Archive for the ‘Way Back When-sday’ Category
December 23, 2009
This latest snowfall here on The Hill helped me recall some of the big snowfalls of my childhood.
This is the house I grew up in in Detroit. Hard to believe that my parents raised six children in this tiny little bungalow!
It’s hard to tell, but I assume this is my dad shoveling snow off of the back porch roof…
See those tree tops above the house???
When I was little. every house on our street had a HUGE Elm tree in front of their houses. The tops grew together to form a beautiful tunnel. Detroit was beautiful way back when.
Dutch Elm disease hit our neighborhoods hard and it seemed to me that after the trees were cut down the whole city went down hill from there. It was never the same.
I’m glad my Dad was a picture taker and recorded the trees because they hold many happy memories for me.
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
December 16, 2009
My earliest Christmas memory is from 1967. I was 5 years old and we woke up on Christmas morning and opened presents. Then we went to church. When we got home, Mom went into the house first and then I came in and Mom told me that Santa must have come back while we were at church to leave something he’d forgotten to leave for me on Christmas Eve!
It was this baby doll AND she had her very own stroller so I could push her all around the neighborhood! I was so excited and happy and I couldn’t believe that Santa had actually come back!
This was as far as my motherly instincts ever went except for all of my four-legged fur babies of course!
This is me and my baby and Capri P…
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 5 Comments »
December 2, 2009
My Dad would have been 91 years old today. I sure do miss that man.
He was the best turkey carver…
Best Christmas tree getter…
Fisherman…
Dancer… HA!!! LOL!!! He HATED dancing….
Proud first time grandpa…
Loving Dad…
Good teacher…
NO ONE could build a better wood pile…
EVEN after he wrecked his feet in a work accident…
He kept on splittin…
He loved the sunshine …
This one was taken in Hawaii in 1969, he bought that bathing suit on that trip and never got another one for the rest of his life! It had a matching shirt too!
He was the bestest Dad ever. He loved his family and his family loved him.
Happy Birthday Poppy… I miss you and love you.
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 7 Comments »
October 28, 2009
This is BFG, me and Capri P
You may think that I’m striking an angry Indian pose, but that is not the case. This was one of those stuck in your mind for the rest of your life experience days.
See that cigarette hanging BFG’s lips???
It was a prop for his costume of course but previous to this photo being taken he had let me play with it and I was walking around acting all grown up and glamorous while pretending to puff away. (as glam as one can be while dressed as an Indian I suppose)
When he took it back from me I had a bratty little hissy fit which is perfectly depicted in this photo.
SO, after this picture BFG took me into my sister’s bedroom and asked me if I wanted to smoke it! Oh yes he did! He lit that lovely KOOL menthol cig and gave it to the bratty little sister.
I took it and really felt grown up when I pretended to puff away. But THEN, BFG decided to actually teach the bratty little sister about the proper way to inhale!
Oh yes he DID!
I sucked in that smoke with an exaggerated inhale and can still feel the burn in my throat and my eyes bugging out of my head as I hacked and choked and felt like I was going to die right then and there as my sweet big brother just laughed and laughed!
He loved me, he was teaching me a lesson. Right BFG?
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 5 Comments »
October 7, 2009
…I was working at the Wildlife Center when we got the call that changed our lives here on The Hill.
One year ago today I came home with this pitiful little bundle of skin and bones…
The vet told me later on that she didn’t think our little Paddy would make it through the night. But she did.
She did, and we battled through a number of health issues with her for quite awhile. She had fungal infections of the skin…
But antibiotics and some good clean water in the tub eventually cleared that up.
She also suffered with infections in the joints of her legs which caused them to swell so she could barely walk. And digestive problems…. oh let me tell you that a beaver with chronic diarrhea isn’t a pleasant thing!
But, sleeping snuggled up with her dad always made her feel better though…
She has truly been like a child to me for this past year. I’ve watched her grow from an adorable little furball
into a beautiful young adult
And soon, much toooooo soon, Paddy will be headed to her new home in Michigan. It is a HUGE blessing and a total GOD-THING that she has a wonderful place to go where she will be safe from hunters and trappers and predators for the rest of her life and I will get to visit her anytime I want to! AND she’ll have a boyfriend!
I will post more about that later on.
My heart, while joyful, is also very heavy with the thought of bidding her good-bye.
Posted in Paddy the Baby Beaver Chronicles, Way Back When-sday, Wildlife Center, Wildlife Rehab | 7 Comments »
August 12, 2009
It’s hard to believe that this was taken 9 years ago!
Yep, that means that Mr.C. is 49 years old today!!
The folks that worked for Cam at the time threw him a party at work and they had this banner made. Of course I had to further embarrass him by hanging it from the front porch railing. (He secretly loved it!)
Happy birthday sweetie! I love you more every year!
Posted in I'm Thankful for, Way Back When-sday | 5 Comments »
July 8, 2009
I was looking through the pictures on the disc of our old family slides trying to come up with a Way Back post when I came across this pic of my Sissy aka Capri P. That’s her in the front in the lovely flannel…
I have no idea who the other people are in this picture. It was taken in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula around one of our many infamous Kolar Bomb-fires.
The thing that struck me about this pic is how much I see of her daughter, my only God-child, in her features. Here’s a pic of Erin aka ‘Screech’ way back on her 16th b-day…
can you see the resemblance?
Way Back When-sday is an opportunity for you to find an old photo and share a memory… please join us and add your link over at Life In Stitches
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
July 1, 2009
In honor of our passed away ‘angel’ I’ve decided to post this pic of me sporting my ‘Farrah hair’
With the giant cowlick at my hairline it took much work and hairspray to get this wanna-be hair. Of course I know that I never achieved the long flowing perfect mane that Farrah had, but I tried my best, as did every other girl in the world I think!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
June 24, 2009
I’m really loving this last haircut that Schmenky did on our Memorial Weekend Extravaganza but there are definitly days when I miss the ability to do this…
because with short hair, humidity is NOT my friend!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 2 Comments »
June 17, 2009
As I look out over the gardens it’s hard to remember just what it looked like when we first moved here and before I started tilling, digging, planting, and reshaping the landscape.
So I dug into the old pictures and found some photos taken not long after we moved here in 1998.
I’m also including present day shots for comparison.
Way Back…
And Now…
Way Back…
and now…
Way Back…
and now…
Way Back…
and now…
Way back…
and now…
A little blood, a LOT of sweat, and maybe a few tears now and then has made this house our home. It’s a never-ending, ongoing project that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Posted in Sassy Cat Hill House, Gardens and Other Stuff, Way Back When-sday | 6 Comments »
June 3, 2009
Whew… thought I was going to miss a second way back whensday!
Since I’m on a quest to loose all of this excess poundage I’ve picked up I decided to go back for a little inspiration!
Way back when we still lived in good old Michigan I would go to aerobics with my sissy, aka Capri P. For awhile there they would do a ‘fitness weekend’ once a year where you could sign up and the festivities would be held at a hotel. There would be guest speakers, various classes, spa type treatments… all that kinda fun.
In 1991 one of the speakers was Mr. Universe or Mr World or some such title for a body builder…. his name was Peter Nielsen and here I am with him and Capri P…
I remember him being a very nice guy… (notice that he liked me better than Capri P!) LOL
Anyway, we got his book and went up to the room where Capri P was reading about ‘Growing Up Strong’ while eating tostitos and lady fingers and drinking coke (probably mixed with something)… but I’m sure it was DIET coke!!… Here’s proof…
As you can see we took our fitness seriously!! Trust me when I tell you that this time I’m trying a bit harder!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 5 Comments »
May 6, 2009
When I took Paddy to swim in neighbor Mike’s pool, and when I put her in for the test swim in her new enclosure; it reminded me of a very long time ago (I was probably 6 or 7) when my brother’s friend (I think) ended up with a dolphin… yes a dolphin in his back yard swimming pool!
We got to go over and see it and I can remember just being soooooooooo amazed and enthralled with the whole day. It has been a memory that has stayed with me for my whole life.
The memory of the story behind how it all happened is very dim but I seem to remember that the aquarium the dolphin was in had sprung a leak and needed to be fixed so they needed to put it someplace and this friend of my brother’s was the lucky winner!
I mean really… could it get much cooler than this…
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
April 29, 2009
My first two-wheeler. Purple with a BANANA seat! I was so cool! Here I am giving it a good wash…
I’m just sure that it must have been so dirty after cruising up and down those perfectly straight Detroit sidewalks too!
NO… I’m NOT picking my nose… it was itching! I have no idea who that kid is either… any help with that family members???
Later on I got a basket for the handlebars… it was white with plastic flowers on it and also those colorful streamers for each handle. I also remember rigging something in the spokes so it made a cool noise… playing cards maybe? A clothespin may have been involved too.
Go check out Mr.C. on Life In Stitches and link up you own Way Back post!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 3 Comments »
April 15, 2009
Each year, as I till the soil in the veggie garden, I always dream that this will be the year that I achieve garden perfection… the way I remember my Daddy’s garden.
I’ve wondered if my memories were correct since I’ve come to believe that ‘perfection’ in the garden (at least without a team of full time gardeners)isn’t possible.
Then I came across this photo…
Just as I remembered! Perfect, soldier straight rows. Perfectly constructed support systems for the tomatoes. Perfect pathways to allow for easy picking. Perfectly edged. Perfectly WEEDLESS!
And notice the lawn… my Dad’s lawn was legendary… perfection in a mix of annual and perennial rye, never a weed, hand-mowed; kept at an inch long, it rivaled a golf course green.
I’m not sure how he did it, I don’t think I’ll ever achieve it, but it’s nice to know that it is possible and have something to strive for.
Check out other Way Back When-sday posts at Life In Stitches and share your own memories!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
April 8, 2009
I always looked forward to Easter as a kid; not just because I got a basket full of candy…
(me at 4 years old)
I also looked forward to Easter because it always meant a new Easter dress and shoes too. Sometimes even a bonnet…
me, EEEK and Jethro.
May you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter.
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
April 1, 2009
Wow, it’s already Wednesday again! We’ve been busy around here I guess. Couldn’t say with what though! Doctor and dentist appointments, yard work, just life.
A couple of posts ago I was feeling sorry for Delilah with her dork bangs.
It reminded me of the many bad haircuts EEEK gave me over the years.
The ‘pixie cut’ being one of the worst…
Cow-licks are not a girls friend.
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 4 Comments »
March 18, 2009
Sometime around 1966. That’s me and my sister, Capri P (I’m the younger one !)and we’re standing on ‘Laurie’s rock’ which is named after our other sister, Laura-belle. This rock sits in Lake Michigan in ‘da u.p.’ (that’s the upper peninsula for you non-Michiganders) right in front of our family cottage where we would spend every summer enjoying the great outdoors.
Many family pics have been posed for on this particular rock….
That’s me and B.F.G.
And that’s Da MaMa EEEK
Post a Way back When-sday of your own at Life in Stitches!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 5 Comments »
March 11, 2009
I got a wonderful surprise in the mail a couple of days ago…
My brother (aka BFG) spent a great deal of time this past winter going through our folk’s old slides and getting them organized, categorized, and transferred to C.D. This was a monumental task as my Dad was a BIG picture taker and there were MANY MANY MANY slides to go through.
He also transferred some old home movies. Quite a number of years ago we had a home movie night in which we watched all of the movies that my folks had taken when we were kids. There was no sound, so as we watched, BFG was filming the screen with the VHS camera while my mom and dad narrated what we were watching. I got a little bit weepy hearing my Dad’s voice after all of these years.
So I’m sending a HUGE THANK YOU to BFG for taking the time to do this. You are awesome!!
What this means is that I’ve struck gold as far as finding Way Back When-sday photos because almost all of my baby and younger years pictures were in slides and not actual photos.
Mr. C and I watched some of them last night and had lots of laughs. So many memories.
Anyway, my love of gardening and working in the yard apparently began at a pretty young age…
C’mon find an old photo and join the Way Back When-sday fun!
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 3 Comments »
March 4, 2009
I was 5 years old in this photo with Jethro, the first dog I ever remember having.
How cute were we?!
Share your own memories with a Way Back When-sday post at Life In Stitches
Posted in Way Back When-sday | 3 Comments »
