If I had a hammer.
Yesterday, I noticed my calendar was partially hidden by something and needed to be moved. My husband was standing nearby and watched me as I removed the straight pin, repositioned it and hammered it into the new location from which to hang my calendar.
Oh, did you know that straight pins make great hangers sometimes? You do have to hold them just so, so the pin doesn’t bend under the hammering and hammer it in angled upwards just a tad. And, be sure your item is not too heavy for the pin. But it certainly minimizes unsightly nails and nail holes when properly used.
Oh, and, that photo? That’s what my husband told me should be called Jenn’s Hammer. Way back in the late 1960′s I found that nut, all rusty and covered in dirt. I painted it black and added flower power to it with those little decals. It was after all, the 60′s.
Oh, I’m sure that when it was newly painted, I did not use it as a hammer. I would not have wanted to scuff it up. It’s actually quite heavy. It feels heavier than a pound, more like two but not quite like three pounds. It’s not 2.5 pounds, I just weighed it in my hand against 2.5 pound ankle weights. Up against those, it’s not quite as heavy. Maybe it’s almost two pounds.
Oh, a long time ago I turned it up on it’s back, or is that its head? And used it for a votive. That was probably in the 1970′s. It was probably in the 1980′s that I cleaned out the wax and turned it back the other direction.
It’s been packed and toted from place-to-place, wherever I’ve gone. It feels like a part of me, you know? Just been around so long it is me. Okay, it represents me.
Oh, was it in the 1990′s that it became a hammer? I can’t really say. Perhaps I did start hammering with it longer ago than I recall. But it sure works out in a pinch. And sometimes, the way I move things about, a pinch happens quite often. See, that’s why I especially like straight pins for hanging things, when I can.
Oh, those little decals are rubbing off my hammer, slowly and surely. I’m glad they’ve lasted as long as they have. I mean, they could have worn off, or, I might have repainted the thing.
I love the shape of it. The rounded edges and the flattened multiple sides. It’s a hexagon. I started to call it that, then looked it up because in my mind, hexagon first registered as an octagon and not a hexagon. Good thing for being able to look it up. And, sort of a waste of time? Nah. I love words.
Oh well, most of the time, my hammer is just a paper weight.
Oh, that’s where it can be found – anywhere – after it’s been used as a hammer.
Ever since I thought about this and a hammer, I’ve been singing that old tune if I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning, I’d hammer la la la la all over the la la. Forgot the words. Oh-ho! The song hails from 1958, a child of the sixties!
If I had a hammer
I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening
All over this land
I’d hammer out danger
I’d hammer out a warning
I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
and then it’s about a bell and then a song, and it ends with:
Well I’ve got a hammer
And I’ve got a bell
And I’ve got a song to sing
All over this land
It’s the hammer of justice
It’s the bell of freedom
It’s the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
©1958, 1962 (renewed), 1986 (renewed)
TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI) (Link is something I found on the web.) Can you hear the ooo-oooo-ooo-oo that came along in the song? Those are some interesting words, given our times. Given the times they were penned within, all-things-considered.
Oh, sometimes, our words can become like hammers, can’t they? Ouch. Or not be able to handle the job? Eww. Or sit idly by? Ugh. If I had a . . . word to say?
In the meantime, my hammer is just a paperweight. No, it’s really some old nut found by a kid. She cleaned it up and painted it, then stuck flowered decals on it. It’s made a journey from wherever it originated, to here, alongside me. Me? Just another nut. Through the years, like an old friend. Hm.
3 Responses to “If I had a hammer.”
PS Thank you for pinning the snow angel. =0)
xo
I started singing that song too as soon as I read your blog. =0) Yes, I use straight pins to hang pictures – you are right – it doesn’t leave a mark like nails do.
Fun post, Jenn!
hugs!