In 1956, a fellow named Elvis Presley released his version of Blue Suede Shoes, originally recorded by Carl Perkins. Soon after, Pat Boone, a handsome young crooner began wearing white buck shoes on stage and screen and every young man wanted a pair. In 1957, I begged for and got a pair of spiffy white buck shoes, despite the warning from my parents that they would be difficult to … [Read more...]

For most of my life, fly fishing has been my passion. From the time I tied my first dry fly and delivered it to small brook trout on Swift Run, I have been hooked. I have spent countless hours pulling fly line through the air with a long leader and a small fly tagging along for the ride. I have caught trout, bass, panfish, stripers, bluefish, amberjack, speckled trout, and many other species. … [Read more...]

  There may be “No crying in baseball”, but I am crying for baseball. I’m ready for the season to start. Let’s play ball! As a lifelong sports fan, I am finding fewer and fewer sports teams and heroes to follow. The NFL turned me completely off when they seemingly condoned kneeling during the National Anthem but wouldn’t let a player kneel and pray after a touchdown – so they’re out. … [Read more...]

The hardest part of the day for many Boomers is finding their car in the parking lot. It’s not like the old days where you simply parallel parked in front of the store you were shopping and then went inside. When you finished, you knew exactly where your car would be. Life today is full of mega-parking lots and shopping centers on multiple levels, and every car in the lot is grey. About twenty … [Read more...]

It snowed this week. Some places had over a foot. two feet. We had about 6 inches in our area, enough of the white stuff to kindle a warm flicker of Boomer memories of snow blanketed hills, red noses, hot chocolate, and Flexible Flyers. We lived on a steep street, Jennings Street, in Beckley, WV. Some would consider that a disadvantage. My boyhood friend, Freddy Arnold, and I thought it was … [Read more...]

  The year was 1920,"One hundred-and one years ago." What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1920: - The average life expectancy for men was 47 years. - Fuel for cars was sold in drug stores only. - Only 14 percent of homes had a bathtub. - Only 8 percent of homes had a telephone. - The average US wage in 1919 was 22 cents per hour. - The average US … [Read more...]

Christmas memories. Strange, how some things stick in your mind through all the years. A Christmas memory I vividly recall happened in 1956. It was a few days before Christmas and Uncle Jim, my Aunt Jodi and Mama Ida had come from North Carolina to spend Christmas at our house in Lewisburg, WV. With an hour or two of sunlight remaining, I asked my uncle if he wanted to take the dogs out and … [Read more...]

    We put up our Christmas tree exactly one week before Christmas, and we took it down one week after. Never earlier, never later. It was tradition in our family when we lived in Lewisburg in the 1950’s. Selecting the tree was another tradition. On the appointed day, everyone piled in our car, a fifty-something Pontiac and headed for Bud Simm’s Esso Station, one of only a … [Read more...]

  The year 1955 was not a good one to be a raccoon. In fact, if you were such a masked critter, chances were pretty good you’d lose your tail and skin to a fad called “Coonskin Caps.” In the mid-1950’s, Walt Disney was a dominant program on TV. Families gathered around their Zenith, Philco or RCA black and white sets on a Saturday night, set up the trays for TV Dinners and watched … [Read more...]

I spend about an hour a day in my car, more if I’m on a trip, and I always have the radio on. I pretty much ignore talk radio anymore – too depressing, so I listen to the oldies station or light rock. It’s background noise, mostly, something to occupy the time. But there was once a time when the radio not only made noise, it entertained us. Many Boomers recall the Golden Age of radio. I grew … [Read more...]