Posts Tagged ‘blast from the past’

It’s balmy in Lake Wobegon.

I can hear the neighbor boys playing hockey in the backyard rink they poured in December. (It sits behind the inground pool and where the trampoline, hammock and volleyball/badminton net is in the summer–it’s a kiddie paradise!)

Not me, but same kind of sled

I remember being little and one of the neighbors poured a luge run in his backyard. It was sized for the red plastic toboggans everyone had. The run didn’t require steering or braking (which is good, since that’s impossible with those cheapy sleds) but still had two or three curves where you ended up riding kind of sideways. Very cool.

I try to appreciate these things about Minnesota when my feet are cold and I’m tired of snow.

Happy Birthday to my good friend Alice!

Alice and I met in High School. Senior year we started an Art Club. The club was a failure, but we did complete a mural at the school. I hear it is still there 17 years later.

The picture below was pieced from four photos with some distortion as the mural is at the end of a T-shaped hallway intersection.

My dad is always looking back on the 40s and 50s as a kind of golden era (minus WWII of course). Today’s music, for example, can never compare. I’m not sure that this clip from 1944 proves his point musically, but the Ross Sisters sure were limber.

Some people like their taters Lyonnaise, some prefer French fries.
I prefer mine with mayonnaise, cole slaw on the side.

Solid potato salad, that’s solid salad, Jack,
Solid potato salad, boy, take a plate, fill it up, bring it right back.

Solid potato salad, and let’s have no Yak Yak
Solid potato salad, boy, take a plate, fill it up, bring it right back.

The farmer said to the spud, your skin looks slightly pallid,
So I’ll dig you later bud, with some solid…potato salad.

Solid potato salad, that’s solid salad, Jack,
Solid potato salad, boy, take a plate, fill it up, bring it right back.

Take a plate, fill it up, bring it right back.
Take a plate, fill it up, bring it right back.
Take a plate, fill it up, bring it right back.

Solid potato…salad, it’ll be so fine that you better latch on,
Solid potato…salad, whatever it takes get a plate before it’s all gone.

The farmer said to the spud, your skin looks slightly pallid,
So I’ll dig you later bud, with some solid…potato salad.
Solid potato salad, that’s solid salad, Jack,
Solid potato salad, boy, take a plate…fill it up…
Take a plate, fill it up, and bring it right back.

Thought I knew my mind like the back of my hand,
The gold and the rainbow,
but nothing panned out as I planned.
And they say only milk and honey’s gonna make your soul satisfied!
Well I better learn how to swim
Cause the crossing is chilly and wide.

Twisted guardrail on the highway, broken glass on the cement
A ghost of someone’s tragedy
How recklessly my time has been spent.
And they say that it’s never too late, but you don’t get any younger!
Well I better learn how to starve the emptiness
And feed the hunger

Up on the watershed, standing at the fork in the road
You can stand there and agonize
Till your agony’s your heaviest load.
You’ll never fly as the crow flies, get used to a country mile.
When you’re learning to face the path at your pace
Every choice is worth your while.

Well there’s always retrospect to light a clearer path
Every five years or so I look back on my life
And I have a good laugh.
You start at the top, go full circle round
Catch a breeze, take a spill
But ending up where I started again makes me wanna stand still.

Up on the watershed, standing at the fork in the road
You can stand there and agonize
Till your agony’s your heaviest load.
You’ll never fly as the crow flies, get used to a country mile.
When you’re learning to face the path at your pace
Every choice is worth your while.

Stepping on a crack, breaking up and looking back
Every tree limb overhead just seems to sit and wait.
Until every step you take becomes a twist of fate.

Up on the watershed, standing at the fork in the road
You can stand there and agonize
Till your agony’s your heaviest load.
You’ll never fly as the crow flies, get used to a country mile.
When you’re learning to face the path at your pace
Every choice is worth your while.

—Emily Saliers

I had never really listened closely to the lyrics until this week. I knew of the Indigo Girls back in high school, but was more of a hard rock/metal fan back then (with some country for variety!) There’s no way I could have appreciated it at 16 anyway. It kind of sums up my early thirties though.

Below is their performance on the Tonight Show in 1991. Worth it to see Jay Leno with dark hair, if for nothing else!

In keeping with this week’s theme of photos from years past I wanted to include one from me from 1991. I can’t find any though, so this high school graduation from 1992 will have to do. My sister Michelle is with me.

Taken at Festa d’Italia at Laumeier Sculpture Park, probably in 1994.

PS: Today…the weather…it is 57 degrees F! I’m loving it.

My Grandma and Dad in about 1958 (is that right, Dad?).

Update: Dad says 1960.

Yep, 35 today.

Was looking through some old photos and found this one from New Year’s Eve 1999. Greg and I had gone to the Florida Keys to celebrate. Unfortunately, he had the stomach flu, so I spent most of the evening eating Chinese delivery and watching cable while he slept. He insisted I get him up for midnight, however. We got gussied up, took this photo, and went down to the docks to watch fireworks.

This blast from the past is from 1982 or 1983. I would have been about 8 or 9 and Michelle 10 or 11.

On the left is my wonderful mother (Hi Mummy!) and on the right is her mother, my Busha, who passed away last September.

Now I’m off to bowl with my Mom, a recently-added Sunday morning tradition.

My dear friend Enthusia tagged me! I’ve never been tagged for anything before! How exciting!

So I’m supposed to share 7 facts about myself on my blog—some random, some weird.

1. I can bend my thumbs back at 90° angles which freaks everybody out.
2. I kicked my dentist when I was about 12 years old. Believe me, he deserved it. Very not nice man.
3. In middle school I appeared, with my family, on a promotional video for hosting foreign exchange students. I hope all copies have been long burned. Middle school was an awkward time.
4. Enthusia’s number 4 made me think about Chinese food. Through college I was convinced I disliked Chinese food. Then, through the intervention of a friend (a Jewish New Yorker, no less, to add to the stereotype), I tried GOOD Chinese food. Like from authentic restaurants. Then I realized that I didn’t really dislike Chinese food. I just disliked LaChoy brand from-the-can Chinese food which was what I had experienced to that point.
5. My favorite food is pie. Mmmmmm pie!
6. I have met and gotten autographs from both Ray Bradbury and Douglas Adams.
7. Today is the one year anniversary of meeting Jeremy! Thanks for a grand year, sweetie!

Okay, now time to share the joy. I’m limited in who I can tag since I know few who blog, so to those who do, tag—you’re it!

Karp’s Blog

Captain Comic Canuck

Rules:

1. link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.