— CiaoCatherine

Over Thanksgiving, my aunt gave me two small, round soap bars in a brown paper bag. Or so I thought. One is a solid shampoo bar, the other a conditioner bar. She’d procured them from Naples Soap Company, not far from her home. Word was spreading about the incredible healing properties of the founder’s special-blend sea salt soap, concocted with the explicit intent of battling psoriasis and eczema. Having tried a Lush solid shampoo bar once upon a time, I was dubious. Plus, I shampoo my hair very infrequently.

Fast forward to Christmas. In a packing frenzy, I’d thrown both bars into my bag, unsure of what supplies I’d last left at my parents’ place.  And boy, am I glad I did. They are amazing.

Fun fact: I have a lot of hair. A lot. And I go through large bottles of various cheap conditioners (alternating between Trader Joe’s citrus scent and Suave coconut – classic!) like the water that accompanies each condition. And sometimes I feel guilty about the amount of plastic waste this generates.

The conditioner bar is small – I thought it wouldn’t last more than a few washes – and here I am a month later, with near-daily use, and there’s plenty left. It’s amazingly moisturizing, and the smell is as strong as it was when I first used it (a rarity for “bar” bath products – I find that most bar soaps get a weird musty smell pretty quickly, or lose any discernable scent entirely). My hair is softer for it, quite the feat in this daily battle against dry winter air, indoors and out. And I feel better about not having to throw out a plastic bottle every two weeks.

When I replace my current supply of bergamot grapefruit bars, I’ll be trying some of the famous sea salt soap as well. I’m a sucker for citrus scents, and intrigued by this “regular” bar soap labeled “Florida Sunrise.” What would that smell like? Home, I hope.

When I was a student at Cambridge I remember an anthropology professor holding up a picture of a bone with 28 incisions carved in it. “This is often considered to be man’s first attempt at a calendar” she explained. She paused as we dutifully wrote this down. ‘My question to you is this – what man needs to mark 28 days? I would suggest to you that this is woman’s first attempt at a calendar.’
It was a moment that changed my life. In that second I stopped to question almost everything I had been taught about the past. How often had I overlooked women’s contributions?

— Sandi Toksvig.

Thanks to  Sarah, for reminding me again of this quote, and reminding me we have a long way to go in shifting our own paradigms.

Published in the St. Petersburg Times, October 30, 2011:

LIBBY, Richard Lawrence “Dick” passed away the evening of Oct. 12th. Richard was born in Bridgewater, MA on Jan. 13, 1922, the third child of Orrin D. and Katherine R. Libby. A graduate of Massachusetts State College with a double major in physics and chemistry, Richard served in the U.S. Navy as a Chief Specialist (NCO) in radio counter-measure development at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. There he met Mary Ellen Rivard, a Naval Lieutenant, j.g. who shared the same bus route. They married in 1946. He joined the Air Force’s Rome Air Development Laboratory in Rome, NY in 1951 and for the next 19 years during the Cold War supported the development of technical equipment related to use in Air Force and national intelligence efforts. He was awarded a Commendation for Meritorious Civilian Service by the Air Force in 1957 as the result, he said, of the great work his colleagues and industry associates had accomplished. In 1961, Richard accepted a position at the then new IBM research center near Yorktown Heights, NY. He continued a career in the private industry of electronic equipment development and manufacturing before retiring from his position as Vice President and Member of the Board of the PMC Beta Corp.

Richard said that one of his career’s most interesting tasks was also probably the most ineffectual of his efforts. He served on a Council of Library Resources committee that produced a report, “Automation and the Library of Congress” (1964) that “urged accelerated application of digital technology to the control and use of [its] bibliographic information.” He noted that this task, formidable as it is, essentially has just begun 40 years later.

Upon retirement in 1985, Richard and Mary moved to their new home in Palm Harbor, where for over two decades they enjoyed life and hosted many wonderful friends and members of their large family of five children, eleven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. In 2006, they moved to Mease Manor in Dunedin. In July 2009, Mary passed away. Richard lived at Oak Manor in Largo until his death. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Barbara M. Libby and his brother, Gordon D. Libby. He is survived by his five children, Karen A. Franklin (Dennis) of Green Cove Springs, FL, Wilfred D. Libby (Michelle) of Punta Gorda, FL, Nancy J. McCarthy (Paul) of Largo, John G. Libby (Yvonne) Carlisle, MA, and Mark A. Libby (Carolyn) of Sudbury, MA; his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Spall of Charlotte, NC, and his dear friend Dorothy Arnold of Largo. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Diabetes Association.

 

My grandfather wrote a draft of his obituary in 2006. I left that middle part completely intact (minus tense). I had a copy of it to work from, with his handwritten amendments he made in 2009, dated a month after his wife of 63 years passed away. When I wrote her obituary, he and I emailed back and forth with edits. I reread them so I could have his guidance again.

I feel that in some way, I will always be reading back over the notes. I will always be sitting on their back porch, watching the lightning storm come in, counting aloud with him how far away each strike is.

I will always be asking why light is faster than sound. I will always be seeking his guidance.