Wednesday, March 1, 2017

San Geraldo And The Pig

In the summer of '82, my parents and The Kid Brother drove up from New York for their one and only visit to us in Boston. We moved, spur of the moment, to Los Angeles a few months later.

San Geraldo thought it would be fun if we all drove to the town of Plymouth (home of Plimoth Plantation and Plymouth Rock) about 45 minutes away. Plimoth Plantation was home to some of the first people to emigrate to America from England on the ship The Mayflower. Four of San Geraldo's 10-great-grandparents were on that ship.

The "English Village" portion is a living history museum, which means everything is meant to be authentic. The staff stay in character and look and act as if they are living in the period from 1620, the time the settlement was founded, until 1691, when it was abandoned. It's beautiful and fascinating.

In one reconstructed home, the housewife was preparing dinner. A chicken (or maybe it was a goose) carcass lay on the table surrounded by freshly chopped vegetables and a cloud of flies. The house reeked. Like I said, authentic.

(Click the images. You can almost smell the authenticity.)

FAMILY TIME AT NEARBY WAMPANOAG HOME SITE.
NOW STAFFED BY NATIVE PEOPLE FROM A VARIETY OF NATIONS.

There were pigs out back. The stench was awful, so we quickly walked to the other end of town and stopped, at which point My Mother The Dowager Duchess said, "What happened to Jerry?" He was nowhere in sight.

We had only just passed our first anniversary but I already knew him well enough to know exactly where he was.

"I'm sure he's back there petting the pig," I said.

The Kid Brother said, "Are you kiddin'?!?"

And I said, "Nope."

So, we walked back through the village. There he was, scratching the biggest sow behind her ear and whispering sweet nothings.

My parents wrinkled their noses, but laughed. The Kid Brother scowled and snapped, "Tell him to wash his hands!"

THE KID BROTHER WITH SAN GERALDO.
ONE OF THE TWO WAS IN HOG HEAVEN.

33 comments:

  1. Anyone who loves animals is a good person, even smelly pigs. Was he raised on a farm? Teehee your brother ever the straight man :)

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    1. As in jokester "straight" man part of equation lol

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    2. Cheapchick:
      Jerry, although not raised on a farm, was raised in a farming family. And he simply loves animals. They had every kind when he was a kid... but no pigs.

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    3. Cheapchick:
      And yeah, The Kid Brother is always the straight man... and the straight man.

      Delete
  2. Great story Mitchell! San Geraldo sounds like my kind of guy. I would be right beside him scratching the other pig.

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    1. Cat Lover:
      And yet he can't stand to be licked by a dog. Go figure!

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  3. Love those photos! And... what a softie he is!

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    1. Sharon:
      Oh, he'd love to have a "gentleman's farm."

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  4. Those pigs look mighty dirty and dusty.....not the cute little pink fleshy looking ones. Loves the photos !

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  5. Something tells me that San Geraldo is not as puritanical as his Mayflower forebears!

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  6. You and San Geraldo have been together a long time. How wonderful you found each other.

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    1. Stephen:
      It was 35 years in August. Not as long as you and Mrs. C! And, yes, wonderful we found each other. Thanks!

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  7. LOL! Jerry carries 'his roots' closely doesn't he!
    Love these old pics! 'We' all looked the same back then!
    We were in Plymouth a few years ago and saw the Mayflower and the harbour front area.....full of history.

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    1. Jim:
      I was only in Plymouth a few times. I remember being so disappointed when I saw Plymouth Rock -- so small. I hear they've snazzed up its presentation a bit since the '80s.

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  8. Ahhhhh, Jerry looks like David Letterman (of the era) in that picture!

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    1. Judy:
      It's funny; he looked nothing like David Letterman but that's been said before. Maybe it was the big squarish glasses.

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  9. Haha! Showing the pig some love--how sweet! :)

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    1. Jennifer:
      He'd still be there if we hadn't dragged him away.

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  10. The Kid Brother without a hat and you with hair - now that is living history! Great story.

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    1. Wilma:
      I hadn't even thought about the fact that The Kid Brother wasn't wearing a hat. I wondered when that fixation started. He's not wearing one in any of the early photos I've found.

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  11. to each his own. and you both had hair!

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    1. anne marie:
      Jerry still has as much hair as before (just cut shorter... and gray)! The shit!

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  12. What a great story! As a fellow animal lover, no amount of smell will stop me from scratching behind the ears of a friendly 4-legger. I've always wanted to pet a pig. What a weird thing to say... but it still stands true.

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    1. A Beer For The Shower:
      Jerry has also always wanted a pet pig. His parents had a neighbor in later years who had a pot-bellied pig named Angela. She was a sweetheart. I love animals, but I've got this thing about smells. Angela was fine with me; but those Plimoth pigs were too much. (Petting a pig can be a very pleasant experience.)

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  13. Great-grandparents? On the Mayflower? Ummm...

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    1. Walt the Fourth:
      I was too lazy to look up the number and thought I was being generic. THAT didn't work, so I just looked it up and fixed it (10-greats).

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  14. I won't comment about petting or sleeping with a few pigs over the years! If I can't find the Hubby, he is off scratching the sheep behind the ears (and yes, wash your hands afterwards.) My Mayflower connection is William Brewster, he was an ancestor of a great-great-great grandmother on my father's side.

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    1. Travel:
      I just checked Jerry's genealogy site figuring I'd be telling you you were cousins. No such luck. William Brewster was not one of his ancestors. His were William Bradford, Francis Cooke, and I think William White and Edward Winslow.

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    2. When I get a chance I will check, there are two ancestors, the information is in the other house.

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  15. Always a farm boy at heart, our San Geraldo!

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    1. Knatolee:
      He would be in heaven at Bee Meadow Farm!

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