, FantaCo.

The other day, I was at the grocery store. This guy approached me and said, “Hey, would you like to help me buy this piece of food?” It looked like sushi or something, and it cost $7.99, and I said sure. I bought it, and the guy waited at the exit. I handed the food off to him. It was no big deal. When you’ve had periods of not having the money, you can become very sensitive to making it available to others if you can afford it.

The weird thing about that particular day is that, as I walked out of the Price Chopper parking lot, I saw lying on the ground a $5.00 bill and three $1.00 bills—$8, exactly what I had spent on this guy’s sushi. So, it turned out to be not only a kind act but one that cost me absolutely no money.

I think that’s enough of this; it’s an interesting exercise.

Viridescent

You Can’t Do That

The WordDaily for September 12 was viridescent. The accent is on the third syllable. I was unfamiliar with the term, though I knew it likely was green-adjacent.

“‘Viridescent’ is an adjective you’ll likely see only in poetic or literary contexts. It comes directly from the Latin word of the same spelling, meaning ‘becoming green,’ from the Latin word for ‘green,’ ‘viridis.’ As we see from the Latin, ‘viridescent’ isn’t just a shade of green; it’s an adjective that describes something in the process of becoming green. It may be used for shoots of new growth, or shades shifting between hues of yellow or blue to green.”

Some animals turn green as camouflage.

Watching trees becoming green is one of the great joys of living in the Northeastern US in the spring. One April, I traveled to the southeast US; I don’t remember where, when, or why. What I do recall that it was appreciably greener there, which disrupted my expectations. Then back to Albany and the not-quite greenery.    

I lean into the the green. On the September 12 Wordle:

Wordle 1,181 3/6

🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

My second word was GRASS because most grass is green. (The word was actually BRASS, but close enough.)

Musical reference: Mountain Greenery from the Supremes Sing Rodgers and Hart. All of my Supremes albums were stolen from my grandmother’s house in the early 1970s  – which made me blue – except that one LP which appeared to have been dropped by the thief.  

Dad

Not Being Green, but Becoming Green. It’s an interesting concept. I think of my father, who was born Leslie Walker but legally became Leslie Green only a couple of weeks before his 18th birthday in 1944. However, he’s listed as Green (misspelled Greene) in the 1940 Census.  

In doing the genealogy, I’ve concentrated on the Walker (dad’s mom), Yates (mom’s mom), Williams (mom’s dad), and even the recently discovered Cone (dad’s bio dad). But I hadn’t spent much time on the Green line because they weren’t my biological ancestors. At some point, I should remedy that. 

Speaking of lineage, when I received over time revised ancestry breakdown, I went from being 23% Irish to being 28% Irish in the past five years. I’m becoming more (wearing of the) green. 

So I lean into the color. One of my favorite Beatles songs is You Can’t Do That because it has the bridge: 

Everybody’s green‘Cause I’m the one, who won your loveBut if they’d seenYou’re talking that way they’d laugh in my face

BTW, I’m also fond of the Harry Nilsson medley.

Turning green with envy. Jealousy is the green-eyed monster. What an unpleasant transformation, I don’t want to change to THAT kind of green. 

Coverville 1505 is the Emerald Anniversary Episode with green in all of the titles, save one. 

I’m continuing to figure out the ever-evolving R. Green. 

Sunday Stealing: Pinterest

555 feet

This Sunday Stealing cue comes from Pinterest. I have an account, but I never use it. BTW, the graphic came from Pinterest.

1. Would you rather trade some intelligence for looks or looks for intelligence?
Easy. I’ll always take intelligence. Looks are transitory. Intelligence is sexy.

2. If everything in your house had to be one color, what would it be?
I guess I’ll go with the obvious. There’s such a range in any color. Here are  134 Shades of Green Color With Names, Hex, RGB, CMYK Codes

3. What animal would be the most terrifying if it could speak?
Humans. Some of them say the damndest things.

4. How do you procrastinate?
I don’t see it as procrastination. I play backgammon, spades, and pinochle on my phone as a break from a given task.

5. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
Prone to tell you some obscure fact that you have no interest in.

6. Would you rather go 30 days without your phone or life without dessert?
I could easily survive 30 days without my phone if I could commit my appointment to a paper calendar first. I’ve determined that others can’t deal with me not having a phone. Doctors’ offices. Anything involving two-step verification. THEY want me to have a phone.

7. If one animal was made the size of an elephant, which would be the scariest?
An ant. Have you ever looked at those mandibles?
Obelisk
8. If you were reincarnated as a famous landmark, which would it be?
The Washington Monument. At 555 feet, it has such a great view of history.  (I didn’t have to look up the height; I told you I know obscure stuff.)

9. What celebrity chef would you like to make you dinner?
The first living one I could think of was Nigella Lawson because she seems genuine and not a schmuck. If we could resurrect Julia Child or Anthony Bourdain, then one of them.

10. How much would someone have to pay you to eat a spider?
The annual budget of the charity of my choosing.

11. If you joined a circus, what would your circus act be?
Cat tamer. I’m talking about domesticated felines.

12. Do you have any superstitions?
None come to mind.

13. What cheesy song do you have memorized?
The great thing about getting older is that if there were cheesy songs, I’d since forgotten them. Of course, it depends on the definition of “cheesy.” Okay, Be Kind To Your Parents, which my sister Leslie and I used to sing as kids.

14. What’s something weird that you recommend everyone tries at least once?
I don’t think it’s “weird,” but sitting quietly for at least five minutes daily.

15. What do you think is the most unpleasant-sounding word?
Schmuck. Or at least the worse one I’m willing to post online.

G is for Green as a surname (ABCW)

“a medium light hue of greenish gray similar to asparagus, but lighter”

Captain_kangaroo
Mr. Green Jeans, Captain Kangaroo, 1960
When Green is your last name, you have heard every joke there is about it. “Mr. Green Jeans,” a character from the Captain Kangaroo children’s show, played by Hugh “Lumpy” Brannum, when I was growing up. Green tambourine, a song by the Lemon Pipers, a #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for one week in early February, 1968. “Green, green jelly bean,” whatever THAT is, and others too mundane to repeat.

Kermit the Frog was right: it’s not that easy bein’ Green. “It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.”

So when my wife and I were thinking about first names for our now-teenager, among the MANY rules I had was that it could NOT be a SHADE of Green. And there are quite a few of them.

Hunter Green – “a color that is a representation of the color worn by hunters in the 19th century” – terribly out of date, though in fact that there are at least three prominent people named Hunter Greene

Kelly Green – “the name derives from the fact that the surname Kelly, as well as the color green, are both popular in Ireland” – Besides being gender non-specific, my hangup at the time, the Kelly Song from the TV show Cheers was rattling around in my head

Laurel Green -“a medium light hue of greenish gray similar to asparagus, but lighter” – I’m not that fond of asparagus.

Olive Green – “the shade of dark yellow-green found on green olives. It has been commonly used by militaries around the world as a color for uniforms and equipment.” Give peace a chance. Moreover, Olive Oyl is Popeye’s lanky girlfriend.

Paris Green – ranges from pale and vivid blue green to deeper true green. It comes from the inorganic compound copper (II) acetoarsenite and was once a popular pigment in artists’ paints”

For ABC Wednesday

G is for things beginning with G

I suppose I could have gone with gray.

greenland_map_220Leslie, part of our ABC Wednesday team, posted this on Facebook. I’m lazy enough to stretch it into a whole blog post.

“The last name game: Use the first letter of your last name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up.”

1. Last name? Green.

2. An animal? Giraffe. I could have gone with one of these, but it was the first thing I thought of.

3. A boy’s name: George. The obvious choice, other names notwithstanding. My wife and daughter’s distant relative is Prince George of Cambridge. Plus, for some sort of linguistic reason, it is the name I’m most often mistakenly called.

4. A girl’s name: Gina. The first name that came to mind, as opposed to these.

5. An occupation?: Ghostwriter. I think I could do that. Here are other options.

6. A color? Green. I suppose I could have gone with gray. Actually, I couldn’t.

7. Something you wear? Glasses, because I do. I almost went with gloves, which I also wear a good deal of the time. Or galoshes, which I think is a funny word. Some other choices.

8. A beverage? Green tea. Since I don’t like gin, all my obvious choices had two words – ginger ale (drink it when I’m sick), grape juice (reminds me of Communion), grapefruit juice (drank in lieu of orange juice in the 1970s). More ideas.

9. A food? Green grapes. Grapefruit, graham crackers, and green beans were contenders. Other options, though adding “grilled” to food I think is a bit of a cheat.

10. Something found in the bathroom? Germs. Literally, the only thing that came to mind. Hadn’t thought of these.

11. A place? Greenland. There are, of course, tons of these, so I limited the list to countries. I first thought of Greece but settled for my homeland. Here are other countries.

12. A reason you’re late? Gridlock. Again, my first consideration. From this roster, the best ones start with the word “got” … a flat tire, in an accident.

13. Something you shout? Gadzooks. Seriously, the initial thing that came to mind, and there are plenty on this list that I have said far more often, including gosh, groovy, go away, get out, get away from me, goal, golly, Gesundheit, and good grief.

14. Something you hate? Greed. Didn’t find a list I liked. Gossip is another option. I suppose the universe of G things might apply.

15. A band? Green Day. There are lots of them, and Genesis, the first book in the Bible, actually came first to mind. Or the Go-Go’s, who I saw perform a few decades ago. Or something from this compendium. But let’s pretend that I’m as GREEN obsessed as I feign to be.

A song from those three groups, the ones I most associate with each group:

Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

The Go Go’s – We Got the Beat

Green Day – American Idiot

abc 17 (1)
ABC Wednesday – Round 17

Ramblin' with Roger
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