September 15, 2012- The Turtleback Zoo- Part 2

   I should have gone back to the swans. I don’t think that the 3 photos that I took of them came out that great. I also took a few of the animal shaped shrubs but not of the elephant one which I really regret.

   We took some pictures of the signs too. I had suggested this. I did forget a few though, like the turtles. I should have taken more than 3 of the 2 kinds of these

   I’m not sure how many photos I ended up taking. I went kind of bonkers with the sheep and horses. I probably will put them onto the computer on Monday. I can’t wait to tell Sharon about the zoo. She likes going to zoos also. I wish that she could have been with us today.

   The horse in the stable was another photo that I didn’t take. I was going to do so after seeing the goat but my stupid side said that I didn’t need that shot for I had taken 2 of it when it was outside. But I really wanted this; it was the prettiest horse there.

   Mike bought his lunch at a café type place. He got the burger and fries. I had packed a sandwich and a multi-grain bar so I just had to buy a soda. The grilled chicken did look good; maybe I’ll get that next time, which probably will be late April. That seems so far away.

   There were a lot of nice postcards in the gift shop; it was hard choosing just a few. I got the wolf for mom, a red panda for me and a fox for Sharon. I should have gotten one for Mommie 2. Mike said that we should get Dad the eagle which we did.

    Dad collects eagle stuff. I used to collect raccoons. Mom is a cardinal, cow and tiger collector; she used to be a koala one. We both get cocker spaniels too. Mike has a collection of the Star Wars and Star Trek pewter figures.

   I wish that I had bought myself the snow leopard and prairie dog postcards too. I really wanted to but my brother said that I should only get 4 of them like he was doing. I shouldn't have listened to him.

   As much as I would love to go back to this zoo, I really don’t think that I can handle driving there again. I wonder if there is a bus stop nearby. I will have to look into this. I sure hope that there is.

 

 

Swans

 

Our Collectibles

 

 

July 22, 2015- My Brother- Part 2

  

 

Mike hit me in the face with his Tonka Jeep accidentally which knocked out my baby tooth. I liked playing with that jeep and other toys of his like the Big Wheel from Grandma at the farm, Lincoln Logs and his action figures.

   He didn’t have that many- a few each of “Battlestar Galactica”, Star Trek -The Motion Picture, and Star Wars. Missy had a whole Darth Vader head case full of the latter; we were always jealous of our cousin for this.

   I’d look at his “Star Trek” slides on my View Master which I still have. He got rid of his but kept the slides which is kind of strange. The “Yogi Bear/Huckleberry Hound” and Scenic Wonders of America are both of ours. I have Sleeping Beauty, The Rescuers and the Muppets.

   We both had the Rescuers lunch boxes, after that it was Tupperware ones. We were really into the Disney movies when we were kids. Mom said that they took us to see many of these films at Ed and Aunt Joan’s theaters. I only remember a few like The Jungle Book, The Rescuers and Sleeping Beauty.

   We still have 3 Disney records- It’s a Small World, The Best of Disney (2 album set) and Mary Poppins. I remember some of the words to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”. Dad played “Chim- Chim -Cheree “on his violin once.

   That’s the only time that we’ve ever heard him play. I don’t know why he gave it up- he was good. Mom said that he had taken lessons for a long time.

    Dad signed Mike up for the higher amount of judo lessons which he wasn’t too happy about. Even Mom had told Dad to go for the lower amount. My brother eventually quick going to them, but I forget how far into this he did so. He was in one competition in which he earned a yellow belt.

   We liked going to that Sears in Watchung with our parents; it was like a mini adventure for us. That town is about 25 minutes away but it seemed much further. Isn’t that the case about a lot of places when you are a kid? - Possibly not for everyone though.

   My brother would sometimes wander off in that and other department stores which was annoying and a bit worrisome. We would have an employee page him to meet up with us when we were unable to find him.

   He does the same thing these days occasionally which is still irritating. I don’t have him paged though. Sometimes I think about doing so.

   Were we weird kids for having fun when we went to such places as a furniture store like Huffman Koos and to home improvement stores – Channel and Rickel. I loved looking at the paint colors and sometimes took those sample card things home. I also liked the smell of the lumber there.  All 3 places are no longer in business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            

 
Note- Photos from internet- stores, violin, action figures, jeep, lunch boxes, Lincoln Logs, and Big Wheel.

                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hollywood Trading Cards

I got these cards at a trading card/collectibles show at a mall in the early 90's. My brother has some too. I also have a few more with some music stars like the Bee Gees. At the time I was into collecting this sort of thing. Now I'm not even wanting most of the ones that I have like the X-Files seasons 1-3 and Topps Widevision the Star Wars Trilogy. If I decide to sell stuff on ebay I'd definitely see if anyone would be interested in those but I would keep these.

Movies 2

I loved the drive-in movies and wish that they still had one in our area. I don't even know if any are left in New Jersey. There probably aren't many left in the country. Besides seeing Jaws when I was a kid, I remember my cousins taking my brother, their sister Mary and I to see The Black Hole, Roller Boogie and I think The Black Stallion. Mary and I saw Star Trek 3 at the Quakerbridge Mall theater with her brother's girlfriend Sue. My brother is really into Star Trek and I kind of like it too so we've seen most of them together in the theater except for the first 2 which we saw on TV and the last 2. He has yet to see the last one. The only movies that I've ever seen twice in the theater are Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and The Last Crusade and Spiderman 3. Mary went with me the second time to the former and Mark to the latter. The last movie that I saw was Terminator 4. We never saw the other 3 in the theater. I never even saw the first 2 until the late 90s on TV. I wish that we had seen them on the big screen. There are alot of movies that I'd like to see that way, even the classics. I did see the re-release of the 3 Star Wars movies in the late 90's so technically I have seen Star Wars in a theater but it's not the same as seeing it when it first came out. What were my parents thinking? They took us to the scary Jaws but not to Star Wars. It's kind of funny, I guess.

Movies

I don't really go to the movies much anymore- I used to enjoy this especially when I was a kid. Back then I got to see many of them for free because my Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Al- well, he wasn't officially our Uncle but we thought of him as one- worked in theaters. For a couple of my birthday parties in the 70s he brought the movies to our house and showed them on a screen in the basement. We saw Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. One time he showed Young Frankenstein in our yard which was cool. Mom and Dad took us to his drive-in theater to see Jaws which was really scary to my brother and I. We jumped up out of our seats during the one scene when Roy Scheider first saw Jaws close up. I remember some of the other movies that we saw but not all of them. Mom said that we saw all the Disney ones. I mostly remember The Rescuers. We saw all three Muppet movies too. We always wondered why our parents didn't take us to see Star Wars- we did see The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 9 to 5, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, On Golden Pond, The Four Seasons and Sheena are others that I recall. Amadeus was definitely the last movie that we saw for free. My father loves classical music so he liked that.