60 AND BACK

Did you ever think you would live to be 60?  Growing up, 60 was 

your grandparents.  Blue hair, pearls, sensible heels.  My has times

changed.  For me, living in Hawaii changed everything.  Cargo

shorts, T-shirts, and flip flops gets me out the door.  Special occasions,

I go all out.  Think Jimmy Buffet with long pants.

I don't have photos of all my best birthdays, but I still remember 

every one.  Here's some I can share with you.

This is the cake Kay made for me.  Her helpers

were Hannah and James, the children of Brandon and Adrienne.

Six candles and a sugar free cake.  

Thank God for Kay's cake.

A week at Disney World ended up a day at Six Flags.

The Sky Screamer.  The only ride that didn't hurt me.

Last year's birthday was with the Beluga's at the Georgia Aquarium.

Shooting the rapids in Creede, Colorado for my 53rd birthday.

Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii for my 21st birthday.

1969 Mustang Mach 1

16th birthday.

My monkey Jasper was my 10th birthday surprise.

Storyland birthday party with friends and family.

3rd birthday

1st Birthday with Nannie and the same size cake as my 60th cake.

This is me,  1 day old, nameless for 3 days.

Happy 60th Birthday to us all.
July 15

2013

ME AND FOREST PARK

Had some time off.  Took a trip to Forest Park.  

Didn't realize how many memories was still floating around 

in my head.   I thought I covered most everything in my

previous blogs.  Surprise!  It was too hot and Santa was 

too heavy to drag him along.  The hat fit in my purse.

So this will be my version of "Where's Waldo?"

This is where it all began.  North Avenue and North Oak Street.

It was a corner house.  North Avenue was the address,

but because of traffic, mail was delivered on the N.Oak Street

side of the house.

Hendrix Drive Elementary School.

This is where I went to grade school.

November 22, 1963, I was 10 years old in the 5th grade,  when I 

heard the news.   Santa's hat marks the spot on the side of the school.

Question... " Where were you when JFK was shot."

Our family church.  Like most people in Forest Park, everything

from Sunday School to funerals happened here.

To this day,I feel this is one of the most beautiful 

churches in Atlanta.  Maybe I'm biased, 

but it's my blog.

Many a bride and groom ran down these stairs towards

their future.  In 1975, I was one of those brides.

Forest Park Middle School used to be Forest Park Jr. High,

when I went there.

The only sport I was ever involved with happened here.

I was the worse player but I made the basketball team.

Yea, me...

Summers were spent here.

Summer crush.  A blonde haired lifeguard, who drove an 

orange VW beetle, and his name was...

You figure it out.

1969-1971

Same school, 2013

This was Forest Parks skating rink in the old days.

I was only allowed to go there on Saturday mornings.

Friends of mine invited me to go with them one evening.

With great expectations, I asked Daddy if I could go.

NO...

I spent the next hour in my green bathtub, crying, while 

Petula Clark sang Downtown on my transistor radio.

It wasn't Starr Park back then, and a lot of it has changed.

We used to go there to see the Christmas lights.

A bench...

A swing...

A jungle gym...

I just liked them...

Glen's used to be a Gulf Station.  My brother worked there years ago.

He still takes his cars there to be serviced.  As a matter of fact,

Mama's Jaguar is in the shop behind Glen and his sons, 

 Brandon and Chris.

Across the street from Glen's place is a new addition to Forest Park.

I heard that Mama and Daddy had bricks in the walkway

around the fountain.

It was a nice surprise to find a brick for the Class of 1971.

My name isn't on it but I'm still part of it.

It's the same way with Forest Park.  No matter where I am,

I'll always be a part of it...

2013

THE CABIN

 Christmas was on North Avenue and July 4th was at North Georgia.

When I was about 10 years old  Daddy bought a cabin along the

Chattahoochee River near Clarkesville Georgia.  He started with 

  20 acres and  ended up with around 100 acres.  We spent summers

  there, but the week of  the July 4th was reserved for Mama's side

 of the family.  It was a small cabin so everyone had to be creative

 with their sleeping arrangements.  Tents, sleeping bags, and even

 a green and white VW camper belonging to the Browns were used.

It was like summer camp.  We swam, canoed, and tubed,  a couple 

of  times dodging snakes.  We barbecued, ate watermelon chilled 

in the river and made our own ice-cream.  We had horse shoes, 

archery, and rode mini bikes on the dirt roads through the forrest.    

The evenings were spent under the pavilion  at the picnic tables,

where we had cake and ice-cream,  the grownups played cards,

then we ran around with our sparklers and firecrackers, until 

each one of us slowly drifted off to our beds until morning,

 when it would start all over again.

Daddy sold the cabin in the 80's.

I went to visit the cabin a few years after that.

Not much had changed.  It felt as if I was the first to 

arrive and the rest of the family would be there shortly. 

I don't have a lot of photos of those days but my

memories could fill a 100 albums.

Daddy's jeep from the Korean War. 

We used it for everything, from hauling trash,

to picking us up down river after tubing.

The dirt road down to the cabin.

The cabin.

Stairs to the front door.

Me and Jay with cousins Randolyn and Jimmy.

The log cabin behind the cabin with bunk beds.

It had a tin roof and was great on rainy nights.

The pavilion

My Dad

The river

Tubing...

More tubing...

The launch point

My last visit

My son Nicholas, 3 years old

Evening on the river.

I wonder if some other family is off to

bed to waken to their next day at the cabin.

 The 4th of July

2013