Reader Exchange: Guardianship agency is seeking musical memories

We have all experienced it: the way music can zap us instantly to another time and place, no matter where we happen to be when it strikes up. A Whiter Shade of Pale, and there you are, moving into your college dorm room; Heartbreak Hotel, and you're suddenly strolling along the old green Million Dollar Pier in downtown St. Petersburg. It's a kind of teleporting just short of amazing.

Doris Haselhuhn, co-director of Sunshine Guardians Inc., a professional guardianship agency serving Pasco and Pinellas counties, is involved in a project to bring these special musical moments to nursing homes. The guardians in New Port Richey are gathering recordings of music from 1930 to 1960 to put on cassettes. (Well, Heartbreak Hotel, if only barely, makes the cut!)

The guardians don't need any equipment; they have the radios and cassette players they need. But if you can provide the "old tunes" you climb aboard to teleport out of the everyday world, the guardians and nursing home residents will be delighted to receive them. Please contact Doris at (727) 848-2929 and leave a message or e-mail sunshine_guardians@yahoo.com.

Elaine Orlando is still collecting old and colorful world globes, should you be hoping to persuade yours to move to a new galaxy. Please phone her at (352) 686-3726.

Mrs. Pasquale Desamo of Safety Harbor has a box of white ceramic tile pieces that should be just the ticket for mosaic work. Please call (727) 799-1946 if you are interested in picking up the pieces.

A grandmother who would like to share a hobby from the "olden days" (her words, not ours!) with her grandchildren needs your help. She used to make afghans and coasters on a plastic square with nails set in it. Yarn was woven in one direction across the nails. Then a long, blunt needle threaded with a lengthy piece of yarn was woven across the yarn on the frame. The resulting squares could be sewed together to make afghans and many other items.

Grandma doesn't care for the modern version of this hobby, in which multiple windings of yarn are made in both directions, then are tied where they intersect. She finds the squares made this way too loose and loopy. If you can help, please call 1-262-878-4272 or e-mail frederic@wi.net.

It's not a big jump from afghans to quilts, the subject on the mind of Phoebe Raymond of Pinellas Park. She has been working on a quilt called "Quilter's Basket," from JoAnn Fabrics circa 2000. This quilt is made by incorporating a different patch for each of the year's 12 months.

Phoebe has contacted the company to get the instructions for putting the quilt together but has had no luck. She's hoping that another reader who has completed the pattern will share the assembly instructions. Phoebe's phone number is (727) 546-5326; her e-mail address is ewrpar4U@aol.com.

L. Browne is trying to locate owner's manuals for the Hewlitt-Packard 48 SX calculator and MS-DOS version 6.2. Please call (727) 443-5172.

Pam Nagot of Clearwater is scouting for a Dremel Moto-Tool No. 1. When she returned hers to the factory for repair, she learned that parts were no longer available. For folks unfamiliar with this handy tool, it is a small hand-held electric drill with low rpm. Pam used hers to ream out beads.

If you have one you no longer use, Pam hopes you'll call her at (727) 535-9605. "Maybe we could trade out for some pearl restringing," Pam writes.

Gladys Evan writes that she has unbounded faith in the creativity and resourcefulness of Exchange readers and therefore would like to pose two recycling questions to them. She needs to know how to give away or dispose of the 25 pound heavy-duty white plastic buckets, complete with tops and handles, in which wild bird seed is sold.

She initially thought they would be useful to painters, but Goodwill and the Salvation Army wouldn't accept them and couldn't offer further suggestions.

Gladys also hopes readers who are "craftier" than she is might know of some use for the "jewel boxes" in which CDs are sold or be aware of a source that can put them to good use. Please e-mail Gladys at geevan_33775@yahoo.com.

Henry Emker, from the Brooksville area, has enjoyed his Intellevision video game daily for many years; however, the console is showing the effects of age. Although he has plenty of cartridges, he can't use them because of the tired-out console and unreliable control paddles. Henry would love to hear from you at (352) 597-5976 or hemker@tampabay.rr.com if you have the working parts he needs.

Thank you note

P. Wissinger wishes to thank all the readers who helped her find the All American Song Book. Four ladies responded to Ms. Wissinger's request, reinforcing her belief that this world is full of nice folks (a fair percentage of whom read this column, we are convinced).

- Send requests to Reader Exchange, Newsfeatures, the Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg 33731 or e-mail cole@sptimes.com. Only questions of general interest will be answered. Requests will be accepted only by mail or e-mail; no phoned requests, please. This is an exchange column, so we will not run items that are for sale. Except in unusual circumstances, readers must agree to publication of phone numbers (please include the area code) to be considered for the column.

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