Saturday Morning, March 23, 2024
Knock on Wood
Three, two, one. Ready or not here I come. Words echoing across the neighborhood. Silence answered her call. All participants, now concealed in bushes, under porches, and behind wood piles, held vigil. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
A week of wood.
Handpainted barn door,
signed Nicole, No 18. 2/08, 29" x 47"
Carved eagle head cane, 34" L.
The game is simple. The person calling the numbers is It and his or her task is to seek those hiding and tag them out. For the players, the key is running back to base, usually a tree from where It first called. Those who make it back untouched win. Those touched by It are out, the penalty being the next It. The game is universal. Olly, Olly, All in Free. The inclusion tantamount to every kid's nightmare. You know the one. Being chased by a witch, a snarling dog, or some evil entity. In this there is a tinge of foreboding, fear stirred with anxiety, ending with the vindication of safety. So strong is this games appeal, it reaches the Freudian scale of insecurity. The question begs. Why is home base normally a tree, or another wood-based object? Glad you asked.
Can't See the Forest for the Trees
Idiomatic expressions. Origins unknown. These clichés pass from one generation to another. Interpretations may vary, but the gist remains. Many theorize Knock on Wood traces back to pagan days to the dark forests of pre-medieval Europe when humans believed spirits resided in trees. A quick nod, like rubbing a rabbit's foot, would provide protection and offer one a bit of luck. Hard to argue against the dead. A small reminder still exists in Ireland.
Carved wood elephant marionette. Our favorite version of the elephant in the room.
A touch to a tree acknowledges the leprechauns inside, and also carries a good luck wish. We smile. We smirk. How primitive a belief. One must be a wee bit loco don't you think? So we shrug, don our green hats, coats, scarves, and jerseys and spend the day watching the Philadelphia Eagles play.
Reproduction wood cigar store Indian, 6' 10" H.
Forget the tobacco store, he now lives on the Washington Mall,
known better as Standing Bull.
A Horse of a Different Color
Here is a cliché worth exploring. Most baby boomers associate the expression with the movie, Wizard of Oz. Impossible to forget the scene. After a tortuous trip, Dorothy and her entourage arrive at the Emerald City where they are whisked off the Yellow Brick Road and into a cabby's carriage. As they traverse the city the horse keeps changing color. The cabby, who bears a striking resemblance to the wizard himself to a five-year old, explains. Why, this is a horse of a different color. This idiom may trace its roots to William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Our bard writes...a horse of that color. A term meaning of the same matter. Fast forward two hundred years and the expressions morphs into opposition, pointing out a different perspective within the same object. So, a horse of another color, although still a horse, has a double meaning
Highly carved oak aneroid wall barometer, in Fahrenheit and Centigrade. 35"H.
Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels
Carved wooden nickels were novelty tokens from the late nineteenth century into the twentieth. The meaning is obvious. Never mistake a minted US nickel for a wooden token. Few would.
The better understood meaning is don't be fooled by anyone or anything. Look before you leap. Clichés arrive to us wrapped in many packages. When references to wooden nickels and Native Americans surface, it is simply a crossover caused by the Buffalo nickel. The reverse of this nickel is an Indian profile. Enter the wooden cigar store trade figure and the bouillabaisse compounds. Tobacco was introduced to Europeans by the Native Americans. The price of cigar years ago? One nickel. Keeping score? Here's one more.
Doors open at 8 AM. Auction starts at 9 AM. PA AU 1265L [bb]