Category Archives: Flashbacks

Graduations

For my Flashback this week I’m posting my graduation photos from Junior High, High School, College (mine and my sister Kathy’s) and my youngest siblings’ Kindergarten graduation.

Junior HighA formal graduation ceremony from Montebello Junior High. My opinion these days is that this was a little over kill. New dresses for the girls and suits for the guys. I wonder how much money each family had to invest? The photo of me and my dad got a little chewed up. The other photos are me with my little maternal grandmother. Me, my mom and my cousin once removed. Here’s a photo of my junior high school that has since been demolished.

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High School scannedMontebello High School graduation in June of 1968. I think it’s appropriate to have a ceremony for this accomplishment. Again I have a photo with my little maternal grandmother. She really was a dear lady!

Junior High1The photo on the right was taken in the front yard of our home in Montebello. The Volkswagon in the driveway belonged to my brother.

 

img400My brother Fred and me at my sister Kathy’s graduation from Cal State L.A.

Pictures15These are photos from my graduation from Cal-State L.A. My brother Fred graduated the same time as I did. That’s him and me on the right. Dear and me on the left.

img397Aren’t they cute? They are twins, Leonard and Lana, our youngest siblings.

img398I decided to throw this next photo in, too, since it’s in the same time period as the others.

img399We went out to Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour to celebrate the twins. I’m guessing this is for their 6th birthday. So much fun for all of us. Did you ever eat at Farrell’s? We drove miles to go to the first Farrell’s in California.

Our snow is practically all washed away this morning. The rain has been falling hard and steady so it’s a slushy mess out there. I do hope it lightens up for tomorrow as I’ll be traveling up across the line to Abbotsford for a special time with most of the “girls”. How’s your Monday shaping up?

Happy Family Day to our Canadian neighbors to the North! Enjoy your day off!

An Electric Week!

What a week we’ve had in Seattle. Here are my favorites in no particular order.

February 0041. Enjoying our home team winning the Super Bowl! There’s something so rich about unbridled joy.

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2. Being able to replace our older dishwasher with a new one installed without a hitch.

 

3. Some clear skies albeit quite chilly for us here in Western Washington. We were in the teens today and we never made it over freezing on our hill. It’s so dry and cold that my first touch on light switches and my computer buttons sends a little shock through my fingers…”electric”.

 

4. Hearing some good news from Andrew in Afghanistan is always a favorite.

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5. Talking to my pop and hearing hope in his voice. We bought him a recliner that he is really enjoying and I found this photo from the late 1960’s of him in a recliner that makes me smile. This photo was taken on Christmas day in the afternoon after our lunch and before we headed back to Sunday night services…

What are your favorites this week?

You can join us at Living to Tell the Story for this weekly event that Susanne hosts.

Flashback to the Late Sixties…

These next photos from my high school years might show one of the reasons for my interest in sports. These were taken from 1966 to 1968 at my home and at Montebello High School in Montebello, California. Montebello is  just East of East L.A.

img339I was on the Song leader squad in my junior and senior years. The first few photos are from my junior year.

img341Every Friday before game time we would have a Pepster Squad Dinner at one of the Pepsters’ homes. When the squads came to my house my mother would prepare a Russian meal. We enjoyed this time together before game time. It was easy to lose 5 pounds in one night of cheerleading.

img345This was my best friend and she was a flag twirler our Junior year. In our senior year we were both Song leaders.

img343Some more of my friends Judy, Shelly and Bet. The hanging of Dumbo is a long story.

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img347It was crazy hat night at our Basketball game. Looks like we were playing the Whittier Cards? Shuffle the Cards was our motto for the night.

img356Our uniforms changed every year but they were always some combination of blue and gold our school colors. This was my senior year.

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img364It was crazy hat night again.

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img369We’d always go out for fast food after the game to try to gain back some of the weight we’d lose in the course of cheering during the games.

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img361The Pep squad would have their own Physical Education hour together to practice our routines and to learn all the rules connected with the different sports we would cheer on the sidelines for. I remember studying the rules for football and learning all the referee signs. It has come in handy in understanding what’s going on when I watch sports now. These were the days when you had to have your P.E. uniform washed each weekend at home and brought back on Monday pressed and ready for the week. After class you were also required to take a shower in those group shower stalls and get your name checked off. I don’t think kids use uniforms anymore for Physical Education. Did you have uniforms in high school for P.E.?

We had a very quiet Monday here. After all the excitement yesterday with the Super Bowl it was nice to have a quiet day. Katie and I are talking about going to the Super Bowl parade in Seattle on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, Tuesday,  our new dishwasher is coming to be installed. I’ll have to learn a different technique in filling the new one.

How’s the first week of February in your world?