After returning from my fabulous Disney World / Florida vacation in early June, I was left with a whole Summer of nothing to do. Well, that’s not exactly true. First of all, I immediately set about creating my masterpiece epic novel about Disney World (described slightly more in depth in the previous posting), and other useless arts and crafts (as seen above). My classes had ended at Hope Nursery School and Mom wasn’t working in order to take care of Denise. So it was truly a Summer of lingering around the neighborhood, pestering Denise, playing in the kiddie pool in our backyard, visiting with Andrea, and getting into mischief. And of course there were my afternoon friends Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Zoom airing consecutively on PBS.
Mom used to take us garage sale hopping occasionally and at one of them I found a new bike. I had first learned to ride a bike without training wheels during the Fall of the previous year. This one was a little bit larger bike and came in my favorite color purple. The only problem was that it was a girls’ bike. But since it was only $7.00 and purple, I talked myself into being cool with that. Besides, it was actually probably safer without that crotch-chomping horizontal bar. I’ve honestly never known why all boys’ bikes weren’t made that way!
My new slick purple girls’ bike with the white banana seat
Ha! Denise still hadn’t graduated from her four-wheeler
Another hobby I developed that year was coin collecting. This was probably my first ‘real’ hobby. I was not so much into ‘money’ but rather collecting. The collecting bug was one that bit me early and has lingered into my present day life – not with coins, but with anything. My Dad’s cousin Harold was a coin collector and when we would visit him at his house, I would often marvel at all the coins that he had. So I decided to become a collector too. My Dad would sometimes take me to Belmont Coins and I would browse for some rare piece on which to spend my allowance. It wasn’t long before I was the proud owner of an actual gold peso. Harold would help me out sometimes too, and once sold me an entire bag of wheatback pennies at face value.
My coin collection, which I proudly arranged on the kitchen table for this photo
Dad began collecting along with me, and enthusiastically posed for me for this picture in his bedroom
A hobby I had not yet developed but in essence kicked off during this Summer was that of autograph collecting…and in fact the celebrity encounter. Clayton Moore who had portrayed the Lone Ranger was making a local personal appearance and my Mom took me to meet him. You can read more about that encounter here.
Around the third week of July, we embarked on the annual Hudson National Meet, this year held in Indianapolis, Indiana. I have little memory of this vacation (whereas the Florida this from that Summer lives on eternally in my mind), and oddly, just the one photo below. One distinct memory that I do have was that we were able to take our black 1949 Hudson onto the Indianapolis Speedway, so I can add that feat to my repertoire of adventures.
Mom, Denise, and me with the black 1949 Hudson in Indianapolis
A few weeks after we returned, my neighbor from across the street Andrea Ferrenberg and her family moved away. This was a sad occasion for me as she had become my closest childhood companion. Not long before, the Venaas family had moved away so my other neighborhood friends Jeremy and Rachel were gone (with a new friend for my Mom named Molly Beam moving in), so I was left with virtually no one.
Mom, in her new Little Orphan Annie haircut, reads a book to my cousin Susie, Denise, and me
Mom and Denise hanging out in the family room as Fall closes in
Looking sharp, ready to embark on the new school year
The Ferrenbergs left the neighborhood about two weeks into August. Andrea recalled the time period because Elvis Presley passed away on August 16 of that year, as they were making the drive out west, reducing her Mom to tears. I had been promised that they would be returning five years later after their Dad had finished attending school…but they never did.
But it would just be about three weeks later and I would begin an activity that would re-define life as I knew it. That’s right folks, after almost six years of freedom, I would be beginning kindergarten and education wouldn’t be letting up for more the next twenty-one years.
Denise was still care free with nary a thought of school years ahead, as she belts out a tune on her little piano
1977 will continue…
Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Zoom were part of my daily diet too. It was a great time to be a kid, with only a handful of television stations to watch. When the soaps or the news came on, it would drive the children outdoors. That is where the real adventures would always lie! Now, there are hundreds of channels and a multitude of electronic distractions that tend to cause kids to stay indoors.
I always enjoyed the double-talk segments on Zoom; the Yip-Yip Aliens on Sesame Street; and Bayn Johnson (with whom I had a huge crush) on The Electric Company. Mr. Rogers never really excited me at that age, but I have come to respect the man and what he tried to accomplish as the years rolled by. Captain Kangaroo was a favorite of mine at that age. I always enjoyed Mr. Moose getting the better of ‘The Captain’ and dropping hundreds of ping-pong balls on his head. There is nothing on TV these days quite like those old “edu-tainment” shows from our childhood.
I, also, vividly remember hearing the news that ‘Elvis had left the building’ for the very last time. I was sitting in the kitchen and it was broadcast over the radio. As I remember, my mother was a little sad, too.
Dave Chasteen
February 14th, 2009