Wistful Wednesday :1964

I remember the day this photo was taken, I was inside doing dishes when Mom wanted a photograph of us with her flowers.  Check out those dirty feet.  I hated shoes..still do.  This photo was taken in 1964 towards fall..that in between time when you might wear a sweatshirt with shorts.

I was 13 or really close to 13, my baby brother was 10 that year and my other baby brother was going to be 4.  My baby brother has on his jeans uniform…jacket with white T –shirt and pants and high top sneakers. My other baby brother had some issue going on with a belt and his pants and or pants leg.  His pants look all cattywhampus…oh well he was just a little guy. Looks like he is wearing cowboy boots.

Our dog should have been around someplace, he was a Spitz named “Wally”…he followed a Spitz named “Chipper” who was run over on the road one night when us kids were out playing in the cow pasture.  Wally would live a good long time until he chased the wrong vehicle and was injured and lay under the lilac bushes for days before he finally died..in 1973 - 1974 if I recollect correctly, I think he died on my birthday or very near it.

I think those yellow flowers were Dahlias but I am not certain.  We are standing on the old basement entrance that was made into a trap door.

When I was little there were outside stairs there and the outside entrance was covered in tarpaper.  The steps were dark and scary and I think there were snakes on those stairs.  There were stairs inside down to the basement also, the basement stairs were right outside my parents bedroom.  When the house was remodeled, those stairs disappeared, a new basement was constructed right next to the old one and a hole was cut in the inside wall connecting the new basement to the old.  New indoor basement steps were built near the outside door so if you had your chore/barn clothes on you could go right on downstairs to change.  At that time the trap door was installed and the outside steps disappeared.

Now my brain is tired from all that thinking:)

Wistful Wednesday: 1964/1965

Back in 1964/1965 I was in Junior High, eighth grade to be exact.  I joined band when I was in seventh grade.  I wanted to play drums. Every kid in the country wanted to play the drums, you just had to buy your own wooden sticks, no major investment.

I really didn’t want to learn to play an instrument. I just wanted to be in the Marching Band and be a majorette.  I wanted to wear some cute little outfit and twirl my baton. 

I never learned how to read music, I just kind of guessed what notes were in the ballpark.  I was tone deaf..I could not tell a sharp from a flat.

I got stuck playing the coronet.  My parents rented an instrument. I went to lessons, I even went to lessons during the summer at the Osage School.

I was in the Junior High marching band.  We practiced twice a week in the evenings, I learned how to march. I could even play a few notes while marching..not all of them..but a few. We had to memorize the entire song, no sheets of music were allowed.  Our Junior High Band Leaders were both  kind men. ( We had both Mr. Evju and Mr. Wood during those years.)   We marched in two parades a year..the Memorial Day Parade and the Homecoming Parade.

I tried out for majorette for three years..it was just not in the cards..I would only be a majorette in my mind.

The summer before tenth grade, the Senior High Band Leader gave me summer lessons.  I made him so angry that he would holler and get all red in the face.  He hollered at most of the kids, except for his favorites.  I had enough hollering in my life and when it came time to pick my classes for tenth grade..Band was not one of my choices. I was a band drop out.

Here is a photo of the Junior High Band in the1964/1965 school year.

Back then kids were placed according to their skill..there are 12 coronet players..I am eleventh out of twelve..My good friend Trudy wasn’t so hot either. ( I am in the fourth row second from the left.)  My very first date was with the young man in the last row 5th from the right..his name was Bobby he was a drummer, he used to come with his Mom to buy eggs at our place. See that gal in the second row on the left with the saxophone..she was in a band with her parents..she had natural talent.

We had uniforms..cantcha tell..dark skirts and white blouses/shirts. We had to have white tennis shoes for marching band..and dark colored pants..preferably black.

I often think back and wonder what made the Senior High Band Instructor so angry?  Did he get some weird perverted satisfaction from making young girls cry?  Well not me..I might have bawled afterwards but I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing me bawl during a music lesson:)

Wistful Wednesday: 1964

This was taken in 1964, at the farm where I grew up.  The only two brothers I have are also in this photo, my sister was not born yet.   If you look closely our dog "Wally" a Spitz is laying in the snow between me and the car.  I was thirteen in this photo..my brothers would have been four and ten.  Those fabulous stretch pants must have been in style back then..and colored tennis shoes..a real fashion statement.  I obviously had recently endured one of those home perms, a Lilt or a Toni..they were horrible stinky things..and just made my hair even more unmanageable.

Here is the same barn, forty five years later..on a nice day last June.  The barn is showings it's age..much like the children that posed in that farmyard so many years ago:)

A Birthday Party Fourty Five Years Ago

I am the oldest person in this photo, and my baby brother is the youngest.  He was four years old back in 1964, and I was thirteen.   Gosh that year we had sunshine on his birthday..not so much today.   This photograph was taken on the farm.   Lots of local people are in this photo..everyone is still alive!   However the poor old dog in the corner of the photo has passed on ( He died on my birthday in 1974) he was a Spitz and his name was Wally.   Everyone lives in this area, except for my brother who lives in Oregon.   One of the people in this Photo still lives on that farm..who woulda thunk it?     I had a hard time identifying one person in this photo..my cousin Dwight, his curly hair and his nose and chin gave him away.   It is a good reminder to get out that photo pencil and mark some old photos.  I found it a very interesting photo.. Happy Birthday to my  Baby Brother..next year he will be 50!!

Nope never was a majorette..never coordinated enough to march and twirl at the same time.  :)