Memory Lane - Here Comes the Sun (June - August 1982)

My last post ended with Nancy and Christy enjoying a bright Easter afternoon in even brighter Easter outfits. We were on the cusp of an interesting and active summer in the sun. We pick things up with what I will call "Anniversary Month", true for many families including ours. We visited my parents mid-month to celebrate their special day. We took them to one of their favorite eateries of the time, Rodeitcher's (pronounced ro'-dike-ers), purported to be the first Chinese restaurant in the state of Michigan. Here's a shot of Wendell and Dolores settling in for an evening of Asian ambrosia. 

Later that visit Nancy and I crept down I-75 for a day at one of our favorite spots, Zehnder's of Frankenmuth. Our anniversary coincided with the annual Bavarian Festival held in this little German town. We were treated to what passes for spectacle in mid-Michigan, like quaint German architecture,

A parade, 

Unusual bands with funny hats, 

Unicyclists, with funny hats,

Even royalty, without funny hats.

My memories of Frankenmuth trigger memories of other local traditions. When I was young and growing up in Bay City it seemed that every little town had their own festival, most of which celebrated a particular fruit, vegetable or flower. There was the Munger Potato Festival, the Bridgeport Vlassic Pickle Festival, the Bay City Sugar Beet Festival, the Traverse City Cherry Festival, and of course on the west side of the state the Holland Tulip Festival. I'm guessing most of these summer galas are still alive and kicking. Well, maybe not last year in the era of COVID 19, but hopefully again soon.

The Frankenmuth Bavarian Festival was one of the few not based on plant life. It featured mostly chicken and sausage, and of course beer. The fact that there was a Carling Black Label brewery down the street was probably a factor. But it was always close to my heart for another reason. 

I think I have previously mentioned that I play the accordion. In my youth, I not only played the accordion. I was in a marching accordion band. About 50 of us, if I recall, including some drums and majorettes. It was sponsored by a company that specialized in accordion lessons. Go figure. Kind of a Professor Harold Hill thing.

This band's major activity was playing in these summer festivals throughout Michigan. We would march in the parades, usually behind some group involving horses (we became quite adept at dancing around "hazards"). We had some other high water marks in our four or five year tenure, but the main events were the festivals. Somewhere in my photo storage stacks, I'm pretty sure there are some pictures from my M&M Marching Accordion Band era. I'll have to dig into those treasures sometime soon. But for now I'll just include this shot of me in my Spanish motif band uniform, complete with - funny hat.

 

Just picture about 50 kids from eight to eighteen years old wearing this outfit, sashaying down main street in dance formations to classic melodies like Lady of Spain and Jada. You haven't really heard Lady of Spain until you've heard it played by 40 or so accordions at once, accented by majorettes doing cartwheels. Pure Michigan.

But back to '82. After our wild Bavarian adventure, we retired back to my parents' house for a little anniversary R&R. Here we are on the back deck just chilling to the country air. Nice glasses.

All the while our little darling was doing fine playing in her portable world, 

And maintaining her personal hygiene. 

At the end of the month we journeyed up to Ipperwash Beach to celebrate Nancy's parents' 40th anniversary with them. Here's a favorite shot of Rae and Marge taken that weekend on the beach at Avon Rae.

 

Here's one final shot from June of Grandpa Rae sharing the finer points of life at the beach with Christy. Life was good.

With all the anniversaries accounted for, the summer progressed into July. Now I don't want you to think that life was all leisure time. I did have a job. It was July of '82 when I advanced to a mid-level management position in the Collection Division of the IRS in Detroit. I had charge of a bunch of training groups preparing revenue officer hires for their duties. We had nine managers and 22 coaches overseeing 120 new recruits. It was quite an adventure, and I'll be sharing some of those stories as we progress. But for now what I'd like to note is that I had a new office. The first one I'd ever had with a conference table and a decent view. It was on the 19th floor of the Patrick V. McNamara Building Downtown Detroit. 

When I needed a few moments to contemplate my next blunder, I could walk over to the large, room-length window, look a little to the right and see this.

That would be Michigan Avenue and Tiger Stadium. If memories of many good times at the ballpark didn't spark any brilliant ideas, I could turn slightly to the left and see this.

This would be a loaded freighter gliding along the Detroit River on her way back to the ocean. This sight always reminded me of the years my father spent in the late 60s working as a crewman on just such a vessel. He always spoke fondly of those times as he loved being on the water. I very much enjoyed my time in that office. But enough about the burdens of work. Let's get back to real life.

Christy was continuing to develop new skills, like differentiating various types of plastics according to taste.

And that old standby baby yoga. 

July was also the beginning of our Ipperwash season. Rae and Marge traditionally opened up the cottage on Memorial Day and spent much of June reclaiming Avon Rae from the ravages of the Canadian winter and tinkering with an endless list of fix-ups and improvement projects. By July 4th the company season was in full swing. A weekend at the lake made for happy kids, 

 

Happy Dads, 

And even happy dogs. In this era, our little Heidi on a beach prowl with Ted.

As July rolled into August, the pace of life picked up. Ted, now turning six, discovered tee ball. Here's a pic of him with his teammates and coaches in the heat of battle. 

Note Ted in the front row, third from the left trying to remember which end of the ball to grab. Here in some action shots Ted demonstrates his batting, running and throwing prowess.

Of course there was the usual after-game all-inclusive trophy ceremony, 

And pool party. After playing in the hot sun and scoring or being scored upon so often no one really knows (or cares) who won, a kid needs to cool off and contemplate the next opponent. Happens to be my own attitude about sports. The important thing is to not get hurt and miss the party.    

August was also the month in which Nancy decided to leave her post in Ann Arbor and take a field job in a downtown Detroit Collection group. To mark the occasion, the Ann Arbor group threw her an evening goodbye party. Nancy had been a revenue officer in Ann Arbor before we met, and had long-standing friendships with many of the staff there. Those of you with an IRS background may remember these folks. In this pic Nancy is sharing memories with Warren Ingersoll and (I believe) Val Oatley. 

In this pic are three more colorful personalities - Beth Freiberg, Nancy Lorenz (eventually Mrs. Boltrick) and Jerry Carley. 

And in this poignant pic we have two kindred IRS spirits who sadly passed in recent years, long before their times, Brian Oatley and Tony Cipparoni. I think this pic shows their true personalities - larger than life. We have many memories of these two, some of which will no doubt appear in this chronicle as we move on.

 

Later in August, Nancy and I took Christy on about a 10-day vacation to Canada. We started at the cottage, to get into that laid-back vacation attitude. Here's Christy on the beach playing in her blowup pool, working her way to a plunge in Lake Huron known in our family as "the big water". Note the stylish beach wear.

Ted was close by indulging in a pretty sandy version of a classic western confrontation. This pic is famous in our family for the introduction of what to this day is still referred to as "the hat". As a doting parent with pretty fair skin, wide-brimmed head coverings were encouraged. I admit that this chapeau lacked some style, but it was effective. To his credit, Ted accepted his fate with only token resistance.

After a couple of days in the sun we loaded up the Olds and headed east to Toronto. On the drive we made what would become a fairly regular pass by the Niagara Escarpement.

In Toronto while visiting cousins for a couple days we made a trip to the Toronto Science Center. Now, 40 years later, I have to admit that the tour is a bit of a blur. I have some pictures of things we saw, like this.

But I can't remember what this is or really what several other of the pics are of either, so I won't drag you through anymore of them. I write off my patchy memory of the day to the pressure of keeping one kid from being bored to tears (the six-year old), another kid from crying from overstimulation (the almost-one-year old) and the parents from blaming each other for the predicament. Live and learn. With practice, we learned to do much better.  

On our way back to Michigan, we stopped by Nancy's grandma's apartment in London. It was the first time Ted and I ever met Nana, who had just had her 97th birthday. We had a lovely visit,

Aw. Check out Ted. Just a perfect gentleman in this picture. Right? Here's the practice shot.

Note the wall behind the sofa. You can see the bottom half of a painting. It's of fishing boats returning to harbor at day's end. This painting has been a part of our lives for a long time now as it has hung over our living room fireplace since Nana's passing in 1986. I very much enjoy the serene and reflective mood it projects. And of course, the remembrance of its former owner. Here's a full view.

Before heading home from Nana's we stopped off at a children's park in London called Storybook Gardens. It was a trip down memory lane for Nancy who had visited the Gardens in her youth. As you can see from the following few pics, we all had a good time walking around and seeing the sights. 

Bushed from the fresh air and activity, we piled into the car and headed for home. It had been a fun but packed few days.

A week or so later we headed to my parents' house in Linwood to visit the cousins and celebrate Ted's sixth birthday. The birthday itself wasn't overly memorable as I recall, but one of Ted's gifts was. Take a look.

This playset is called "Navarone". It came with this replica of a mountain fortress, a la "The Guns of Navarone". It had about a hundred pieces including green US Army guys, white Nazi guys, and about a dozen US Army tanks and canons. The idea was that the US Army would attack the Nazi fort and fight it out. However, I learned early on that Ted was a shrewd strategist. He would give the US Army guys the tanks and canons and the mountain fort, leaving the Nazis to fend for themselves with a few side arms. As Captain Kirk would say, "Officer thinking!" This gem is still in our basement toy storage area awaiting another strategic thinker.

I should note that several of Ted's cousins also had summer birthdays so this August get-together at Grandma and Grandpa's place was sort of a regular thing. As I have noted before, I enjoy these pictures of the cousins when they were little because in later years they were seldom in the same place at the same time. Here's a shot of sister Wendy's kids - Jenny, Tristan and Melanie - showing off some of their birthday loot.

And to round out the crowd brother Jeff's daughter Dee Dee with her new craft set.

There was one other birthday to celebrate that August, and for that we returned to Avon Rae cottage. That would, of course, be Christy's first birthday. It was a grand affair, well attended and with appropriate decorum. In this first pic the birthday girl is all dolled up and waiting in Grandma Marge's rocker for the festivities to begin.

Here she's been suitably inserted into what I believe was her Uncle Dave's high chair. 

Current child safety protocols would require this ancient finger-masher to be burned on the spot if it were ever discovered. But in our family, it's still a classic. 

In this next picture, Christy faces the moment of truth - presentation of her very first birthday cake. She's diggin' it.

Here's a better look at this baker's gem.

Here cousins Matt and Brian are looking on in anticipation of sharing birthday cake.

By the way take a good look at all these hats. You're going to see them again. I think they're still in a cupboard somewhere waiting for their next assignment.  

Here's a shot of me assisting with the cake part. Note my polished technique. This is what happens when you are posing for a picture while trying to hit the target with the spoon.

Of course there were presents.

But for Christy, it was all about the cake.

Here's one last shot of the birthday girl, through the ordeal and enjoying the afterglow. And thinking, "Wow! What was that? I need to do that again!" 

This seems like a good point to wrap up this post. Next time we'll look into the rest of '82 and some "magic" events that took place. Until then,

Grosse Pointe Charles

Memory Lane - We Discover Florida (January - May 1982)

When I last stepped off Memory Lane, I had finished telling the story of 1981 and the growth of our family by one little girl. The holidays over and packed away, we started 1982 in typical Michigan fashion. While some were lollygagging and contemplating their navels - 

Most of us were dealing with scenes like this.

These pictures are significant in two ways. First, this was the inaugural snow storm of our life together as home owners. We had shoveled snow of course, but - never our own. Sort of a Michigan rite of marriage. It was the beginning of a long and complex relationship with this persistent and wily wintry opponent. Some of our more daunting weather episodes have been chronicled in earlier posts. Not surprisingly, this won't be the last one you hear about.

The second item of significance has to do with the first snow picture. Note that in our driveway you can see the tailgate of our new car - a 1982 Oldsmobile Delta 88 diesel station-wagon. There'll be more on that diesel part later. For now, the point I'd like to stress is the hauling capacity of this shiny big boy. Remember this pic from a while back?

This was taken during a return trip from seeing the relatives in Toronto the previous October. At the time our "big" car was this Chevette (our other car was a Mustang II). So this pea green cruiser got all the road trip assignments. During our 1981 Christmas trip to Bay City, the Chevette met its Waterloo. Crammed full with gear - baby swing, baby walker, playpen, suitcases, our dog Heidi - plus Christmas gifts, we realized that we were under-autoed. We survived, but the atmosphere during the ride home was not kumbaya.

Within a week of this near miss, we marched into the local Oldsmobile dealer and asked, "What's the biggest thing ya' got?" A couple of days later we drove home in our new family station wagon. Oddly, I can find no full picture of our new car from that first winter. But I can offer the shot below taken some time later, to attest to its capability as a cargo master.

As any steady reader of this blog can tell you, large vehicles became a tradition in this family (see the series of posts starting with The Tiara Years). It all started with this big honkin' Oldsmobile.

Our automobile situation taken care of, we continued our journey through the winter of '82. I was working downtown Detroit as the manager of the IRS Special Procedures Advisory Unit. Nancy was working as an IRS Collection group manager in Ann Arbor. Life was busy, but good. Christy was having fun doing some new things - 

Some old things -

And was sporting "new" duds.

These bib overalls were actually mine way back when; my mother had saved them and had passed them on to me when Ted was born. Here's the proof - Ted, circa 1977.

Five years later in '82, Ted was growing like a weed and taking an interest in sports. Here's a shot with what I believe was his first ball glove, itching for the snow to melt.

As March was rolling around, an opportunity to escape the winter early arose. Nancy's parents Rae and Marge had taken a condo in Sarasota for the month and invited us to pay a visit. We accepted and decided to expand the trip to include visits to my grandmother in Tampa and some friends who had relocated to Sanford, Florida. This would be our first real road trip as a family. We were pumped. 

Nancy and I had both been to Florida before, she most recently on a vacation with and to visit friends. My last trip to the Sunshine State was in the early '70s, with my parents to visit my grandmother. Slight difference in atmosphere and activities. Nancy spent time in a bikini enjoying the sun and the Florida coast. I in my sans-a-belt pants caught up with grandma, met a great uncle for the first time, and toured an underground sea in Tennessee. The draw was big carp-like fish with no eyes. You had to be there.

So traveling as a couple with a six-month old would be different. Because we now had this big car that was fun and comfortable to ride in, we decided to save a little cash by driving straight through. We made a pack list which included clothes, baby equipment and supplies for about 10 days, and an impressive array of road snacks. We also bought some travelers checks (remember those) and obtained our first AAA Triptik which provided information about gas stations that sold diesel. This was our first hint that our big, beautiful, roomy, over-accessorized land yacht might have a dark underbelly. But at that moment, we loved it.  

We packed one other item, which is the reason no pictures were taken of the loaded car or of our time on the road. It was a foam mattress roughly the size of a twin bed that nested perfectly in the back of the Olds with half of the rear seat folded down. We each used it to sleep on while the other was driving through the night. And yes, the parent sleeping did so with our baby daughter sleeping along side. You can now see why no (incriminating) pictures were allowed.

What can I say. We were young and adventurous (read irresponsible). What could go wrong? Our young'un surely didn't need to spend all her time strapped into her boring car seat, safe and snug. She deserved some fun, too, didn't she? Yeah right. Our real motivation of course was to enhance the likelihood that Christy would actually sleep through the night, so we could, too. And it worked.

In our defense we thought about it more when we returned home and realized, belatedly, that we shouldn't have done that. We never did it again. And to ease our guilt we've spent the rest of our travel lives pointing out kids in other vehicles who don't appear to be strapped in and commenting on what idiots the parents must be. 

Overall, our 22 hour drive from Dearborn to Sarasota went fine. We arrived on time, met up with Rae and Marge and had a delightful stay in their vacation condo. Here are some pics. The first one is mother and daughter relaxing after the long drive, enjoying their new, warm surroundings.

Here are Nancy and yours truly posing for the record. I'm the one in the dorky bucket hat with - no beard. 

This condition of this pic has not weathered the years very well - the Ektachrome bleed thing. And it wasn't adjusted properly for the sun and shadow in the first place. But I'm including it here anyway because it is the first pic of me face-hairless for the first time in 18 months. And it has been so ever since. 

Just for the record, here is in my opinion the most memorable picture of me with a beard. It was taken by our long-departed friend Bob Douglas during an evening of private karaoke in his living room. 

This is also the best picture ever taken of me in a bowling shirt. Sort of Seger-esq I've always thought, especially the bowling shirt part. What can I say? It was the '80s.

But back to Florida. Christy felt right at home while on the trip. Mainly because she spent much of it like this. 

I guess the world looks pretty much the same everywhere through the fishnet of a playpen.

Here's a favorite shot from Sarasota, of Nancy's folks with Christy. Nice sun hat. 

After a few days with Rae and Marge, we started our meander north. Our next stop was an afternoon  with my Grandma Katy in Tampa. She was only 78 at the time. Sobering in retrospect as that's only five years older than I am now. Here's a shot of Grandma with her husband (#3) Grandpa Louis, enjoying their visit with Christy. 

There'll be more on the adventures of my remarkable grandmother later on as she lived to be 100, and did so in her own way in her own home. 

From Tampa we cruised up the I-4 corridor to the smallish town of Sanford to visit our friends Terry and Paula. Upon arrival they greeted us with cocktails and a hot tub. That's what I'm talking about. Here are Paula, her daughter Jesse, Christy and I enjoying the moment.

In this shot the girls - Paula, Nancy, Jesse and Christy - are heading for a walk in the Florida sun. The pic's a little blurry but you get the idea. The photographer was walking backwards, doing his best not to fall down, and took his eye off the ball. So much for an action shot.

Here's Christy back at the house for a mid-afternoon snack.

That night, we went clubbing in Sanford. The hot spot in town was - Showbiz Pizza. The headliner was this guy, known as Billy Bob Brockali.

It was our first encounter with a rock-singing animatronic creature. But not our last as in the early '80s the Showbiz, Chucky Cheese and Major Magic floor show pizza and beer arcade palaces were springing up everywhere. Here's a shot of Terry and daughter Jesse enjoying the fun, which for them we learned was a weekly experience. Christy was a little young to enjoy the atmosphere, but it made a big impression on me.

The next day we took a short drive over to the ocean and New Smyrna Beach. It was our first afternoon on the ocean as a couple. We didn't realize it at the time, but this was a foreshadow of many vacations to come. We had a fine time as indicated by these pics.

In this first shot we tried for a little nap time after the drive. Ya, like that was going to happen.

So we explored the beach for awhile and took in the ocean air. 

And relaxed on a beach blanket. Notice little miss no-nap starting to fade.

Before we left for the day we took this shot of our fully acclimated beach bunny.

This has become one of our favorite pictures of Christy, as it captured her upbeat disposition at an early age. This picture has been on our refrigerator door ever since I can remember. It always reminds me of the good times our family has shared over the years on one beach or another. 

We spent one more day with Terry and Paula before our trip home. It included trying on a little local color.

A last dip in the pool.

And resting up for the long journey ahead. Life was good.

Thus ended our first family trip to Florida. We enjoyed it and thought it would be nice to go back some day. We had no idea what lay ahead.  

The drive home was uneventful, the way you always want it to be. Safely back in Dearborn, spring was in the offing. The next few weeks brought a lot of this.

With frequent visits from the supervisor.

And of course, Christy's first Easter outfit.

This takes us to the end of May and to the brink of Christy's first full summer. We'll explore her discovery of sand and lakeshore in our next Memory Lane outing. Until then.

Grosse Pointe Charles