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My Sister & Me As Kids

Mom… What’s up with the suits?

Mar 3rd, 2009
by Bill.
1 comment

My mom had this thing about dressing me up in a suit and tie.  Musta been like every holiday or family function.

I’m not sure if she tied these neckties on me or if I was just a natural tie tie-er.

I went to Catholic school from the 2nd grade til 7th grade and we had to wear a maroon necktie everyday.  Clipons. :)

I bet I have a lot more photos than this with me wearing a suit but I only have a few right now.  I’ll find some more for “What’s Up With The Suits 2″.

Happy Easter everybody.

Me & Babe – Easter 1962

This is labeled Me & Babe – Easter 1962 too… but since we’re wearing different clothes (suit) I guess it was probably 1961 or something.

This says I was 4.  I doubt it.  This looks like a school picture. I was probably 6.

Me & Babe again under the apple tree.

I guess she could only find a bowtie this year. :)

I sure looked sharp though didn’t I? :)

Old Glory

Feb 25th, 2009
by Bill.
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This is a photo of me & my sister dressed as George Washington and Betsy Ross one Halloween.  There used to be a Halloween parade in the little town I grew up in each year.  One year my dad built a ‘float’ on his ’65 Mustang convertible.

That little house in the background is the little house we grew up in in Clayton, NJ between the ages of 4 & 12.

Dad built and drove the float.  Mom made the costumes.

We won 10 bucks. 

Ed Gress – 1965?

Dec 12th, 2008
by Bill.
1 comment

When I was a little kid my parents used to belong to a bowling team. The team was actually sponsored by a young carpenter who bowled and had his own business. He was on the team and eventually was introduced to my mom’s sister and became my uncle. That’s another story though.

Anyway they bowled on Wednesday nights. I guess I was maybe 7 and my sister 6. We would just run around the bowling alley during league night and find things to do. One of my favorites was taking a coat hanger off the coat rack and straightening it out. Then I’d lie on my belly and swipe it under each of the four or five vending machines and scoop out any coins that had been dropped by bowlers. I was pretty creative when I was 6.

The man who owned the bowling alley was named Ed Gress. I have no idea how I remember this from forty-three years ago. I’m sure he’s passed away long ago. The bowling alley has been closed for 20 years.

Mr. Gress was a nice man who had a GIANT (or so it seemed to a six year old) can in his office that was filled with chocolate. I don’t mean pieces of chocolate either… but it was like someone poured liquid chocolate into a big can and it hardened.

He would take a knife or some sort of sharp object (it could have been his finger nail clippers for all I knew) and dig into the chocolate in the can and chip out a couple of hunks and give them to my sister and I. Yum.

I have no idea why I still remember this. It just popped into my head when Jason (@TRL) said something about having a lot of “bulk” chocolate at home.

 I guess when you’re a kid and nice people do nice things for you, you remember them sometimes. Thanks Mr. Gress.

I just felt like typing it out. Hope reading this random thought of mine didn’t bore anyone.

Patrick Swazye and stuff…

Mar 6th, 2008
by Bill.
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I read last night that actor Patrick Swayze has cancer of the pancreas and was given 5 WEEKS to live!

Of course his spokesman says he was diagnosed in January and now it’s March… that he is undergoing treatment and still working on his projects.

I did some checking and realized that pancreatic cancer is basically a death sentence.  Most people don’t live long at all and it is very painful.

I really started getting depressed.  Then I talked to my mom this morning.  I realize now I need to clear something up about my dad.

My mom told me this morning that the tumor is not on the pancreas but on the “Ampulla of Vater” which is an organ that is right near the pancreas – and shares the same blood supply.  So he doesn’t have pancreatic cancer (actually we don’t know if he has cancer at ALL at this point) – that we know of – and that the doctor wasn’t concerned so much about the cancer (if its there) but of whether he can survive the surgery.

So we’ll see.  This is getting more and more complicated and scary.  So I  need to fix some other places where I was discussing this.

 By The Way I found a couple other pictures last night I thought I’d share:

This is a really crappy picture (the photo was damaged not the scanner) of me and my dad in Daytona during “Bike Week” in 1978.

 Also, here is a photo of my dad rough-housing with my sister Babe & I on the sofa in our old house in Clayton NJ.  I am guessing this picture was taken around 1967 or 1968.