Blog

‘Fire and Flame to Suburbs come in the year Nineteen and Sixty-Three’ There was a mountain west of me that, at the turn of century, folks visited to ‘take the waters’ that were allegedly curative. The landscape was dominated by three huge hotels that together could house thousands at one time. All had spacious horse… Continue reading With Apologies to Al Stewart…

‘Father Knows Best’?? Ha! If Daddy didn’t talk during dinner, no one spoke. Children should be seen and not heard. A friend of mine called this male parenting ‘benign neglect.’ Hands off and hope for the best. Sometimes he’d vent about a co-worker, but usually those stories were saved until I left the table. Much… Continue reading The Angry King at rest: 5:30-?

Or, as dad called me–“Him” I think in third grade, I got signed up for bowling after school around twice a month for half the year. We got on a bus right as school ended and we were schlepped to the nearest alley, which was 30 minutes away–don’t forget we were close to nothing. Riding… Continue reading So, What did the kid do after school?

Last call for smiles. Until 5th grade, I got picked up most of the time and mom often had an agenda. Supermarket, bank, dry cleaners, department store…………wait a minute! Department store?! Yes, the change from back country to suburb was underway! We got a large store only around 5 miles from the house, and mom… Continue reading 3-5:30: A Mom and Her Music

A Pause to reflect If anyone reading this finds that their childhood resembled the tragedy below, I am sorry. What happened to you was not your fault. I hope you find healing, as I did. I have no intention of turning my blog into a pity party. But I was seriously abused verbally by my… Continue reading Cruelty

Movin’ On Up! As I said, in such a tiny enclave, you knew all the teachers. Well, lemmee tell you, the first grade teacher was a force of nature………or something far darker. She looked to us like a taller version of Hagar the Horrible’s wife. All she needed was the horn helmet and a few… Continue reading First Grade!

“but all these girls have cooties!!!” And so it began. I started school half day. No more running around with mom to errands and the museum. It was like college in the respect that you were thrown into close quarters with a bunch of people you didn’t know. Except that these people you didn’t know… Continue reading Kindergarten

Gotta have the best Radio took a big step forward in the 60’s. Stereo sound meant that ‘high end’ radios could be sold as must have devices for every house so you could play the music at higher volumes without signal loss or crappy AM signals. Dad bought a large radio that was about three… Continue reading More Wonderful Innovations

And that Space Age design! Wow! Refrigerators in those days had a lock system that was connected to the handle. You didn’t just pull the handle–you pulled it down as well to unlock the door. But in the sixties, fridges became frost-free (old fridges were called iceboxes), which meant that the freezer no longer accumulated… Continue reading All those time saving Gadgets

The Great Escape In the 1860’s/1870’s, Irish immigrants flooded the US. Many found work in the Pennsylvania anthracite mines. The Irish were considered the lowest form of humanity–drunks and ruffians who indiscriminately had babies that they couldn’t support. From this discrimination/humiliation came The Molly Maguires, a combination of a trade union and a terrorist group.… Continue reading Total Time Transfer: Late 1910’s