My life is dotted with the memories of certain trees. Yes, trees, those so beautifully described by Joyce Kilmer. The first tree that had special meaning was a huge oak tree on Grandview Avenue in Beckley, WV. I was about 7 or 8 and played with two slightly older boys – Dicky Guy and Billy Richmond. We played three things back then – Army, Navy and Air Force. We shot attacking … [Read more...]

As men age, they either go bald or turn gray. Some say that having gray hair is better than none at all, but I’m not convinced. Gray hair looks distinguished, at first. Then it begins to lose its thickness and natural oils and turns from gray to an off-white. After a blow dry in the morning, you look like a Q-Tip that stuck its toe in an electrical outlet. So gray (white) isn’t necessarily better … [Read more...]

When’s the last time you saw a kid on roller skates? We Boomers can’t imagine a childhood without a good pair of skates and a skate key near at hand. I believe my first roller skate encounter was as a 10-year-old in Beckley, WV. A group of school mates decided to head for the nearby skating rink and I signed up – but I was petrified. I wasn’t the most coordinated kid, but I slipped on a pair of … [Read more...]

  We have a single steak knife in our kitchen that moved with me to Charlottesville when I set up my apartment in 1967. It’s not much of a knife, but it does have serrated edges, which I suppose makes it a steak knife. It sits alone, proudly among other very good steak knives. Even though it’s worthless except for maybe carving out a patty of warm butter, I can’t just toss it. It brings … [Read more...]

I went to Wal-Mart this week to buy a pack of BBs to discourage some unnamed pests that are hanging around our bird feeder. When I tried to ring the BBs up at the self-checkout, management had to come and approve the sale. For BBs? How well can I remember buying BBs to support my air-gun habit throughout my youth. They came in small cellophane packages, and I believe they cost a dime. They … [Read more...]

We had genuine marksmen in Lewisburg Junior High in 1956. Sharpshooters, you night say. As I would quickly discover, if you didn’t pack heat in self-defense, you would get squirted. Squirt guns, you see, were the weapons of choice among the young people in the mid-50s. Before class, during class and after class, you could hear triggers squeezing off shots, pelting other students with a spray of … [Read more...]

  Boomers grew up with a little fellow named Speedy Alka-Seltzer. He was one of us. He was our friend in need. Speedy was there when you ate too much, drank too much, had indigestion, heartburn, stomach aches, acid reflux, aches and pains, bad colds and especially a hangover. He was our friend when we had too much of any good thing. Marketing – such as the promotion of Little Speedy – has … [Read more...]

There was just one movie theater in Lewisburg when I moved from Beckley – the Court Theater. It was located, naturally, on Court Street, about a half block from Washington Street, the main thoroughfare through town. The Court Theater served as a major hub of social activity for young and old alike. If there was a decent movie playing, we went. Even if it wasn’t  a decent movie, we went. The … [Read more...]

  I saw a picture of a sandwich wrapped in waxed paper recently that took me back to the 1950’s and brown bag lunches. As an elementary student, sometimes I ate in the cafeteria, assuming someone had an available quarter, but usually Mom would pack my lunch – a cookie, an apple and a sandwich wrapped in waxed paper. I remember watching the early commercials of Reynolds’s Waxed Paper … [Read more...]