Friday Photo Flashback

It’s been a pretty cold and miserable winter here in the mitten. When I went looking for a Flashback photo, I found one that brings back memories of a warm Ohio day.

My folks took us down to King’s Island one summer. If I had to guess I would imagine this was 1975 or 1976. I look about 5 or 6 here.

This is one of those trips that I can only recall bits and pieces of. Most of the memories of the trip come from photos. I do not recall posing for this picture. I don’t really remember anything about it. I cannot remember seeing the flower Fred Flintstone and I’m not sure which parent decided this was a good photo opportunity. I also don’t remember owning a Great Gazoo tank top, but obviously I did.

This is one of the reasons we haven’t taken the kids to somewhere like Disney. We want them to be old enough to remember the trip. They shouldn’t have to look at pictures as their only memory of their time there.

I remember that we rode on a water ride that took us through a tunnel. There were various characters all around as we floated through. I remember there were two skeletons dancing together and thinking it was hilarious. I asked one of my parents to take a picture of it. That photo is lost, along with other photos from that trip, sadly.

That was the one and only time we went to King’s Island. Honestly, I don’t know if it is even still open. If it is, I would imagine the things that were in place 50 years ago are long gone. I even did a Google search to see if I could find a picture of the skeletons, but nothing came up. I wish I could find that picture.

Oh, and another reason I like this picture – I have a lot of hair!

Friday Photo Flashback

Tomorrow night, I’m going on a date. I will have a beautiful girl on my arm once more! It is a day that my daughter and I look forward to every year! It is time for the annual Daddy/Daughter Dance. As soon as she heard tickets were on sale, she made sure I knew to get them!

Our first one was in February of 2023. It was close to her birthday, so she always knows when her birthday is near, so is the dance. We have copied our pictures every year.

Here is 2003, 2004, and 2005.

This year, I’m not sure I’ll be able to pick her up! She’s getting so big. I hope that she is never too old to recreate these pictures, especially the kiss on the cheek pose.

I’m looking forward to a fun night!

Friday Photo Flashback

Today’s photo was taken during one of my brother’s visits home. I chose it because it is one of my favorite photos of my dad, my brother and me.

It’s hard to believe, but I think this photo is about 20+ years old. I’m guessing it was taken around 2006ish. I remember my brother, his partner and my dad drove up and we met for breakfast or lunch. This was taken in the parking lot of the coney island we went to.

I am sure that my ex wife and my oldest son were there, too. I don’t think my second oldest was born yet. It’s hard to say. I think I’m pretty close to the right year because I am wearing a radio station jacket. I bet this was from my second turn at B95 which would have been around 2006. They fired me after my second son was born in 2007.

Anyway, I truly love this photo of the three of us. We all look so young here. My brother and I still have some hair, and my dad looks great. I wish we could all get together more.

Friday Photo Flashback

In 2013, I was in the final semesters of our sleep program. For one of the classes we were given an assignment involving a presentation. We were to pick a partner (or partners) and do a presentation on a sleep disorder. There was a catch however. The presentation could not be something that was a typical dull presentation.

We were encouraged to be as creative as possible in presenting our topic. Our instructor showed us a couple examples from previous classes. One was a simple video that was recorded in the school sleep lab on nightmares. Two students played parents and another played a child with the disorder. We were told of another group who did a “newscast” in front of the class on their topic and a group that presented their topic as a song they wrote and performed.

I had a connection with the production director at the local Fox affiliate and he allowed us to shoot our presentation there. We did ours as the SNL version of Celebrity Jeopardy. Thanks to the use of a green screen, My buddy Matt played Clint Eastwood and Alex Trebek, while I played Elvis and Sean Connery. It truly looked like the real show thanks to props from the TV station.

I say all that to set up today’s photo:

One of the presentations was done as a sort of talk show. One of our classmates was the host who was to interview “Key Thallen” a brilliant play on my on air name (Keith Allen). My friend Jackie portrayed Key. If memory serves me right, she asked if I had any radio station T-shirts she could borrow for their presentation. Not knowing that she was going to go the extra mile, she walked into the room wearing the T-shirt and the “old man” hat I always wore. She topped it off with obnoxiously large eyebrows and goatee that were stuck to her face.

I honestly don’t remember much of their presentation because I was laughing through the entire thing. I have to say, her impression of me was spot on! Finding this photo brought back memories of some really fun days.

Friday Photo Flashback

I stumbled on a picture of my mom yesterday and thought it would make a good flashback picture.

The picture shows my mom holding on to the only cat who ever lived in their house. I remember the cat was named Callie and it never seemed to want to be near anyone but mom.

How mom got dad to agree to get a cat, I will never know. My dad made it quite clear growing up that he disliked cats. Somehow, he welcomed the kitty into the house.

I never knew what it was like to have a cat until I had moved away from home. I don’t remember how I came to get one, but I named him Larry. When I moved back home, my brother took him to Ohio with him.

I can’t tell, but it sure looks like this is our house. It may be the front room. It is hard to tell.

A couple things stand out to me. I do not remember this sweater at all, but I love how mom looks in it. Next, the garland in the background. Mom always had garland on doorways, windows and even on the walls. Garland always makes me think of mom.

I have no idea when this was taken, but it looks like mom is healthy. I’d imagine this was taken before she got cancer.

It’s funny how I was just talking about my mom and then I stumble on this photo. I wish the photo was a bit clearer.

Friday Photo Flashback

I had meant to post this photo last Friday, but posted a Christmas recap instead. I know that we are into the new year, but it is too cute not to share.

This is Ella in 2020. She’d be 9 months old here. I remember that I bought a Santa hat that read “My First Christmas” for her. However, by this time, it had gotten too small for her.

This was during Covid and it was a very weird Christmas. I love that reindeer shirt she is wearing. It is cropped out of the picture pretty much, but the big plastic thing behind her was the indoor swing we bought for her. She spent so much time in there.

It’s funny to see the Christmas tree in the corner. I don’t remember but one or two years that it was there. Most of the time it is in front of the big living room window. We must have been very trusting here because the gate that we had put up to keep Ella and the cats away from the tree is not up. Maybe we took it down to get to presents? I really don’t know.

It is amazing to look at her baby face. You can see little features that she still has today and features that have sadly faded away with growth. I miss her being this tiny.

Friday Photo Flashback

Today is the 110th birthday of “The Chairman of the Board!” Happy Heavenly Birthday to Frank Sinatra. He lives on through the music he left behind.

I got to interview a lot of famous people when I worked on the radio, but I wish I could have had the chance to interview him. He was a legend and set the bar extremely high for everyone who followed him.

When I figured out how to goof around with AI, I said “Imagine me having a spaghetti dinner with Frank Sinatra.” I thought this came out pretty good!

That’s not the photo flashback, though. That takes me back to my birthday in 2019. My wife is the queen of gift giving. She hears little things I say in passing and always comes up with a great gift.

I’m not sure what would have made me talk about music on vinyl to her, but obviously I did. For my birthday, she bought me a record player and the perfect album to spin on it.

I still pull it out and listen to it on vinyl. The sound is simply amazing, especially when you listen in headphones. There is something special about hearing music on a record. Sure digital music sounds pristine, but the analog record is “fuller.” I wish I had kept all my old albums.

This post just reminds me that I need to head out to some of the used record stores to do some shopping….

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mr. Sinatra!

Friday Photo Flashback

Well, the Christmas season is officially underway. I can assure you that I have NO plans to go out shopping today. I’m just built for stress like that. Anyway, since it is official, I thought I would search for a Christmas themed photo to feature.

A while back, my brother put all of the digital Christmas photos in a folder marked “Christmas Through the Years.” One of the first photos to pop up was this one;

It is pretty much all of the girls in the family. From left to right on top: Mom, Grandma, Aunt Linda. Bottom left to right: Arin, Aunt Jodi, Melissa. It is one of the few pictures with all the gals from my mom’s side in one photo.

The photo is taken at my Aunt Linda’s house. This was probably around 1981, just after my grandpa passed away. We usually had Christmas at my grandma’s. Occasionally, it would be at my Aunt Linda’s or our house. When it was at my aunt’s house, my uncle’s parents would often be there. They were Italian, and I just loved talking to his mom about Italy and Italian food.

My Aunt Linda gave me my first Bible as a Christmas gift one year. I wish I’d took it a bit more seriously then. She wrote something on the inside cover that has always stuck with me and makes more sense now than it ever did. She said, “Remember that this book has ALL the answers.”

My brother and I don’t see my cousins enough. I’m going to have to ask him to let me know when he comes up next time well in advance. We are over due to be together.

Friday Photo Flashback

I found today’s photo in a stack of pictures I found in a box.

Growing up, we always had dogs. The two we had throughout most of my childhood were Lucy and Daisy. Daisy was a beagle and we got her when she was a puppy.

Lucy would bark. Daisy would howl. We had never heard a dog howl before. She would also go after birds, rabbits and other critters. She would have been a good hunting dog.

I remember when Lucy got old, my dad “took her to the farm” to get better. Well, that was obviously code for “putting her down.” She was very sick at the end and there was nothing that could be done. She was in a lot of pain, so the decision was made.

Daisy was around for quite a few years after Lucy. At some point my mom brought another puppy home and called it Sassy. I remember her playing well with Daisy, and at the same time she reminded me of Scrappy Doo. I can’t tell you why.

Thinking back, we had this one dog named Pepe that grew to be very large. They had told my folks that she would be a small dog. They lied. One time we were going to be gone all day. Dad thought he’s put the dogs in the garage so they wouldn’t go to the bathroom in the house. When we came home, Pepe had white stuff all over her face. She had been eating the drywall in the garage. Another time she had found a D battery and ate almost half of it. It is a wonder that dog didn’t kill itself with all it would eat.

When I moved out, someone gave me a kitten. From that time on, I think I’ve always had a cat. Currently Maizey and Bitsy are the felines in our house.

I know some folks aren’t pet people, but I’ve always been. I loved the companionship of our dogs and love when the cats decide to sit on my lap. Pets are truly family.

Friday Photo Flashback

I went looking through my junior high yearbooks this week. I had heard of the passing of a classmate who went to a different high school, but was in junior high with us. I knew the name but couldn’t picture his face, so I went through the yearbook.

While searching I was reminded of some of the teachers I had. One in in particular came to mind immediately – Mrs. Kellogg.

I just loved her! She was no nonsense, and yet enjoyed a little nonsense at times. I was lucky enough to have her for 7^th and 8^th grade for English. She was tough and I learned a lot about writing because of her. The above picture was taken on my last day of 8th grade. These were the days when no one knew what a “selfie” was. I really wish I had a photo of us together.

Mrs. Kellogg was instrumental in getting me to be proactive about working. Yeah, I was not very self-motivated at this point in my life. I remember one day we were supposed to be doing some quiet reading, and I think I was staring off out the window or something and she called my name and said, “Don’t just sit there like a Willie Lump Lump! Get your eyes on the book!” Well, Willie Lump Lump was a Red Skelton character, who I knew because my dad let us listen to old radio shows. I laughed at this and a special bond was created. I never wanted to disappoint her, and I took initiative to get my work done.

She is the teacher responsible for one of my yearly traditions. We read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in 7^th and 8^th grade. She had recorded herself reading it on tape. When we “read” it in class, we read along with her voice. I have read it every year since.

I kept in contact with her long after she retired and sadly, I lost her address in between moves. She had told me that she was working on a book. I told her I would love to read it, and then I lost the address. She passed away before I had the chance to reconnect with her. She was a fine example of a caring teacher.