Friday Photo Flashback

Today’s photo flashback takes me back to one of the craziest trips I’ve ever been on. My buddy Steve asked me and a bunch of friends to go up to his parent’s place for a weekend fishing trip. It was a weekend to remember, although some of the guys don’t remember much of it.

As I recall, we all arrived at his parent’s place in the afternoon. Each of us had brought beer to drink. Once we were settled, there was a bonfire. We were all telling stories and laughing while drinking the beer. Next door, it sounded like they had been partying for much of the day. A couple of the guys went over to say hello. They came back saying that they had a lot of booze and that we should all go over later.

We had planned on getting up early to head to Skidway Lake to fish the next day, so after a while, a couple of us decided to call it a night. Others decided to go back next door to hoop it up a bit. They paid for it that night and the next day. My best friend, Jeff, and I had nabbed bunk beds when we arrived. I was on the top bunk and asleep before he got back from next door.

In the middle of the night, I could hear him throwing up below me. I figured he’d grabbed a trash can or something. It wasn’t aware until the next morning that the receptacle he threw up in was my shoe! Thankfully, he was kind enough to clean it while hung over.

The above photo makes me a little sad. I was at my goal weight when this picture was taken. I really wish I could get back down to that weight. I’m trying.

When we walked outside in the morning, I remember seeing all the beer bottles on the picnic table and laughed like crazy. I had to get a picture of it. I think we all took it easy that night and only had a beer or two.

As far as the fishing trip itself? Skidway Lake is not too deep. We were pulling up 3 inch fish. It was quite humorous actually. We almost always got a fish with every cast, although there were far from anything you’d share with anyone.

Despite his hangover, Jeff caught the biggest fish of the trip!

Friday Photo Flashback

I got a call this week from my oldest son. He was so excited to tell me that he is getting his own place. He is ready to move into his own apartment. I’m very proud of him. He has been working a lot and getting himself in a place where he can do this.

As a parent, you truly hope that they have learned how to budget and keep all the bills in mind. He has always been pretty good with his earnings, so I think he will be fine. I hope that this means we’ll be able to get together for lunch or dinner more.

We’ve had some very special father/son moments. The one that stick out the most is our trip to Louisville Kentucky. He got onto the robotics team at his high school. That year they won their division and also went on to the state competition. While there, us parents cheered them on and they qualified to go to the national competition in Kentucky.

On our trip down, we stopped at a place for an amazing breakfast. On the way down, we hit a spot where there was a huge traffic jam. While we waited in traffic, I decided to see what we could do on the evenings after each round of competition. I found out that there was a minor league baseball team and their park was about 10 minutes from where we were staying.

I hoped that there was a home game during our stretch, and there was! I ordered tickets in the traffic jam and planned our outing. We had great seats and enjoyed all the things you enjoy at the ball park – hot dogs, pop (beer for me), nachos, etc.

We got their early enough to be able to swing into the team store. We were sure to get something (a bat I think) for his brother. We each got team baseball hats. That night at Louisville Slugger Field was a a fantastic father and son trip. We got the see the Louisville Bats win the game and walked away with memory neither of us will forget.

The robotics team did pretty good for their first time at the national competition, but there were other teams that had been there many times. I guess this is where you say, “It is not about winning or losing. It’s about the experience.” It certainly was a great experience.!

Friday Photo Flashback

This week my wife and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. If you are unfamiliar with the story of how it happened, I have blogged about it before. You can read about it here:

Part III – To the Aisle

As a matter of fact, this week’s photo for the Flashback appears in that blog.

This photo is one of my favorites from our trip. We both are very happy. Because the ceremony was done at the county courthouse, there was no official photographer. If I had to pick one selfie that I love, it would be this one. (Ok, I’m sure there are other selfies of the two of us that are just as good or better. But for this blog, it’s this one.)

Sam asked me yesterday, “Did you ever think we’d make it seven years?” Without hesitation, I said, “Well, yes!” I went on to say that I had never felt more sure about anything. As the years have gone by, my love continues to grow for her. Through ups and downs, we’ve done it together. I am so very grateful to have the relationship that we do.

I love my wife beyond anything I could write. Seven years down, and forever to go!

Friday Photo Flashback

I wish that this picture of Baby Keith was a bit clearer. I must have moved when the picture was taken, because it looks like my hands are a bit blurry. The rest of the photo is clear enough, though.

This photo was a real treasure to find. First of all, I’m in it. Ha! My grandma had a huge light on the ceiling, and eventually a ceiling fan. Based on the year of this picture (1970-71), I don’t think the fan is there yet. Obviously, I am enthralled by something up there.

Second, it is at my grandma’s house. What surprised me about this photo is that there is tile on the floor instead of carpet. Honestly, I do not remember there being tile on the floor, but there it is. This was their living room, so I can’t even understand wanting tile instead of carpet. I suppose I do remember hearing old commercials for Johnson’s Wax on old radio shows, so maybe this was a thing?

Check out that big honking TV in the background! I don’t recall that TV in particular, so I am assuming that by the time I was 6ish, it was gone. Then again, by the time I was 6, there was carpet on the floor, too. Anyway, I love these old televisions. I remember so well those knobs – one for UHF and one for VHF channels. Those things were literally a piece of furniture.

I have no recollection of that ugly rug on the floor. But I do remember seeing that coffee table in a few other photos. I think by the time I was 5 or 6 it had been moved into the front room. I am guessing grandma didn’t want us bonking our heads on it. As I think about it, I don’t know that coffee tables are a thing anymore. Are they? I don’t know many folks who have one in the middle of their living room.

Now, end tables, yes. I think almost everyone has/had them. My grandparents had at least two in every room. Ok, maybe the ones in the bedrooms were more like night stands, but still….

That end table in the corner is one I do remember. I also remember that ugly lamp on top of it. I remember it was very heavy. I think the base of it was concrete or something “rocky.” I have to laugh because if I zoom in on the white bag sitting on the table, it looks like that might be the K-Mart logo. I could be wrong, but my grandma did a LOT of shopping there, so chances are good that it is from there.

Two other things stand out in this photo. The scratchy yellow couch can be seen at the left of the photo. That couch is a core memory. I don’t think I will ever forget that or the scratchy green chair made of the same material.

The last thing is the lone hand in the picture next to the couch. Don’t ask me how I know, but I am 99.9% positive that is my grandpa’s hand. I held his hand often as a youngster, and looked at it age as I grew up. I distinctly remember the look of it as he held a cigarette, a cup of coffee, or a pinochle hand. I also remember it from the last night of his life. I remember holding it and talking to him. Funny how a blurry photo can bring back so many clear memories, isn’t it?

Friday Photo Flashback

I found a stack of pictures this week that I had stuck in an envelope. I probably did that so I could scan them for this feature, but I don’t really remember. Anyway, I found this great picture of my brother and me.

I love this picture because I actually look cute in it! I see that smile and I can see each of my kids in it. How weird is that?

I love the little swoop curl on my forehead. I’m staring at this photo trying to make out what is on my shirt. Is it a cartoon character? Is it some generic shirt design? I really can’t tell.

I’m going to guess this was taken in early 1973, based on the fact that my mom is holding up my brother. Look at how cute he is in those footie pajamas! I wish he’d been looking at the camera and that we could see my mom’s face in this picture.

It’s weird to think that if this is 1973, I am probably 3 years old here – my son, Andrew’s, age today. I can really see him most in this picture.

So, not much to really flash back on, other than I just love this picture.

Friday Photo Flashback

I know Christmas is over, but my neighbor still has his lights out, so here is a Christmas photo for this week’s Friday Photo Flashback. Christmas 1980.

What you have here is 10 year old Keith. (Good Lord, it’s Christmas! You’d have thought I would brush my hair!) I am holding the cribbage board that my Grandpa and Grandma D gave me. This would have been Grandpa’s last Christmas.

I don’t recall exactly when he started to teach me how to play cribbage. Maybe I was 8 or 9. I know I was easy to beat, as I often forgot to count things. My grandpa taught me how to play on his board. The board was old and I think he had it around the time of World War II. When he passed away, my grandma said he would have wanted me to have it. (I still do!)

If you beat him on his board, he let you sign the back of it. If memory serves me right, there are three signatures on it. One of his buddies, my dad, and me. I had bought a small board to play on and we played on it a couple times. If my grandpa “skunked” me, he got to sign the back of my board. The two games we played on my board – he won both times!

He used to call me Charlie. “Skunked Charlie on this board (date) H.D. And we know who Charlie is don’t we” is his first signing. The first allowed him to write a shorter bit next. “Did it again 12-31-80 – on New Year’s Eve!

I still have the “29” cribbage board. There are a couple signatures on the back from friends who have skunked me on my board, too.

At one point, I taught my second son, Dimitri, how to play, but he hasn’t been over for a while. I guess I will just have to teach Ella or Andrew how to play …

Friday Photo Flashback

I had forgotten all about this picture. I’m not even sure who took it, to be honest. This is me and my lifelong friend, Jeff, in the studio at WMXD in Detroit. The photo had to be taken around 1990.

This studio was tiny. Behind me was a wall that had the station’s CD’s. about 4 feet from where Jeff is sitting was the door to the studio. There wasn’t room for more than three people in there at a time. It got a bit close when the next air personality was getting ready for their show.

I love this picture because, while you can’t see everything, there is so much in this room. Behind me to the left is the reel to reel machine we used to record phone calls. Every once in a while, I would get called in to play voice cuts from jocks who couldn’t be there. They would prerecord the intros on the reel to reel and I would play it back on the air when they were normally supposed to be there live.

To the right of my head in this picture, on the top shelf is a cart machine. It had spots for three carts (one is in the machine in the photo). These carts were tapes that had our commercials on them. They also had the sweepers of our big voice guy saying “This is new music! On 92-3 The Mix!” To the left of the cart machine, you can see about 6 carts stacked up. That was probably the next commercial set.

Below that on the bottom shelf was the CD players. You can see one is playing and Jeff’s head is blocking the other one. In front of me was the control board. Oh, how I miss those slider pots. Each one of those colored sliders went to something – CD #1, CD #2, Cart #1, Turntable #1, Reel to Reel, etc…

Up above the board is a little shelf that held liner cards or station liners that needed to be read throughout the show. It would also hold your “copy” for news or weather. Anytime I wrote out something I wanted to say, it would sit there on that shelf.

To Jeff’s right you can barely make out that turntable. There were two side by side in the studio. When the Electrifying Mojo did his show, he played almost everything off of vinyl. There would be records all over the studio. He’d also have the heat cranked up in there. It was always an oven when I’d have to follow him on the weekend.

This picture brings back some great memories. Jeff used to come up and hang out a lot. We’d stay up all night and he was always trying to crack me up on the air. He did it more times than I could count! Lord knows if it was the other way around, I would have been trying to crack him up, too.

Friday Photo Flashback

Wednesday night into Thursday, we got hit with some decent snow. Travel was treacherous and they were telling folks to stay home. Naturally, people with a sleep study scheduled, still showed up! Urgh!

I loved playing in the snow as a kid. We made snow forts and such and would be frostbitten when it was time to come inside.

I have yet to make a good snow fort with my kids. That’s not to say that we didn’t have some fun in the snow, because we did. We did a lot of sledding and just snow silliness.

This was one of my favorite pictures. My two older boys and I sledding down the street from our first house. The hill wasn’t too big, but it was fun for them.

They really loved just playing in the snow. Just like my two younger kids.

I have always loved the look on Ella’s face in this one. All I was doing was pulling her around the yard. She loved it.

Andrew is all about going outside no matter what the weather! He’s a snowballer. He loves to throw snow balls.

I’m sure I have plenty of other snowy shots, but for now, these warm my heart on a cold Michigan day.

Friday Photo Flashback

This week I was looking for something non-blog related and came across a photo I forgot about.

This is a five or six year old me. I had been taking organ lessons with the sweetest teacher. I remember there was a store in the mall that sold pianos and organs, I took my lessons there.

By the looks of this picture, I would guess this was taken at our old house. The couch in the back makes me wonder if this is at my grandma’s house, but I don’t think so. My brother might be able to clarify that. Grandma had an organ, too, so it is slightly possible that this is at her house.

At any rate, I remember how difficult it was for my short legs to hit the pedals on the ground. My teacher, Mrs. Bostick, was so nice. She would often say, “Keep eating right, and those legs will grow long enough to do it!”

If you look on the left of the top keyboard, you will see some yellow, green and white switches. Those switches could make what you played sound like a clarinet, horn, tibia, trumpet, etc… They could also add vibrato and other effects.

Our organ had one of those “beat buttons.” You could have it play a drum line for you based on the type of song you were playing. It had reggae, swing, tango, rock, etc… As you can see in the above picture, many of the organs had a control for how fast or slow the “drums” went.

The photo of me makes me remember a lot. First, the lovely Mrs. Bostick. I miss her letters since she passed away. Second, the fact that I once had thick hair. And last, that the one song I loved to play on the organ was used in a Bugs Bunny Cartoon.

“Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms” was a song in one of my lesson books. It was fairly easy to play and the chords were easy, too. I played it a lot because it was one I played well.

As far as the Bugs cartoon, well, the joke (and song) were used a lot:

Friday Photo Flashback

According to the date stamp on today’s picture, it is from the summer of 1981. We spent many summers going up north to Caseville. They were usually weekend trips. Off the top of my head, I can only recall two family vacations. One of them was to King’s Island and Sea World (probably when I was in kindergarten or first grade). The other was to Mackinac Island.

As I recall, we had a hotel in Mackinaw City. It is located at the tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. I’m sure there were places that we visited there, but I don’t remember much of that. I do remember the day we went to Mackinac Island. As you can see, you had to take a boat over to the Island from the city.

There are no cars allowed on the island. There are plenty of horse drawn carriages and bicycles. There are also plenty of shops where you can find the famous Mackinac Fudge.

The highlight of this trip was actually visiting Fort Mackinac. This fort is located on the island. Fort Michilimackinac is actually in Mackinaw City.

Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City is seen from a guard tower on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015. The fort was built by French soldiers in 1715 and was taken over by the British 1761 after the French and Indian War.

My dad took a lot of pictures from our trip, but some of them are lost. I remember he took this really awesome shot of a cannon being shot. You could see the flame coming out of the wick area and the muzzle in front. It was such a cool picture. I wish I still had it.

One of my favorite photos of my mom, my brother and me was taken at one of the forts.

With all of the trouble that my brother and I cause for my parents, my mom had to pose for the above photo! I remember her saying, “I gotta get me a set of these for at home!”

There were quite a bit of things around the fort where prisoners were held. The above photo is us in the foot stocks. There is another picture somewhere of my brother and I with our heads and hands in the stocks. This was so cool to see.

The look on my mom’s face is priceless. She is all smiles! I imagine if she did have these at home, she’d be smiling bigger! I think it is hilarious to see the two personalities of my brother and me. My brother not only has his feet in the stocks, he had his hands in there, too. No fight, he just submits to the punishment. I, on the other hand, and pulling at my feet in hopes of breaking out and getting free!

I love that the sign says that the stocks were for “petty offenses!” I am just guessing that the “offenses” my brother and I caused were more along the lines of misdemeanors or felonies! LOL

It is photos like this that make me miss my mom more than usual. I know if she was still around she’d be taking her grandkids on trips like this.