Memories

Today is my last day in the house I have lived in for 30 years and 4 days and Morning Glory's postings about her childhood got me remembering some things I hadn't thought about in a long time! I'll probably think of a hundred more after this is finished!! But here are some from the last 30 years and some from before that too!

Skating around Balboa Island with my brother when we went to visit Grammie and Grandpop. Always a special treat - their house was the one my dad grew up in and was the 6th house built on the island. Of course when we were there the island was already built up and was a "beach destination"! Sometimes during the summer we would stay in the tiny apartment over the garage for a week. We were a block from the beach and we could walk into "town" for a frozen banana.

Listening to Grandpop as he would tell us stories. He was the kind of story-teller you could listen to for hours! And he was careful not to let the truth interfere with a good tale!! He had been a camerman for an old movie studio - Vidagraph, I think in Hollywood - and then moved to Balboa Island, bought a tug boat and owned Smith Boat Works where the fun-zone is now on Balboa Pennsula. He rode the ferry home to the island every night. In later years he worked as a marine biologist for Cal-Tech. Facinating man - I still miss him and he's been gone 41 years!

Riding my horse "Chief" in the hills behind my house for hours at a time. Now those hills are completely blanketed with high-end houses.

Getting thrown by Chief when a rabbit spooked him. I was riding bareback and slid right off into a cactus bush and had a large pad stick impale the top of my leg. Chief came right back and was quite contrite. We were close to our property - so I sent him home (and he actually went!!) and since it was a Saturday and my dad was working in the yard he saw Chief come back without me. He hopped on Chief's back and that wonderful horse brought him right to me! That was the only time Chief let my dad ride him without trying to brush him off under a tree! My mom worked a long time getting all the cactus spines out of my leg!!

Learning to shoot a pistol on our property - I used that knowledge to shoot a rattlesnake with my dad's pistol once when mom and I were home and he and my brother were gone.

Going deep sea fishing with my grandad 3 times and getting so seasick I thought I was dying all 3 times! We tried all the remedies and nothing worked. As long as we were moving I was fine, but when we stopped to fish - I caught some big fish every time, then succumed to the movement of the boat!! Grandad was a writer for American Fisherman and Field and Stream and did a series of articles on "Taking His Granddaughter Fishing"!!

Riding down our hill on a "Flexible Flyer" (anyone remember those?) and skidding off when it turned and I didn't!

Riding down another hill on the go-cart my brother and I built, before the steering blocks were in and dragging my elbow down the pavement when it turned and I didn't!! Ouch!! (These were learning experiences - although that go-cart was a lot of fun once the steering blocks were added!!)

Building our own house when I was in the 5th and 6th grade. My dad was a contractor and we built it on weekends with the help of one of his guys - Francisco Cortez. He taught us how to say, "Please, one cup of coffee with sugar" in spanish!! He came every Saturday for over a year and would not let Daddy pay him. I framed and drywalled my own bedroom in that house!!

Building tree houses in the avacado grove that surrounded the house we built. It was surrounded by windbreaks consisting of double rows of ecalyptus trees. The spacing was just right for building. My friend Kathy and I would build the treehouse then use them as a place to hide from younger siblings and read our books.

Building a pool in the backyard of our current house when my sons were 12 & 10 - they thought they had died and gone to heaven! They swam year-round for several years, till their brains finally understood mom tell them that swimming in 50-degree water was just nuts!

Memorial Day, Labor Day and 4th of July picnics in our back yard around that pool for the last 19 years. Sometimes we would have as many as 60 folks show up with their steaks and something to share! It's been a lot smaller group the last few years since the boys have grown up and their friends don't show up like they used to. We will miss those times! We won't have a pool when we get to our retirement home - but we may have the BBQs!!

Well! That was a lot - once I got started I could go on and on!! But enough for this time! - besides lunch is now over and my desk is filled with work that must be done! Morning Glory is right - blogging is fun!!