Time

So, back home from our lovely wedding weekend in Madison, I picked up the shovel to continue my Herculean labor project for the summer: excavating some 120 cubit feet of dirt so we can lay down a patio and a back walkway for our 103 year old house. As I began laboring, K came out of the house, excited about the prospect of finding buried treasure. "We can find a treasure chest. And we can put a storybox in it!"

Yeah, right kid, I thought as I sweated in the 86 degree heat. After I had wheelbarrowed a large dirt pile to the rear garden and began digging about 6 inches down on one side, I hit some stray pipes. Then I began to reveal some ceramic shards, rusty nails, and burnt wood. Obviously, I had hit a trash pile that workers had buried there. I turned over a little more dirt and found a small clear glass bottle imprinted "Frostilla" on one side and "Fragrant Lotion" on the other side. Maybe K was going to get his treasure after all.

Next in the dirt I picked up a small coin or token that was octogonal in shape. K quickly grabbed it out of my hand and he washed in the hose that he and L had been playing in. The coin said: "Crescent Creamery- redeem with empty bottle for 5 cents."

I looked on the internet and found that Frostilla was a skin cream- made in Elmira, NY where we used to go for neo-natal checkups before K was born- and the bottle is probably from 1900-20. The Crescent Creamery operated from St. Paul until it was bought out in 1961 by Kemp's, whose milk we buy every week. The Crescent Creamery also employed a Greek immigrant who ended up being the father of the Andrews Sisters, who first came to fame in 1937 with their recording of "Bei mir bist du schon," a song the bride sang to the groom at the Madison wedding reception.

It's a small world and a small clock, afterall.