Leisure At Home
Saturday, March 8th, 2008
Inside an old Airequipt slide magazine sits a batch of slides situated between the Michigan 1972 trip and my first birthday, labelled only as Leisure At Home. A few of these photos are familiar to me as there were eventually prints made of them which ended up in our family photo albums. Others remained just as they were, little treasures nestled comfortably in their home, waiting to be discovered…and shared here on the Terrible Catsafterme. And so… Read the rest of this entry »
Although I had been whisked away from the comfortable surroundings of home for a brief weekend getaway at Woodland Altars during the Spring of 1972, my first big vacation didn’t come until mid-Summer later that year. My parents and I traveled along with Bill and Dottie and their kids to a tiny cottage owned by Dottie’s parents located on Manistique Lake in Curtis, Michigan. From July 29 – August 4, we spent the week boating, fishing, picnicking, and from what I understand…freezing. 
Woodland Altars was the Church of the Brethren campsite where I would spend a week for every Summer between 1981-1990 – in addition to periodic visits throughout the 1970’s and stays at the chalets throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s. I spent my very first weekend there during a trip around May 1972. At about eight month olds, I obviously enjoyed my surroundings, especially considering I had Lora and Robby there to help entertain me. Also along on the trip were Bill and Dottie, and Dad’s cousin John Shirk and his wife Patty. Dad took a Super 8 film of some of our antics around the camp and it appeared that there were a few other people with us, possibly folks camping nearby. 
That title is nearly longer than the text here! In an effort to be complete, here are some additional snapshots and photos of my parents and me as we appeared around March or April of 1972 while living in our small abode on John Glenn Road in Dayton. These are an addendum to the photos previously published here. All of the photos with me in them are actual snapshots, while the ones of my parents alone are taken from some snappy color slides.
I’ve always been proud that my first words came relatively early at about nine months and I began taking my first steps and walking alone at ten months and eleven months respecitvely. Proud as if these accomplishments came as a result of some intense training and unprecedented skill levels. The fact is that I was simply ready to it and from that point on whenever I was ready to do something, I simply would do it.