We have a small front porch at our house where we have squeezed two rocking chairs and a wicker love seat amid the jungle of Nancy’s assorted house plants. We don’t sit on the porch often, mostly when it rains. It rained hard yesterday afternoon, and we found our way to the porch where we sat quietly, watching the cars move up and down the street, some faster than others. We also watched the birds … [Read more...]
Have You Lost Your Marbles?
“Yes, Mom, I did lose all my marbles. Jimmy Ray Smith used a steely and wiped me out.” “But I just bought you a whole bag of marbles two days ago.” “I know, Mom. Can you buy me another bag, and a big steely to go with it? Next time, maybe I’ll win all the marbles.” Many Boomers will recognize the above conversation because there was once a childhood sport called marbles that was … [Read more...]
Hot Cars and Great Music.
Boomers were fortunate enough to grow up in an age of Hot Cars and Great Music. Our cars had lots of chrome and fancy grills and nasty engines. We laid rubber with every start and cruised the drive-ins while The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Jan and Dean and Wilson Pickett filled our radios with music that will never be duplicated. Ours was the age of 56 Chevys, 57 Mustangs, 66 GTOs, 67 … [Read more...]
Polyester and Disco Music
Boomers look back fondly on many events and milestones throughout their lives: The days of hot cars, great music, graduations, weddings, birth announcements and lives full of excitement and memories. But like the 18 ½ minute gap in the presidential tapes of Richard Nixon, there was one segment from Boomer history that should be erased – the era of Leisure Suits. How did we let that … [Read more...]
Jim Brown – The Best There Ever Was
I don’t remember when it was that I decided to become a Cleveland Browns fan. I think it was when Otto Graham passed for three TDs and ran for three more in the 56-10 win over the Detroit Lions in the 1954 NFL championship game that I became an official Browns fanatic. I lived or died with the Browns, and then something special happened. Jim Brown, All-American fullback out of Syracuse, was … [Read more...]
You Wash, I’ll Dry
Sunday dinner was over, and Brad Stuart was outside. He had rounded up enough kids for a 4-on-a-side baseball game. But I couldn’t play. Yet. I had to do dishes. Mom had used every pot and pan in the kitchen to fry her chicken, bake her homemade yeast rolls, boil and mash potatoes, fix two bowls of vegetables and cook a chocolate cake. It was a great Sunday dinner (we called a fancy lunch … [Read more...]
Summer Camp
Summer is fast approaching, meaning modern children will be busier than ever with activities galore. It’s mind boggling to try and appreciate all the things in store for today’s kids. It wasn’t always like that. Boomers look back and remember that when school let out, if you didn’t play Little League baseball, you were sentenced to a summer of Scrabble, Clue and Monopoly games. Unless, … [Read more...]
The Golden Age of Fine Clothing
Last Sunday, the preacher and I were the only men in Church with a coat and a tie. Others wore sport shirts, knit shirts and maybe their best jeans. I am old school. I believe in dressing for respect of the occasion. I don’t wear a baseball cap to a nice restaurant, and I consider blue jeans to be work clothes, I don’t care how much they cost. I had moved to Charlottesville on the first day … [Read more...]
Blowin’ In The Wind
We were driving from Lewisburg, WV to enroll at UNC in Chapel Hill on a September day in 1962 when I first heard the group. The song was “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” sung by a group called Peter, Paul and Mary. Boomers grew up with this trio, pioneers in folk music, which gained steam in the 1960s. To many, folk music meant protests and flower children. To me, it meant some of … [Read more...]
Old Family Recipes: Genuine Treasures
Some of the greatest treasures we have are old family recipes, traditions passed from one generation to the next. Many of these old recipes can date back a hundred years and more. They connect us to our past. My wife Nancy has accumulated a thick volume of these priceless wonders. Nancy married into a family of incredible cooks. Not me. All I could cook when we first married were hamburgers, … [Read more...]
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