Random memories of growing up.
My mom was always amazing in my eyes but when she started having hamburgers (from McDonalds), hot dog and pizza days in grade school she was everyone's hero. She was always involved as the head of the Parent Faculty Organization or being in charge of the snack bar at the local pool. It was so awesome to know my mom was there.
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| Falcon Gas Station |
In the 70's my buddy Scott Kelly and I found
a box full of anti-siphon devices for car gas tanks in his grandpa’s garage and
his grandpa said I could have them. Since we were dealing with the 70's fuel crisis and people were having issues with people siphoning gas from their cars I decided to stand alongside the road and sell them to people as they
would line up for gas at the Falcon Gas Station where my brother worked. I was trying to earn enough money so I could
go to the barbershop international convention that summer. Thanks to mom and dad, and selling all of my
gadgets, I was able to go. The trip getting there was another story for another time. You won't believe it.
Many summers were spent sleeping out on my next-door neighbors’ porch
or in a clearing we had made in the woods.
I laugh every time I think of the pranks we’d pull on each other and
other neighbors during those summers growing up on Plumer Avenue. I also remember being at my friend PJ's house on Saturday nights watching wrestling on WOR TV out of New York.
Cars, cars and more cars! We always had all
kinds of cars while I was growing up.
Between my dad and brother they were always working on something. I
had no clue how a car worked or how it went together but when my brother
offered for me to tear his old Corviar apart to the frame I was all
about it. It was so much fun learning how to use tools and watching as the car slowly disappeared. What was really amazing was watching my dad and brother put cars back together. When it came to working on cars (and my brother's motorcycles) dad always had an ace in his pocket. His amazing faith. Faith you say? Yup, it seems that my dad (and my mom) have always had a personal line to God and when they prayed many times their prayers were answered. I remember one particular time my brother
couldn't get his motorcycle to start. He tried and tried and my dad came down to the garage and asked what was wrong. My brother said, "It won't start!" Dad said let's
pray about it. We did, the motorcycle started first try. That freaked us both out. My dad was great at a lot of things, buying cars in colors that my mom liked was not one of them! My mom hated the color green and she would always say "I don't care what you buy, just nothing green!" One day my dad left to go car shopping and when he pulled up with a Maverick in Olive Green. She said, "You're kidding right?" Dad said, "it's brown!" Dad had no clue since he is colorblind. he went on to buy several other green cars in my lifetime.
The summer when I was 13 the circus came to town and was taking
place in the parking lot of the North Hills Raceway. Curious about the circus I went there and asked if I could work for them. I was hired and had a choice of
cleaning up after the elephants or doing the dishes and I chose dishes! I cleaned what essentially were metal pie
plates the performers used for lunch.
For my work I received six free tickets to the show. How many people can actually say they've worked for a circus? I can.
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| Herb Scott |
Oh yeah, North Hills Raceway. Every Thursday night throughout every summer my friends and I would head to North Hills Raceway. We rarely missed a night watching the dirt track races featuring drivers like Blackie Watt, Bob Wearing, The Pegher Brothers driving the yellow Auction Barn cars and my favorite driver #7 Herb Scott. One night my dad took my brother and I and we took my mom's beautiful Blue 70 Ford XL Convertible (my mom picked out this one!) Anyhow, we took it to the races and my dad left the top down. When we came out after the races were over the beautiful white leather interior was now a nice thick layer of red clay! What a mess.
After I started Junior High School my mom decided that she wanted to get a college degree and teach. She went community college and then
transferred to Duquesne University. She loved college and even joined a
sorority. The great part about that was that she would often invite the
girls (who were about my age) to study at our house. I was in heaven!
Just two years later my mom graduated Summa Cum Laude from Duquesne University. We were all there and screamed
“Way to go mom!” when they said her name. I was so proud of her.
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| Mallow Cup Coins |
I remember collecting Mallow Cup coins and sending them away for FREE Mallow Cups. I would collect the coins and cut them out and put them on a long piece of masking tape. When I got to 500 points I sent them in and waited for my chocolate! This is when I learned not to do this during the summer months when UPS delivered a Mallow Blob!
Apple & quince battles from the huge weeping willow tree in our yard. It was my brothers friends versus us and we always lost. I think I still have welts from those. Thinking back that was a really stupid idea. I recently I asked my dad about our quince tree that was in a lot above our house when I was growing up. I never remembered doing anything else other than throwing them. My dad never remembered tasting them either. The other day I was at Wal-mart and they actually had quince fruit. I looked them up on my phone and found out you have to cook them to eat them. Next time I'm there if they still have some in stock I plan buying some and doing just that.
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| 1970 Ford XL Convertible |
Back to my mom's mighty awesome 1970 Ford convertible it had a 351 Windsor Engine and she loved to make it GO! I remember my mom would often pick us
up at the bottom Plumer Avenue where the bus left us off after school. One day we offered a neighbor boy a
ride up the hill. My mom flew up the hill and as the hill crested she jumped
the car over it. Billy Dobranski would never ask for another ride and our
leather car seats had the impression of his fingernails.
As a member of the barbershop harmony society they would often offer
schools to learn the craft. One of my favorite places to go was a 4 day school held
every June called Apple Corps (our district is called the Johnny Appleseed
District) so they chose and apple theme. The school is held at the amazingly
beautiful campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, OH. I have a couple of particular memories that
stand out from many years going there. The first was the year that I gathered all of
the young guys attending the chorus and we sang as a chorus in front of
everyone at the picnic. The reaction of everyone was so amazing. They loved it
and were very encouraging. The sound of
young voices singing is so fresh and clear.
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| Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman |
Another memory of Apple Corps was when my friend Leo and I decided to
get some lunch at the little coffee shop on campus and we met Joanne Woodward
(actress and wife of Paul Newman). She and Paul had attended college there and she was in
town visiting. We sat and had coffee with her and talked. It was awesome.
More memories to come.......
Savory cookies? These may end up being your favorites!
Had enough of sweet things? Yeah, I know the answer to that. But I've decided to offer up a couple of savory options for a nice change of pace.
This cookie was the Cookie Swap Winner on "The Chew". The pine nuts and cracked black pepper & flaked sea salt play nicely with butterscotch chips for a unique and addicting cookie.
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These black pepper and Parmesan Cheese cookies have a slightly spicy flavor which is complimented by the orange, cranberry & thyme marmalade filling the cookie's thumbprint.
Ron
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