Remember Whensday - The car I always wanted

When I was a teenager I always wanted a VW bus, I’d have settled with a bug. But my Dad was a mechanic of “American made” automobiles and would tell me how expensive it would be to get a VW repaired. I did eventually own a VW square-back station wagon. But I still dreamed of having a VW bus.

Well, Berta bought me one for Christmas. Neither of us is capable of keeping a present once we’ve bought it. Ain’t it a beauty! I still have to put a peace sign on the front and take it for a spin. But for now it's parked in the house.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #27. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Do you own a skort?

Summer 1970
Oh yes the skort is back, shorts with a flap in the front for the uninitiated. Keep any item of clothing long enough and it Will come back into fashion. I didn’t keep my skort. Oh well.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #26. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

BTW, I’m moving out of the little house and back into the 5th-wheel all clean and shinny looking inside and it won’t roll from here until the end of April when I return to the canyon. However, as soon as all the stuff is moved, within the next couple of days, I can feel a road trip coming with the truck camper. Maybe southern Arizona where it’s just a little bit warmer.

Remember Whensday - Hitch 'em up

Aren’t you glad you don’t have to hitch up the team to go to town?

I actually took this photo last year while visiting a friend that collects the coolest stuff.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #25. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Baseball Mama 1956

The only thing I remember from this scene is the baby buggy. I played with it for many years pushing dollies around, babies, Barbies and trolls.
Yet it’s so me, and I still hold my hands like that. Hmmm....

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #24. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - 1996 Washington flood rescue

Mount Saint HelensFebruary weather gave everything possible in southwest Washington that year. Starting with several feet of snow in the mountains around Mount Saint Helens where I lived (read more here...)

Remeber Whensday - First perm 1956

Do you remember how terrible the smell of hair permanents were?

Mom thought her little girl with poker straight hair should have curls.

Guess I really didn’t care if my hair was curly.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #20. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

I'm still on the road so may not get this linked.

Remember Whensday - He has a dream

My ex-husband wanted to sail around the world. Not in this 22 foot Tanzer, but it was our first sailboat. We still lived in Wenatchee Washington when we bought and moored this towable boat in Seattle. After making our weekends longer for sailing which meant a three hour drive over the Cascade Mountains, we finally sold almost everything and moved aboard for a summer. We had dock space on Lake Union and played in the Sound amongst the San Juan Islands. I loved the quiet on the water. We named the boat ROGAZO, using the first two letters of his, mine and son’s names. It had a tiny little cabin and you could basically sit on the head (that’s toilet for you land lubbers) and reach everything: bed, table, sink and stove.

Although the idea of traveling the world captured my heart being out of sight of land did not. It was just one of the things that broke us apart. Yet I am happy to report that he still has this dream and along with his new wife will be traveling the world on a bigger sailboat within the next couple of years.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #19. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

I’m still in the canyon so won’t be able to link this. Will try to catch up on posts when I return from hiking rim to rim across the Grand Canyon.

Remember Whensday - College Days

1991-92 Western Washington University, Huxley College of Environmental Studies, Bellingham Washington

Yea that’s me. Never was sure how this happened. Maybe just old fashioned photography
I returned to college as an older student after my kids were grown. Finding a place to live was a nightmare. After declining several shared big houses with too many young men I found another grown woman to live with in a tiny one bedroom apartment only three blocks walk from campus. She gave me the walk-in closet sized bedroom and slept in the living room.

When I needed space I would go to Larabee Park to enjoy birds on the water.

Or head to Mount Baker hot springs.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #18. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Another craft from the past

Stained glass bath set
I received so many nice comments from last week’s Remember Whensday post of one of my drawings from the past. Plus much encouragement to draw again. Thank you all! If I didn’t spend so much time online I might return to drawing. I’ll try to share some of my other favorites soon.

I’ve done so many arts and crafts. Seems like when I accomplish one, not mastered mind you, I get bored and move on. Such is the way with my life as well.

Yes, that’s me
I actually owned a small craft store in Tonasket, Washington during the 80s. At the time I was into stained glass. Also regularly painted the store windows, this was for Founders Day and Rodeo. Later when living in Wenatchee I taught classes and showed in some local galleries.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #17. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Not sure when I'll get back online over the next few days so I will apologize ahead of time for missing many posts. Will try to catch up when I can.

Remember Whensday - I used to draw

This pastel was drawn on a brown paper bag to wrap a birthday present when I worked at Mount St. Helens back in the 1990s.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #16. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Cute little Cowboy

1949
My Mom was really big on studio photos when I was a kid. This is my brother at two years old. (Hope he’s not going to be pissed about this post.) It’s always been a favorite of mine and I wasn’t even born yet. I think he looks like Desi Arnez.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #15. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Grandparents

taken 9-1991
I feel so fortunate to have grown older with my Grandparents, at least Howard and Fran from my Mom’s side of the family. They lived far away in California while I grew up in Illinois. Yet about every other summer my family would take a non-stop road trip for Dad’s two week vacation to visit them. I was always in awe of their having a swimming pool in their Sacramento back yard which they kept at 98° F for the therapeutic benefits. I spent as many hours as possible in the water, finally being almost drug out for some outdoors picnic meal.

When I wasn’t in the pool...

taken 1971

...I curled up with a good book in my favorite chair.

Howard and Fran lived into their 90s and could regularly be seen holding hands. How lucky I was to be in my 40s and still have them in my life. I know that wherever they are, they’re still together.
Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #14. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - X rated me

Hey, I was only 1-year old.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #13 (I think). I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

(I’m out of town so won’t be able to add my name to this marvelous meme. Just go there anyway.)

Remember Whensday - My Denali

Not the mountain in Alaska, although I hope to visit there one day.
When I brought home this 8-week old puppy from the Humane Society in 1981they told me she was St. Bernard and German Sheppard. It took us a few days to come up with the name Denali, which means “Great One.” My x-husband was born in Alaska. We kidded about her growing into her saucer-sized feet. And my 6-year old step-son constantly asked, “How big will she get?”

Denali was the smartest dog I’ve ever had the honor of friending. She was housebroken in two days. We already had two cats who taught her they were the Queens of the house and she always respected that. Although I did have to teach her not to eat the cat’s food. She ran like the wind chasing the kids, plus eventually horses and snowmobiles. Denali also loved to swim and her thick coat rarely got soaked to the skin. She would follow us in our inner tubes on the lake and then tired of paddling around would join my x on his tube, laying across his lap for a float. When it was time to return to shore she would tow us in. She didn’t like the canoe but would gladly jump on board the powerboat.

She moved several times with us. At one place, I walked the 1.5 acre property line with Denali twice and she never crossed that line. But she loved to chase the neighbor’s cats back home, right up to the edge. At another place we rented with 12 hillside acres she could run as she pleased along with the horses. In fact a man stopped at the house one time to report seeing a wolf. His jaw dropped as Denali came quietly up by my side, no threatening just protection. She was the family pet, but she was My Denali.

Eventually my x and I moved aboard our 22 foot sailboat and My Denali couldn’t come along. (We did take a cat.) A dear friend living on acreage gave Denali a new home along with her two Sheepdogs and several cats. Almost a year later when I returned to the same area hoping to bring Denali back into my life I discovered she had been given another home with a family when my friend returned to school and had no space for any pets. I didn’t try to find her. I just knew she was happy.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #11. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Wedding Day

My Dad, Mom, husband, me and the two kids June 27th, 1980
I was married outside at Morton Arboretum, Illinois where you aren’t suppose to have large gatherings. It was only 40 people and we left right after the ceremony for the reception at Jerry Sharkos restaurant where I worked as the night manager and also where we met. Everybody had to pay $1 to get into the wedding. My two step children participated as flower girl and ring bearer.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #10. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Starved Rock State Park - Frozen in Time

March 1975
I grew up boating with family on the Illinois River and riding past Starved Rock State Park. When I got old enough to drive I used to take friends to this mysterious place. I was captivated by the sandstone bluffs and canyons and liked to hike them in all seasons. There was always something very spiritual and sacred about this place to me. I just know I called this place home hundreds of years ago.

The name comes from a Native American story of a band of Illiniwek people starved on a 125 foot (38 meter) butte because of a siege by bands of Ottawa and Potawatomi during the 1760s.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #9. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Cadillac Camping

I borrowed Mom’s Cadillac to go camping with my boyfriend and another couple in September 1974. We had to use the repelling gear from the tree limb to lift the loaded canoe then drove under it and lowered it onto the roof. Plus tie the trunk shut.

We rented the second floor of the Bessemer House for a week. This building was originally an iron ore assay office and the walk in safe was still there.

We also went camping on Michigan’s Upper Pennisula at Pigeon Lake.

The Cadillac took those back country gravel roads pretty smooth and came home with only a few minor scratches. Mom was not happy.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #8. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Oompa!

June and Ray celebrating birthdays, June 1974
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs but never spent much time in the city. Yet when I was dating Paul he introduced me to Dianas Restaurant in Greek Town. Incredible food, atmosphere and fun. The owner was a handsome man maybe in his 50s (I was too young then to guess) and I don’t think any woman that ate there left without him kissing her hand in a gentlemanly fashion. You made reservations for dinner knowing you’d have to drink in the bar for up to an hour before being seated. Plus there was music and dancing. The two choices of Greek wine are like turpentine and gasoline but after a few glasses who cared. (No offense, I’m not a wino.) Appetizers always included Saganaki, Kasseri cheese broiled to golden brown. Then the waiter poured warm brandy over it and ignited it and finished putting out the fire with the squeeze of a lemon. Every time this was served everyone in the place would holler “Oompa!” (Which according to Wiki means “Whoopie.”) They also served Ouzo, an anise-flavored liquor which I can’t stand even the smell of. However my Mom being a lover of licorice went crazy for the stuff when I took them there to celebrate birthdays. Mom’s is June 21st and Dad’s is the 24th. My then current boyfriend went with us and Dad drove a company Cadillac. We met four more of my friends there. My parents didn’t go to the city often and when Dad had to turn the car keys over to a parking lot attendant he was a little nervous. Soon forgotten by the alcohol. When we finally staggered out of Dianas at 2am the attendant was gone but the keys hung on the board at the almost empty parking lot. Dad drove out onto a one-way street, the wrong way, with Mom yelling in his ears. Then on the freeway drive home he had to pull over on the shoulder so I could jump out and get sick in the ditch. I think we all had a good time.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #7. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.