More Food Memories- Part 2

 -Mike and I had a drink called a Shirley Temple at Newark airport after either picking up or dropping off Grandma next store there in the late 70s. I thought that it was made with ginger ale and cranberry juice. This really has grenadine and maraschino cherry not the latter in it.

-Wildwood – We went to a good diner and also an ice cream place there but I don’t remember their names. The fudge from the candy shop on the boardwalk was yummy.

-The pierogis from Kathy’s church were very good.

-Lobster –Mom made this only once. Karen T gave her instructions on how to do so. It was very messy but pretty good. I preferred having it as just the tail with filet mignon at the Sleepy Hollow Inn.

-Aunt Ann and Uncle Joe- My aunt made deviled eggs and celery with peanut butter as appetizers for parties. She baked Magic Cookie Bars (we have her recipe) that are delicious as were my uncle’s cinnamon pinwheels. They often had a bowl of in-shell walnuts on their coffee table.

Shirley Temple

Pierogies

Note- some images are from the internet - #s 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11

February 21, 2017- More Childhood Memories- Part 3

NYC

Mike was recently talking to Mom about the time that we went to NYC to see Regis Philbin on “The Morning Show “in the early 80s. He was mainly mentioning that Dad was a cheapskate that day. He took the 3 of us to lunch at Woolworths instead of trying to find a more unique place to eat. Mike remembers that he got a BLT sandwich. He seems to have a good memory for food related things.

Wildwood

Mike and I were reminiscing about our childhood vacations to Wildwood. He mentioned the tram cars on the boardwalk. I can still hear it’s prerecorded “Watch the tram car, please” message/warning in my head. He laughed when I said it aloud.

   

   Kathy and I had our pictures taken in one of the photo booths there. My brother stuck his hand into this thinking that we were still in it but two other people were by then. I wonder why we don’t have those photos anymore.

   

   Mike won his binoculars, Pink Panther pewter figures (I wish that he still had them), and a Walkman at one of the arcades. He used points from the games on them. We really enjoyed playing Skee-Ball there. Kathy and her Mom’s favorite was Fascination. I can’t remember what I won with my points. I do know that I never got as many as my brother and Kathy did.

Tram Car

Skee Ball

Fascination

                        

                        

The Van

Mike reminded me that we used to be driven to our grade school in a van for a year- or was it two? I am pretty sure that it was the same avocado green one that Miss K., our Girl Scout leader and 4^th grade teacher, used when our troop went on trips. I can’t remember if it was her or someone else, like a classmates’ parent, who did the driving.

   

   Did the school or Miss K own this van?  There might have even been another similar one that was possibly owned by Miss M, our troops’ co-leader and my classmate’s mother.

1973 Ford Econoline Van

Note- photos from internet- tram car, Skee Ball, Fascination, and the van

August 20, 2015- Friends

 We didn’t get to see Cindy and Jessica that much because they lived in PA so it was more of a pen-pal and holiday/summer vacation friendship. We did have a lot of fun though. Our dads took us to Sandy Hook once. My brother sometimes jokes around with me that their Dad looks a little like James Garner.

   Maybe some people would think that we were weird for enjoying playing school. I was Jessica’s teacher and Cindy was Mike's.

   Cindy had a Rick Springfield album, Working Class Dog. We were listening to it in her grandparent’s basement one day.

   We would sometimes play a game that she called Crack the 8 ball on her grandfather’s pool table down there. I don’t really remember the rules that we made up for this. We also played croquet in their grandparent’s yard.

   I have this vague memory of us doing something called Slam Books. I forget exactly what this was so I looked it up on the computer. One site said that it was questions written like what’s your favorite color and you passed them around but another said that mean things about people were written in it; I know darn well it was not the latter.

   I still have my 2 friendship pins and the pair of 1928 earrings from Cindy; she started my love of that jewelry brand. We loved watching the” Pink Panther” cartoon with them. Jessica started calling him the Pink Piddler which we all thought was so funny back then.

   We only visited them in PA twice, or maybe it was 3 times. I wish that it had been more; we always had such good times together. Dad didn’t really like doing much of anything outside of his own family though and he seemed to want us to be the same way. We didn’t get to see mom’s side of the family much either.

   I loved trading stickers with them; I still have my sticker books. I did this with Carolyn, another friend that I had for only a couple of years in the late 90s and now do so with my friend/little sister Sharon. This may seem a bit childish but we don’t care

   Once Cindy went to college our friendship was coming towards the end. The same thing happened with Kathy who always seemed very disappointed that Mike and I did not go to college. Well, we’ve done classes at the community college but never finished this. He had more credits than I do.

   Our parents were good friends with Kathy’s parents; our Dads even went to the Indy 500 race in the 1960s- mid? We had fun going down the shore with them, esp. Wildwood. One time we played miniature golf on the roof top of a hotel on the boardwalk and Mike hit the ball off of it.

   We went to a jewelry store where you could pick oysters out of a tank. I got double pearls twice there and also once in AC. I had two rings and a pair of earring made out of them. Unfortunately, I lost the earrings in the early 90s.

   We always stayed at the Pulaski Motel which was a couple of blocks away from the boardwalk. Sometimes they’d come we us on day trips to other Jersey shore destinations- Seaside, Keansburg and Long Branch.

   4^th of Julys were always celebrated at their house- pool/barbeque party and fireworks in a nearby park. Sometimes we would celebrate New Year’s Eve at either their house or ours. Of course,” Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve” would be on but I’d only watch the countdown part.

   Sometimes we’d hang out with her friends Dana and Ginny- they all went to Elizabeth High School. They came over to our house a few times; once we watched a movie that we had rented- Evil Dead. We played card games often, like a very long one called Shanghai that another family friend taught us. The rules are long so we have them written on index cards.

  She was good at that game and others like she was at everything else – video games, cake decorating, cooking, piano, drawing and sports like tennis and bowling. She tried teaching me how to do the latter 2 but I suck at everything.

   These happy memories are making me sad which is ridiculous. I have many more but I better come back to the present and face the fact that over the past 20 years I’ve done a shitty job in the relationships department.

   Boyfriends were mainly my friends except for Lynn. Am I even capable of overcoming the social anxiety and somehow finding friends and activities that will bring joy to my life? Yes, I have my Sharon but I do need to interact with people outside of the computer world too.

   I feel like I belong on the Island of Misfit Toys like in” Rudolph”; where could a freak like me ever possibly fit in?

 

1928 earrings

 

Friendship pins

                                                

Book used when playing school

 

The Pink Panther keychain

 
                                       
 

 

 

Croquet set

                                          
                                          
 

 

 

 

Indianapolis 500- 1960s

 

 

                                        
 

 

 

Shanghai card game

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rudolph stickers

 

 

Dreamtime- Hall & Oates

August 8, 2002

Mom, Mike and I were at a small club down the shore for a Hall & Oates concert. Some of my grade school classmates were also there, including the boy that was my crush. He was the one who told me not to stare at him anymore. Even now I was afraid to look at him.

   The setting was odd though. It seemed like more of a classroom, complete with the desks and a blackboard. I did wonder why Sam had made it look this way, but also was slightly amused by this.

   They performed mostly songs off of their new album; one that doesn’t exist in reality. They took a few breaks during this show. I was feeling kind of tired and also a bit bored. I wanted them to do some of their hits and hoped that they would when they returned from the first break.

    Mom and Mike went to get something to eat. I looked out a window at the ocean and felt a little scared. I didn’t mind being by the ocean when I was a kid, but sometime over the past 15 years, I developed a big fear of it.

   The intermission was over but Mom and Mike had not returned. I was worried about them. They didn’t get back until the middle of the first song then,” Rich Girl”- finally, one of their hits.

    Daryl and John were wearing different outfits now. They were as strange and seemed more like costumes.  It’s hard for me to describe this. I’m not that good with words. They were also doing some goofy stuff during this concert.

   At one point, I felt so sleepy that I put my head down on the desk. I felt someone tapping on my shoulder and thought that it was my Mom or brother. When I looked up, it was Daryl Hall. That was pretty embarrassing. He was walking around the room a lot during that song and noticed me nodding off.

   Although this was a weird concert, I did have a pretty good time. It was interesting that Mom was with Mike and me. It ended as we were walking on the boardwalk back to our hotel. It was nice that we were on a weekend trip together. It turns out that we were in Wildwood; I haven’t’ been there since 1986. I wish that I could have been in this program for more of it.

The Real Jersey Shore

I haven't been down the shore since 2000 when I went to Cape May with my boyfriend and his family. This was the first time that I was ever there. We went in late September. I liked it alot especially the lighthouse. I'm not really into the shore that much. When I was younger I guess that I liked the beach but by 1983 I just enjoyed the boardwalk.

Our favourite shore destination was Wildwood. We always stayed at the Pulaski motel. I was there 4 or 5 times. Two times it was with my parents, brother , friend Stacey and her parents. In 1985 it was Mark, Stacey, me and our mothers. We played miniature golf on the rooftop and my brother hit the ball off of it. 1986 was the last time with Stacey and our moms. The boardwalk is great there. "Watch the tram car, please".

I remember being at Atlantic City once before the casinos. We were there 2 times in the 1980s. Our Dads took Suzy, Jenny, Mark and I to Sandy Hook once in the late 70s. I was there in 1981 for my 6th grade class trip. We went to Seaside and Keansburg , sometimes with Stacey and her parents. I'm pretty sure we all were at Long Branch once. I think that's where grandma and I took a bus trip to one day.

I just remembered the time that my brother wanted to go to Atlantic City for his 21st birthday. We took a bus trip down there and I only used .50 in the slot machines. I really don't like gambling. My brother seemed to have a good time.

Dad might've taken us to Asbury Park once. I have this vague recollection of not liking it there much. One day in high school my friend Trisha and I skipped classes in the afternoon and went there but we didn't stay that long. We just walked around for a bit.

Part of me would like to go to Point Pleasant. I think that there is an Aquarium on the Jenkinson's Pier . I'd feel too anxious to drive there though. The Parkway is especially scary for me.