I grew up in what could be acknowledged as the Iris Capital of the World. Greenbrier County in West Virginia. Every May, the West Virginia Hills would spring to life with Iris blooms - along roads, bordering driveways, in massive beds and overwhelming the landscape with their beauty. The climate is perfect in this, one of the most beautiful counties in America. Add cool evenings, with … [Read more...]
Back To School
Back to school? Kids today may never go back to school. It all depends on the generosity of the teachers’ union and the intestinal fortitude of our governor. But Boomers remember Back To School. It happened every September, even when the polio epidemic was in progress. Back to school was an event, almost a holiday. Going back to school meant a new wardrobe. For boys, that was … [Read more...]
The Perils of First Grade
Digging deeply into the memories of childhood, this Boomer shudders at the thought of the early years of school, namely kindergarten and first grade. In the 1950’s, there was no pre-kindergarten, in fact, kindergarten was optional. I remember it as a waste of about 5 hours a day. The teacher read silly stories and we spent much of our waking hours (yes, there was nap time) cutting silhouettes … [Read more...]
In This Corner….
It happened one summer that I staged a prize fight. It was my first and last attempt as a boxing promoter. I was ten at the time and my friend and constant companion, Freddie Arnold, and I were hanging out in my basement, doing nothing in particular, when one of my parents' friends asked if she could drop off her son for a bit. The boy’s name was Billy White. He was about 7. His father, Cotton … [Read more...]
The Miracle of Spring
A couple weeks ago, I filled four small rows in my garden with sweet peas left over from a bag of Wetzel seeds I had stored in the shed. They may have been two years old. I was foolish to have risked planting them, but I couldn’t just toss them out. A week passed by and no peas. A few days later I saw the most incredible sight – several little pea sprouts peeking through the soil. To me, this is … [Read more...]
Remembering 45 Records
Music played an important part in the life of most every Boomer, and 45 records made up the chapters of our lives. For my 10th birthday, I asked for and got a portable 45 record player. It was a Sylvania, as I recall, and my first record was Dean Martin’s “Memories are Made of This”. I suppose I played it a thousand times before I bought my second record, “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee … [Read more...]
Our First House
It was in Berkley, at 2508 Commonwealth Drive. Nancy and I had a new baby girl, Angelin, and we wanted to move from our dark, basement apartment across town into a real home. Caleb Stowe, our Realtor, found us a house in a nice subdivision with an assumable mortgage that we could afford, and we bought it. That first house had three bedrooms, one bath, a combination living/dining area, … [Read more...]
The Electronically Challenged
For Boomers, it all began with the remote control for the television set: The coming of the age of electronics. A world of tweets and twitters, of Google and Yahoo. Before this strange new world of gizmos, a mouse pad was just a place where a mouse lived. Memory was something that was lost with age. A cursor was somebody who used profanity and a hard drive was a really long trip. Before the age … [Read more...]
Guardian Angels
Children today don’t need a Guardian Angel. Who needs angels to watch over you when you have two over-protective parents that monitor each breath, public schools that inspect your lunch bags for trans-fats and a nanny-state government that requires seat belts and helmets when a youngster pulls up a chair to the kitchen table. But Boomers certainly needed Guardian Angels – a whole … [Read more...]
Snow Days
We had lots of snow days when I was a boy, but it was just that - snowy. They didn’t cancel school. Unless the boiler broke down at Lewisburg Junior high School, we went to school, trudged through the snow 5 miles going and 10 miles coming home. Math was different back then. When the back, one-lane roads had drifts so high the buses couldn’t run, the country kids stayed home and had to make up … [Read more...]
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