Pins, Olympic and otherwise, can stir wonderful memories

The other day I was reading a report from the Olympic Games written by Stephanie Brown-Trafton of Galt, a discus thrower, and she remarked on giving some U.S. pins to some Chinese people she met one day at the beach.

That reminded me of the time I was president of the Lodi Sister City Committee (1985-1987).

Some time during my last year I was able to go to an International Convention in Los Angeles — and not just L.A. but Universal Studios. Needless to say, that was quite a venue. The final night's banquet was held on the set in front of the Roman Coliseum, with a row of English townhouses on the other side.

Some of the hors d'oeuvres were on tables at the beginning of a New Orleans street circa 1815, and others were served along a French village street.

What was the most fun was meeting and talking with delegates from all over the world — and exchanging pins. I went supplied with little Lodi brass grape pins and some purple grape stickers to trade, and one went to the mayor of Timbuktu.

Some enterprising chapters had sturdy striped ribbons for sale; you hung one around your neck as a place to display all the pins you had collected. I still have mine, and it is a good memory piece.

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Newest word in the lexicon, brought about, no doubt, by the price of gasoline: daycation, meaning a day's trip out of town. That's how new words come to be, born of new circumstances.

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Several columns ago, when I was writing about Second Son, I forgot to mention an experience he had while still postmaster of Wilseyville. It was when the notorious man, Charles Ng, associated with some local murders, had just gotten caught. Channel 2 in S.F. thought a recap of the original story might be a good idea, so they sent a newsman and photographer up to the hills. The team decided that "some old geezer" in the post office might be able to tell them the whole story, so that's where they went.

Imagine the surprise when the cameraman, John MacKenzie, came face to face with his second cousin, my son, who had not been around at the significant time!

John's brother, Bob, is an occasional commentator for Channel 2.

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What is there about a vista of some kind seen through a stand of trees that makes it special? One day at Micke Grove I watched a train go by, glimpsed through trees, and its mechanical ordinariness became something more mysterious.

The same translation can occur when trees veil a lake or a river, and everyone knows that any building graced with trees becomes less a structure than a kind of personality. Trees make you look up and get a better perspective on things. I think they are among the best natural things God ever made.

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Here are the answers for the word puzzle in the last column: prides, spired, spider.

And here is another puzzle (each dash stands for one letter):

Though he _ _ _ _ _ _ punishment by law,

His efforts to _ _ _ _ _ _ himself were vain.

The sentence of the Court was light, he saw,

Once he had _ _ _ _ _ _ with remorse and pain.

I guess I have a quirky sense of humor but this squib from the Reader's Digest hit my funny bone: "One time I was riding the escalator and tripped. I fell down the stairs for an hour-and-a-half."

Gwin Paden has been a Lodi resident since 1956. She has a B.A. from the University of Delaware and an M.A. and teaching and administrative credentials from the University of the Pacific. In addition to teaching at Lodi High School and Delta College, she has had careers in advertising, the Women's Army Corps, newspaper reporting radio broadcasting, and public relations. She has been active in many organizations.