10/24/2013

Whites in Night satin

Never reaching the end, that would be the day of the school Open House Night.  So very long and occasionally moody.  One of my college dorm roommates named Helen  played her Moody Blues album, "Days of Future Passed" so so so many times with that annoying poem at the end of "Nights in White Satin" haunted my waking and sleeping mind.

My other college dorm roommate named Helen never went to class, never left the room, and lived on popcorn.  Not healthy. She ate all my Triscuits, too.

What were the chances of having two roommates named Helen? According to the Social Security Administration, Helen was the 76th most popular name for girls in the 1950s, with about fifty thousand  pink blankies. Nancy was the ninth in popularity (not quite Miss Congeniality) with 286,000 pink rattles.


Open House Night went pretty well. No one was named Helen. It helped to take a walk on the Spring Creek Trail and photograph moths feeding on a white wildflower/weed. I'm too tired to search for the name of the white flowers or to ID the moths. Their wings beat so fast they were like dull brown hummingbirds.

Did the Helens turn out dull and brown? Did their hearts and wings beat fast?





 





© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder

4 comments:

seana graham said...

Helens ran in my family, but they didn't make it to California. Which is too bad, as my cousin in the Midwest is very dear and my aunt was said to be of a sweet nature also. And actually my other Aunt Helen, who married into the family, was pretty terrific too.
.
That name seems due for a revival

Collagemama said...

Over my teaching years I've met two little girls named Helen, and only one named Nancy.

Kathleen said...

Grandmother named Helen.

And wowed by Helen Keller as a child!

Michael - Plano Prairie Garden said...

That white flowered weed is frostweed, Verbesina virginica. Check this post to see the frost flowers they create after a hard freeze. http://planobluestem.blogspot.com/2010/01/frosty-blossoms.html