Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Against the Tide
Once I had a school assignment to create an imaginary island. I didn't know where to start. My dad was the parent who helped on science projects and geography. We did a science fair project about osmosis. I don't remember the scientific principle, but I carry a torch for scientific glassware. My dad's idea for the imaginary island was to have all of the place names be words spelled backwards. Inspired. Then he came up with a name for the island and it was shocking and funny. Could I really to go to school with an island named TRAF? A tantalizing invitation to cross a line. I suspect that my mom drew the line.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
So Much Riding On It
Mr. Beard is etched in my memory...tall, thin, crew cut with a small bald spot, and natty in a white dress shirt. Probably on his way home from work. Mr. Beard was stopping to look at my aunt and uncle's pink and ivory '57 Chevy. My aunt told me that If we were going to go on the planned vacation tomorrow, she had to sell the Chevy today. And she and I couldn't let on. She talked and I willed Mr. Beard to buy the car.
Monday, August 23, 2010
OMG
There wasn't much art hanging on the walls. Wall paper was the dominate decor in our house. This was the picture that hung in my bedroom. I think it sent the wrong message. Every night I'd see those kids on this treacherous bridge, alone in the middle of nowhere, after dark. If that wasn't bad enough, if they look over their shoulders they are going to be scared spitless when they see that huge hovering thing. I thought that was God.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sixties Field Trip
Robert Kennedy at Portland State, March 1968 |
Three high-school seniors mingling and tingling amidst a sea of college students. RFK! RFK! Candidate and prince. Heavy.
At the end of the day, Terry and Kris dropped me back home and before they got a mile away, they were rear-ended. They weren't hurt, but that pristine, turquoise LeMans got creamed. Bummer.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Quicksilver
Uncle Douglas brought over a vial of liquid mercury and poured it out on the kitchen table. Don't touch. He and my dad teased it with pencils, but it was stubborn and elusive. They were conducting an experiment. I took it to be an illicit experiment.
your truck is almost full. The neighbors
take a certain pride in you. They
stand around watching.
Richard Brautigan
Friday, August 20, 2010
They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Kelso -- Smelt Capital of the World
The fish could be there and gone in a flash.
Women and kids lined the top of the bank holding thermoses. Dads, grandfathers and uncles balanced on the bank or edged into the river. Straining to get the net out far into the channel, and to lift a net sagging with pounds of swarming, silver fish back in.
Cross over the bridge, cross over the bridge
Change your reckless way of livin', cross over the bridge
Leave your fickle past behind you,
And true romance will find you,
Brother, cross over the bridge
Patti Page hit song, 1954
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Driven to Distraction
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Carold
Harold & Carol |
Monday, August 16, 2010
I Read It for the Pictures
Road & Track data panel |
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Portable Life
Bring back the VW Squareback |
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Journalism Major
Moving in. McMahon Hall UW. 1971 |
Friday, August 13, 2010
Driver's Ed
Our brand new 1966 Beetle which I would own one day. |
I thought the sweater was a good look on me.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Red Dog Cottage
Here's Bevie with our first dog, Rudy. We'd just picked up the rental truck for the move from our Capitol Hill condo to a house with a yard on Beacon Hill. If not for Bevie, there wouldn't have been Rudy. If not for Rudy, there wouldn't have been the house and Benny. As Bevie likes to say: "It's all worked out beautifully."
Happy Birthday, Bevie!
Happy Birthday, Bevie!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Summer Rituals
Drive-in movies; new pair of Keds; spotting a falling star; the mosquito fog truck; squirt guns; snow cones; birthday picnics with chocolate cupcakes; a loop around the Seaside turnaround; Ella Mae, wearing a pith helmet while mowing her lawn; and the blimp. Once every summer a blimp would fly over Kelso. The unmistakable sputtering sound of the props was my cue to run outside and follow its odd transit.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
21-foot Cabin Cruiser
Dad christening the L'il Carol |
The launch physics were complicated. He'd back the trailer in until you could begin to hear the car's tailpipe bubbling in the water. One last shout of instructions. With everyone in place, he'd jerk the Chevy forward to shake the boat loose. The freed boat's momentum would rarely favor the person holding the bow line. Success was measured by how dry you could stay.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Mom & Eddie's Driveway
One in a long line of Eddie's Chevy pickups |
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Legendary
www.aerocarforsale.com |
Probably sick of reading Golden Books to me, Dad told me stories of the underdog car makers like Taylor, Kaiser, Tucker and Amphicar. Ingenuity trumps success.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Aggravating Circumstances
When Dad got a hankering or as relief on hot evenings, we'd head for the Dairy Queen. "One soft chocolate cone, one dipped cone and a chocolate shake." And, when a hot fudge sundae made it into the lineup, that was a special kind of wonderful.
I don't think Uncle Jerry had such wonderful memories of the Dairy Queen. He took my mom and me out for burgers in his new 1956 aqua and white Chevy and I put the first blemish on it. When you aren't tall enough to see over the front seats, you must stand on the backseat. It was the discarded pickle I was standing on that bumped my infraction up to a felony.
Photo from Uncle Atom on Flickr.
I don't think Uncle Jerry had such wonderful memories of the Dairy Queen. He took my mom and me out for burgers in his new 1956 aqua and white Chevy and I put the first blemish on it. When you aren't tall enough to see over the front seats, you must stand on the backseat. It was the discarded pickle I was standing on that bumped my infraction up to a felony.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Clam Fritters
Mom & Eddie's 1950 Chevy |
It was a day trip from Kelso to Long Beach. We'd drive right onto the beach and set up for the day. The car served as windbreak, chuckwagon and dressing room. But more often, our beach trips meant digging for clams. We were prodigious clammers. If we had one, our family crest would feature a razor clam.
Clam Clan: (counterclockwise) Me on my Aunt Carol's lap, Uncle Tommy, Eddie, Dad, Mom. My grandma, "Mom," is the photographer.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Social Studies
Mrs. Jackson sometimes sang in class. She had a determined, yet warbly, vocal style. Even though I tried to stifle a laugh, there was no tamping it down. On each occasion, it devolved into full-throated laughter. I regret being unkind, but I am perversely proud of that Zero.
Things I Thought I Would Be But Never Was
Able to hear dogs speak to me. Adopted. Left handed. Red headed. A prodigy. A tennis pro. An archaeologist. A Californian. A high school teacher. A naval officer. A feminist. A journalist. A radical. A medical technologist. A meter maid. An artist. A cartoonist. A cartographer. A world traveler. An interpreter at the UN. A beach volleyball pro. A poet. Fluent in Esperanto.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
18 Degrees Below
We lived with my grandparents while my dad built our house on the lot next door. I grew up running between the two houses. Mom and Eddie always had dogs and cats. One day Eddie came up with a present for me. Under his jacket was a puppy, my first dog, Butch. That's Butchie in between Eddie and the white dog on a hay truck. This photo was taken the year Mom & Eddie tended a ranch in freezing cold or blazing hot Dairy, Oregon.
Butchie of Sunrise Street
Sire: Bobby Cawlfield
Dame: Nickle Ribary
Grand Dame: Cocoa Ribary
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
1953 Spudster
The Potato Heads were must-haves in my stable of toys. Back then, it was still BYOP (bring your own potato). All that the Potatoes could do was stand around unless you bought them a car. A really big day for them was changing hats or Mrs. P. might sneak a smoke. I only recently learned that they had kids, Brother Spud and Sister Yam. I heard that those kids went on to form a soul group that opened for Sly and the Family Stone. "We are fam-i-lee..."
Hugs and a bouquet to Ed & Mark who served me all my favorites last night, including mashed potatoes!
Hugs and a bouquet to Ed & Mark who served me all my favorites last night, including mashed potatoes!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tubes
Whenever our TV was on the blink, my dad squatted behind the set to figure out which tube was the problem; then drove down to the tube tester before the store closed. The testing was almost always inconclusive. Dad scoured the drawers of small, coded boxes for his best guess.
Pictured: Atwater Kent Type TA 2 tube power amp from radiolaguy.com
Pictured: Atwater Kent Type TA 2 tube power amp from radiolaguy.com
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Talismanic
I've held onto this cover ever since I tore it off in 1986. Reasons why:
1. Probably due to growing up in the "duck and cover" era, I had a recurring nightmare. I would be playing in our back yard and, just in the knick of time, spot a pterodactyl swooping down to grab me. I'd run to the other end of yard and slide into the crawl-space opening just before the massive claws could latch on. Huddled in the dark, I dodged the beak and claws for as long as it took.
2. Eddie drove a faded blue '49 or '50 Chevy pickup whose shape and color and mom-&-eddie-ness I always wanted to draw.
3. Roger Zelazny was my first science-fiction crush. Timmy turned me on to "The Chronicles of Amber" series. I use the vernacular because Timmy and I spent a whole 20-something summer of evenings smoking marijuana, talking sci-fi and listening to the Chi-lites and Stylistics.
4. This could be the cover of my autobiography.
Roadmarks published in paper, 1986 . Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet
1. Probably due to growing up in the "duck and cover" era, I had a recurring nightmare. I would be playing in our back yard and, just in the knick of time, spot a pterodactyl swooping down to grab me. I'd run to the other end of yard and slide into the crawl-space opening just before the massive claws could latch on. Huddled in the dark, I dodged the beak and claws for as long as it took.
2. Eddie drove a faded blue '49 or '50 Chevy pickup whose shape and color and mom-&-eddie-ness I always wanted to draw.
3. Roger Zelazny was my first science-fiction crush. Timmy turned me on to "The Chronicles of Amber" series. I use the vernacular because Timmy and I spent a whole 20-something summer of evenings smoking marijuana, talking sci-fi and listening to the Chi-lites and Stylistics.
4. This could be the cover of my autobiography.
Roadmarks published in paper, 1986 . Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Mom
This is me with my grandmother. She was named Marguerite. Her lodge sisters called her that. In-laws and friends called her Marge. Of course, my mom, uncle and aunt called her Mom. I thought that was her name, so I called her "Mom" too. I recall, at first, confusion and, later, a huffy shrug when a relative would suggest I call her "grandma" or some such. Mom and I were both happy with my choice. I know she loved being a grandmother, but she didn't mind not having to be called that.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Log Trucks
My grandfather, Eddie was born in 1905 in North Bend, WA. In 1924, the Long-Bell mill opened in Longview, WA and was the largest lumber producer in the world. Weyerhaeuser opened a mill of its own in 1929 and became the area's largest employer. Logging was big business in the state. Eddie was a logger, log truck driver and mechanic when there were still plenty of gigantic logs.
This truck (TN 317) is a Ford built around 1936, and it has seen a lot of wear, so he might be in his late 30s here.
7/27: Mill start-dates corrected using columbiariverimages.com
This truck (TN 317) is a Ford built around 1936, and it has seen a lot of wear, so he might be in his late 30s here.
7/27: Mill start-dates corrected using columbiariverimages.com
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Pick a pocket
1947 Montgomery Ward Catalog. Flickr: Archival Clothing
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Piece de Resistance
"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental..."
In the 1950's sense of "continental" meaning foreign in a romantic way, Uncle Lawrence was as close to continental as one got in our town. But, I didn't get it. I didn't realize those shiny suits were Italian style. I thought he just didn't have very good taste. I remember vividly when he showed up wearing the first pair of wrap-around sunglasses I'd ever seen. Déclassé! After having lived in a partially-completed house that never got beyond tar-paper siding, he built a monumental A-frame and poured its terrazzo floors himself. Terrazzo, sperrazzo! And, there was the Citroen. Evidently, one of the first imported into Washington state. Gads!
Need I say, it all makes sense now?
In the 1950's sense of "continental" meaning foreign in a romantic way, Uncle Lawrence was as close to continental as one got in our town. But, I didn't get it. I didn't realize those shiny suits were Italian style. I thought he just didn't have very good taste. I remember vividly when he showed up wearing the first pair of wrap-around sunglasses I'd ever seen. Déclassé! After having lived in a partially-completed house that never got beyond tar-paper siding, he built a monumental A-frame and poured its terrazzo floors himself. Terrazzo, sperrazzo! And, there was the Citroen. Evidently, one of the first imported into Washington state. Gads!
Need I say, it all makes sense now?
Friday, July 23, 2010
My Loss Is Your Gain
I think it might be time to get myself a car for weekend chores and such. Tricky because I don't want to spend more than $2500. So, I'll be reading each of the ads on Craigslist and hoping one of the "grandpa's car" or "my loss is your gain" ads will reveal the car for me. From last weekend's search, I'm starting to get a feel for what's out there:
"I am the second owner. The wonderful lady I bought it from kept it garaged and only drove it once a week to the grocery store."
"i have a 1990 suburban that i need to sell to get my husband out of jail"
"Gave it to my 19 year old former step son and he messed up the body and interior and now he doesn't want it. I am sorry but he took the stereo, still has new speakers."
"If you want reliable economical and classic transportation for decades to come, this car is for you. If you're looking for blistering acceleration and Porsche like speed you will be disappointed."
"This will not get you status on the block, but it will get nods from other people when they see you driving down the street because they know you are keeping it real."
Me saying "Jeepers!" in front of Mom and Eddie's '56 Dodge
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Egyptian Trail
When Ella Munch, my great-grandmother's cousin, moved out to Tacoma to live, she came by car along auto trails, starting in Illinois on the Egyptian Trail. Auto trails were just dirt roads with painted stones and marked posts pointing the way. Ella told me it was slow going and there were constant flat tires. She didn't elaborate. Ella was kinda quiet, like me.
More Loquacious Accounts
"Before the Interstates in 1956, before the coming of the US Highways in 1926, there were the Auto Trails. These routes were designated with names—sometimes fanciful, oftentimes utilitarian or descriptive—and marked with colored bands on telephone and electric poles. According to some sources, the first Auto Trail had its beginning in 1911 in Iowa and spread rapidly from there. Within only a few years, the proliferation of "marked" highways was reaching crisis proportions. Countless automobile clubs, tire companies, oil companies and tourist associations erected signs along randomly-chosen routes. Sometimes these routes would veer far from the best or most direct path only to pass through a city which paid a fee to have the marked route run though the center of town." www.michiganhighways.org
"When the first autos came to Kimnundy there were no roads except dirt ones. After the fall rains started, you put your car up on wooden jacks in the garage (it was still called the barn) and you left it there till next summer. Dr. Miller and Dr. Camerer each had cars about 1912, the kind you cranked. These models had acetylene lamps which had to be lit with a match at dusk. It was a long trip to Centralia and a real journey to St. Louis, and Chicago. There were no marked routes and it was easy to loose your way in strange territory. Then two men in a buggy came along one day. down the road from Effingham and painted black and orange triangles on every other telephone pole. This marked the Egyptian trail which became Route 37 in 1931."
"When the first autos came to Kimnundy there were no roads except dirt ones. After the fall rains started, you put your car up on wooden jacks in the garage (it was still called the barn) and you left it there till next summer. Dr. Miller and Dr. Camerer each had cars about 1912, the kind you cranked. These models had acetylene lamps which had to be lit with a match at dusk. It was a long trip to Centralia and a real journey to St. Louis, and Chicago. There were no marked routes and it was easy to loose your way in strange territory. Then two men in a buggy came along one day. down the road from Effingham and painted black and orange triangles on every other telephone pole. This marked the Egyptian trail which became Route 37 in 1931."
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
My First Car
That must be my cousin Frankie sitting in my brand new, light blue pedal car. I put a lot of miles on that beauty, round and round on Mom & Eddie's driveway. This photo makes us look like film noir cheats and petty criminals. In truth, my mother's family were farmers, truck drivers, loggers, mechanics and homemakers. That's my great-great grandfather, Pop, in the rocking chair. He lived in my great-grandmother's house in Sumner. His room was behind a set of etched glass doors and he never came out when we were there. Sure, he could have been away on Don and Diane's Fun Tours those weekends, but I'm sure he was in there reading magazines and nibbling on a stash of snacks and beverages until the coast was clear. I can relate.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Ramblers Anonymous
My dad's parents, were partial to Nash Ramblers. Stout and sturdy styling, but such unusual colors. More like appliance colors (Lake Shore Blue, Mariner Turquoise, Autumn Yellow, Mardi Gras Red, Georgian Rose). No doubt because Nash and the Kelvinator appliance business were part of the same company.
“There must’ve been one car dealer in all of Metropolis, because everyone drove a Nash. Lois Lane had a Nash Rambler. Clark Kent drove a Nash-Healey sports car. For a good chunk of ‘Superman,’ you saw nothing but Nashes.”
From Auto Ego, New York Times, March 4, 2010
“There must’ve been one car dealer in all of Metropolis, because everyone drove a Nash. Lois Lane had a Nash Rambler. Clark Kent drove a Nash-Healey sports car. For a good chunk of ‘Superman,’ you saw nothing but Nashes.”
From Auto Ego, New York Times, March 4, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Finns
My dad, Harold, and his brothers Lawrence, Don, Gordon, Douglas and Gary drove out here from Michigan just after my dad graduated from high school. No more working in coal mines. The family bought land and pitched a big canvas tent where they lived for two years while building a house and working in the paper mills.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Cars
Where and when I'm from most families had a single car and a male relative who knew how to keep it running. Cars were essential machines. Fixing them was a priority. Talking about cars over coffee, de rigeur. Visiting meant aunts in the house with my mom; uncles and my dad outside under the hood. Even bedtime stories could be about underdog car makers. Cars were defining characters in my growing up, sometimes more so than their drivers.
Manual from www.cars4books.com
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Milestones
"Milestones are constructed to provide reference points along the road. This can be used to reassure travelers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance traveled or the remaining distance to a destination." --Wikipedia
Soon I will be turning 60. That's a milestone I'm trying to reckon with. Hence these recollections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)