Growing up in the 1960’s: Hair Stories

Today’s Quote:

Everyone seems NORMAL

until you get to know them.

My old high school chum and Facebook friend, Dan, posted this blurb on FB and it got me thinking about my childhood in the 1960s:

          "If you were raised on bologna, biscuits & gravy, fried potatoes & soup beans, played in the dirt,

           got your butt busted, had 3 TV channels & it quit at ten o'clock, school started with "The Pledge,"

           had a bedtime, rode in back of pickup trucks, recorded the top 40 from the radio on cassette tapes,

           drank from a hose, played in the creek, rode your bike all day without a helmet, and you still turned

           out OK, REPOST"

From 1964-1968, my brothers and I lived in a rented house in Temple City, CA with my mom. At first, we also had a live-in babysitter named Carlotta, who came from Mexico. For my first grade picture, Carlotta curled my hair and made me look cute, even though my front teeth were still coming in.

The next year, Carlotta was gone and my teeth were in. The current hairstyle was called the Pixie. Unfortunately, my mother tried to save money by cutting my hair herself. That would have been okay if she had haircutting scissors, but the only scissors she had were electric ones that she used to cut fabric. The result was a REALLY bad haircut and lots of tears on my part.

Another time, mom gave me a home perm called Lilt. That was another disaster. I mainly remember the strong aroma of the permanent solution. I am glad it wasn't successful or I may have had to sit through that again. Luckily, my mother did not get a job that had anything to do with hair. I'm just realizing now that these hair events are probably why I never wanted to go to a salon and managed to avoid them until my 8th grade graduation. Even though it was the beginning of a new decade, I still mistrusted the hair salon. Here I am on graduation day with my interesting hairdo and my brothers on either side of me.

 June 1971

 

As far as hair goes, I am glad the 60's are over!

Ben's 30th Birthday/Azusa Gang Reunion

July 28, 2011

Today’s Quote

If at first you don’t succeed,

SKYDIVING is not for you.

My kids lost their father when they were very young, just 3 and 1 years old. I have tried to keep his memory alive by writing a story every year on the anniversary of his birthday. Each year Mike Day has been a little different. Sometimes it is just an e-mailed story and sometimes the family gets together. Maybe I was afraid I was going to run out of Mike stories, but somehow I got the idea to get the old Azusa Gang together to let them tell some Mike stories so that the kids would get to know the kind of person their dad was before he got depressed and died. Since this year was a milestone birthday for my son, who turned 30, I asked Ben if I could combine his birthday with a reunion of his Dad's old friends.

This photo includes my good friend Pam, who has known me since before I met Mike, Mike's 2 brothers, Alan and Gene, who came down from Oregon for the party, and 2 couples who we spent a lot of time with in the 1970's and 1980's: Walt & Kathy and Bruce & Kay. I had hoped the Dickerson's would also show since we spent every weekend with them for about 10 years, but unfortunately, they did not come.

Walt and Kathy brought their daughter and her family. I knew Leslie until she was about 4 years old. I had several pictures of her in various stages of undress which I gave to her. She was an adorable child and still beautiful.

Young Leslie

Leslie now, with her husband and daughter

Of course, family was there: Dad, Tina, Bro and his family, me and my kids. My grandson Logan was there too, but somehow missed this picture.

We all sat around reminiscing for hours. I had some poster boards prepared - one with Mike pictures and one with pictures of Ben growing up. I brought a couple of old photo albums and created trays out of some old LPs to put loose snapshots in. Those were easy to create since Mike had a large record album collection back in the day. The pictures ignited memories and we recorded some of the stories on videotape. Everyone stayed until it was too dark to see outside and then the old gang was gone again.

1979 Wedding

New Purpose

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today’s Quote

Bad Spellers of the World

UNTIE!

I want this blog to be my online journal now. It’s going to take some getting used to, considering I have a cedar chest full of handwritten journals. Favorite Aunt Caroline gave me my first diary on my 13th birthday so I would have a refuge from my 2 older brothers and parents as I discovered teenage-dom. My first journals are all words. Later, they evolved from stream of consciousness writing about my daily life and events in the community to more creative ways of communicating on paper. I tell the truth about life as it happens, along with emotional commentary, dreams, jokes, random thoughts, etc.


I am embarking on a more public expression now. I started this blog because I wanted to share a booklet I researched and wrote called The Grandparent Book of Names. After a year of informal surveys, I compiled the list and chose the grandmother name, “Mimi.” Then, my Blogspot went through a series of purposes: a place to collect my poetry, a record of our family’s name songs, an occasional random thought, and most recently I added Photo Essays. My blog has evolved organically. Like all good learning, it is built on experience and action. Now this will be the place to share my thoughts, photographs, poems, and more for anyone who wishes to read them. I am no longer the same girl who was voted Most Secretive by her college roommates!

ADT Rip-off

Good morning all!

   I just had lunch with two good friends and heard the sad story of ADT alarm system company taking advantage of an unwary buyer. The company advertises a $99 installation fee, which seems like a good deal, so my friend ordered the service. A service man came out and did the installation and had her sign a blank print-out form that was supposedly just to verify the installation had been done. Much to the surprise of my friend and her husband, over $700 was charged to their credit card bill. My friend requested a copy of the transaction. Sure enough, there was her signature at the bottom of that same form, but now, instead of being blank, the form was filled in with hand written charges, $567 of which was for installation. How do they get away with this?
   If you do not want to have a $700 lesson, remember NEVER to sign a blank invoice!

Don't be fooled... http://www.adt.com/

ADT                  Call today for $99* special at 1-888-271-1823               

Photo Essay #2: Cucamonga Falls Hike

I don't know the actual name of the place we went to but it is up above the 210 frwy; trail head near Banyan and Sapphire. At first I was upset by the grafitti but there was actually some cool looking rocks along the way and especially at the waterfall, I liked the tagged rock wall there. I was still terribly upset with those who left trash near where the water collected in pools. I mentioned this to my young friend and he had never heard of such camping/hiking etiquette as "Pack it in, pack it out." Oh the young have so much to learn about ecology, nature, and respect.

 My hiking companion and guide.

 Investigating a cave

 Some kind of shelter.

 Small fall before the falls.

 A good grafitti spot.

 Tagged rocks along the trail.

 Almost there!

 First, you have to pass over the flattened remains of an old car.

 Colorful rocks.

 Fellow adventurers.

 Signpost up ahead.

 Risk 09

 Climbing the rope to higher falls.

 Equal opportunity risk.

 Looking up from the pool.

 Looking back.

Me & Matt 

This was my 4th of July adventure. We shared the space with about 30 other people. I'm glad I went and would do it again. Maybe Monrovia Falls next time...

Photo Essay #1: RMMS

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