Time Machine, Living Energy or Sears Blender?

​The Sears hand blender.

I'd say it was designed, manufactured, and purchased somewhere in the late sixties, early seventies. Mostly metal construction, chromed castings and 4 curved & formed stainless steel ribbons. No bearings, perhaps the ultimate signal of it's simplicity. After all these years, the few plastic components have stood the test of time alongside the more durable alloys. Looking closely at the handle, the shapes have separated over time through thousands of dishwasher heat cycles, yet everything is still intact, and operates as it did when brand new some 40 years ago. Wide gaps in the cogs and a heavy & hefty flywheel integrated into the main drive have contributed to its decades of smooth operation. Were the designers & manufacturers aware that they were be creating something that might very well outlast many human beings, several national governments, and even more than a few notable architectural structures? Joe Louis Arena, Detroit: 1979-2020; Twin Towers, NYC: 1973-2001, offa the top of my head...

One last thing about the hardware, before we get into what it represents. These parts were made with machines and forges that quite naturally were built to last. Accounting for the era, there really wasn't any other way. From the thin-but-strong metal blades to the rough-yet-accurate casting on the wheel and handle base, it was all made with attention to durability and longevity; characteristics that exemplified American manufacturing at the time. Perhaps more carried over from the 50s and '60s, but present (if you looked for it) in the 70s nonetheless.

This morning was the first time I used this blender since I was about 7 years old. Luckily, it had followed myself and my family around, gotten lost and found, and been in and out of different drawers in different homes throughout its life's journey. What's that you're asking? Is this a living thing, or a collection of metal and plastic forming 3 rotating assemblies (you looked at the picture again didn't you). Yes, I do apply a soul, a personality, and an energy to metal, plastic, and in other cases, wood, rubber, and glass. The machines that man makes with his mind and his hands ultimately possesses a soul through transformation of energy.

I really wasn't planning on using it, and frankly forgot about it. Then, my "little baker" broke it out for one of her cake recipes after the motorized and held blender bit the dust. The same motorized tool that is now in a landfill, after only a comparative fraction of the lifespan. Fast forward to Saturday morning, and there it was, being handed to me (with a bright morning-sunshiny smile) by my 14 year old sioux chef.

I took the simple teal & chrome machine in my hands; rotating handle in my right, guide/grip in my left. As I began to use it, I felt a familiar, yet long forgotten, "pinch" upon the skin on my left palm. An area where the two materials separated had produced a gap, which was the exactly same "pinch" that it was the last time I used it, as a child.


Which brings me to why I am jotting my thoughts down at all about a blender, this simple kitchen utensil.

When I was around five or six, I started making pancakes for my parents on arbitrary Saturdays and Sundays. I don't know exactly where it came from, or how it started, but what I do remember is their shared glee that their son was doing something creative, productive, and...delicious!

Part of my desire to bake was out of curiosity. Another part of it was as through my intrinsically curious soul. I needed to try things, experiment, see what works and what doesn't, and make it better the next time. This grew into so many weekends, we all lost track. Maybe it was months, maybe it was years, but for a very long time (longer as my childhood memory is decades removed from my current recollection) I made them both pancakes every Saturday or Sunday that I could. I vividly remember the time Mom asked me: why haven't you made any pancakes in a while?!? To that question, I recall being a little dismayed. Perhaps I was thinking that pancakes just weren't that important anymore. The reality was, while they weren't very much more important to me, they grew into something very important for Mom and Dad. And it was with that question that I "fired up" the blender again a few times more. Alas, there were other things taking my attention. Plastic model cars, planes, and trains for example. Pretty much anything that could be taken apart, put together and reformulated out of experimentation was in my wheelhouse. Oh and let's not forget chemistry sets! That was probably closer related to baking then putting a metal erector set and plastic models together. Chemistry sets should get the credit that they deserved, even if we were just trying to find a combination of something that maybe changed color or got hot when mixed together, and if we were REALLY lucky, might explode!

So this morning when Michael and Panayiota exclaimed their glee at how good the pancakes tasted, a flood of warm memories came washing over me. They were truly, enthusiastically appreciative. The scratch pancakes tasted amazing, and both kids were animated and giddy in saying so between stuffed mouths and seconds and third stacks of flapjacks. It was this response that took me back ~40 years, and that blenders spirit surely was present then, contributed to the joy I felt now.

Can a collection of metal and plastic transmogrify us to a time & place where everything...EVERYTHING was so different we might as well be on another planet?!?

MY answer is an unequivocal YES. I've found that I've woven my life on this planet (so far) around that beautiful answer.

How about you?