Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Every year from the time I was one until my mid-teens, Mom insisted that we go to a photo studio and get my picture taken. Yearly pictures at Christmas made sense, as my birthday was mid-December and Christmas was a good reminder.
Mom hung the pictures on the den wall, and after years of wondering why, I found a solid answer. Our house was free of mice! My portrait eliminated the little buggers. One glance at my photo, and they fell over dead!
After we moved from Comey Avenue in 1961, Mom stopped with the photo sessions. I was a teenager and never home; I was at school or working. When Mom unpacked everything in the new house, my photos got relegated to the storage area under the living room table. That was OK with me!
Typical of the photos:
Cute little guy, I was! BTW, the cake is on a rotary table that plays Happy Birthday. I still have it, and it is 78 years young.
In 1989, a P-51 fighter plane crashed into my childhood home. I think it was aiming for those stashed-away photos. The pictures and the entire living room was instantly reduced to tiny pieces of wood by the momentum of the P-51!
A quote from the pilot’s brother-in-law that was in the local paper:
“They lifted off, began to climb into the clear blue sky, and suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, an actual bolt flew off the engine and into the propeller. Then, adding to the nightmare, birds followed. The plane spiraled out of control as my brother-in-law fought to keep it aloft.
Horribly, gravity prevailed. The plane rolled, rolled again, and crashed on top of a house next to the airport.”
The plane went through the house and into the street in front of the home!
So, in conclusion, the airplane crash saved the world from ever having to see those Christmas-time photos, but often at Christmas time, I have an urge to take pictures of family and friends and store them in a safe place, in the cloud!
We were up and moving at 7:00 am and, as usual, we deposited ourselves in the office, the computer in front of us, and a hot cup of coffee to get our hearts started! First, I checked the weather report.
It appears as though Christmas will be wet!
We “Walked The Yard” to make sure everything was battened down for the upcoming rainstorm. We expect at least three inches of hard rain in the first few hours.
At 10:30 am, we headed for the showers to get ready for the hair appointments at 1:00 pm. We have to go to Huntington Beach, and our hair person has moved to a new shop so that it will be a little hide-and-seek! Mary said she wanted to dress to be cool, but I never imagined this!
What do you call a search engine that sings Christmas songs? Michel Googlé
Get into the holiday spirit with the Joe Di Fiore Big Band—a 17-piece powerhouse bringing the classic big band sound to Campus JAX! Join us for an evening of festive favorites and swinging arrangements, featuring special guest vocalist Anna Crumley. From timeless Christmas standards to jazzy takes on holiday classics, this show is the perfect way to celebrate the season—just in time for Christmas Eve.
Checkout the YouTube video of tonight’s performance!
Jack got all seventeen musicians onto the stage this evening; he must have used a shoehorn!!
Where would you find a Christmas tree? Between a Christmas two and a Christmas four.
We had the best seats in the house!
For dinner, I tried the “Sweet Thang”—boneless chicken breast in a basil, garlic, white wine sauce over vermicelli pasta with parmesan cheese. There was so much that I brought half of it home. The meal was excellent. Mary again went for the filet mignon, but this time she got the hot sauce on the side,e and I brought that home.
We both got the notice to wear red this evening!
Mary and I brightened up the room with our outfits and blinking lights
Vicky and Jim also enjoyed the performance!
Great fun with great friends!!
We stopped at Rockwell’s “The Post” on the way home and enjoyed a glass of wine. They had a DJ, so we actually got up and danced a couple of times! We were applauded by the clientele (mostly people in their 40s and 50s). We stayed for about 30 minutes before we decided we had enough loud music for the evening.
The place was jumping this evening.l
From Rockwell’s to our house is 0.9 miles, so we were home in a couple of minutes! Just in time to hit the sack! It was a long day indeed.
Hello, we’re home now!
