we lay up for our
selves treasures that will not rust
in God we trust

penny saver

i saw this today while getting gas. i used to see them all the time, but they have since become rare. it's the old take a penny tray for folks who are paying exact change in cash and find they have come up a little short. it's also there for you to add to the "kitty" when you get change back. and sometimes they used to sport this little phrase as well - "have a penny, leave a penny, need a penny take a penny", which if you say out loud a few times, will really get stuck in your head.
i don't know why, but i like this simple idea very much. i suppose with less people using cash these days, it isn't as cool as it used to be, but i do very much like the idea of a kind of shared currency. kind of like do-gooders who feed parking meters when they see the meter maid rolling up. or the original idea of the white bicycle movement in the netherlands. although shared transportation gets a bit messier than free pennies. anyway, i like to add to the trough whenever i can.

short subjects

Kurt always carried a guitar pick in his pocket with 37 cents in loose change. A quarter from the year he was born, a 1937 buffalo nickel he found once on a department store floor, and seven wheat pennies from various years including all those that America fought in World War II.
Kurt didn’t play the guitar, but he carried the pick nonetheless in hopes that one day he might be sitting around at a party with some of his cooler friends when someone would pull out a guitar and ask one of the people at the party to play. When the guitar player would say “but I don’t have a pick” Kurt would coolly reach into his pocket, shaking the change around and then slowly pull out his bright red Fender medium and say, “here you go man”. After that he hoped all the people gathered round would nod in approval as the guitar player said “thanks man”, to which Kurt would take a beat, then reply “no sweat”.


Bill loved his daughter Christine and her new husband Todd. And even though they now lived over 800 miles away in California, they would still return home at least twice a year, once in the summer and again at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Once during a summer visit they were all in the living room after dinner watching TV, when they discovered a new nature documentary together called “Planet Earth”. And watching it on Bill’s new HD flat screen television, they all sat mesmerized, each letting out “oohs” and “aahs” at various times during the program.
That Christmas Bill delighted especially in one of his gifts to Todd and Christine, the DVD box set of Planet Earth. And although they were both thrilled to receive this gift and agreed with Bill when he reminded them of the super time they’d all had together, nonetheless, after it returned with them to their apartment in California it sat on the shelf unwatched.
And when Bill visited them on his next Birthday and toured their apartment, he proudly made note of his box set gift sitting on display right next to the first season of Lost, and nodded to himself smiling.

on my honor

my wife's grandfather who turned 95 this year has really lived quite the life. a child in the 1920's, a teenager during the great depression, and a young man through world war 2. he worked the same job and was married to the same woman for most of his life.
and when he was still a teenager he was a boy scout, earning enough merit badges to make the rank of "eagle". he attended the first all scout jamboree in washington d.c., and even got to take president roosevelt's chair for a spin on a trip to the white house. my wife wrote more about him here.
one of our little treasures is this coin which he gave to me once to pass around to my boys. it's a coin the scouts were given to keep in their pocket, and upon completing their good deed for the day, transfer to the other pocket. i like this idea very much, the idea of this coin sitting there and reminding you consciously to stay alert and be on the lookout for opportunities to do a good turn. and the creed on the front that reminds me that i must continually strive for excellence, and that this exchange is between me and my conscience. "on my honor". although i don't carry this coin every day, it's something i think on when the deed is done.
"good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever."
- 1 timothy 5:25

the milkman

does anybody remember milkmen? i sure don't. by the time i was pouring my own milk it had already moved from a daily delivered item with butter, eggs and newspaper to a refrigerated commodity in our local supermarket. someday i'll have to go do some research on what led to the demise of the nation's milkmen.
at any rate i don't think any of them ever drove a ride as cool as this. it's an old fossil watch tin that made its way into my hands from a friend who had just made the purchase of the watch. it used to sit on my desk at work and collect loose change from the taco truck that came around each day.
now i keep my very small coin collection in it. a couple of well drink tokens from dive bars, 50's wheat pennies, a canadian dime, subway token and bicentennial kennedy half dollar to name a few. yes, the milkman still delivers and he collects as well.