Well here I am in the month of March and finally figured I'd better show off a little of the pictures I've made.
First things first...I'm going to be moving in the first week of June either back to Grand Junction, or back to Long Beach, California where I was stationed back in 1961 when I was just a young girl trying out my wings and serving my country at the same time. Away from home and in the Navy at that. It was a great time for me. A handsome lad showed up one day and was introduced all around and pretty soon he and I were an item. Then we married and 3 months later I was a civilian again because the "rabbit died" (I was pregnant with my first child). Dani was born in Long Beach in 1963. Denise our 2nd girl was born in 1964 in Whittier Calif. where we had a house and I stayed there while he went to a Navy School in San Diego. Upon graduation we moved to Midway Island.
Oh for the good old days again. Traveling around the Pacific with children in tow was a great experience. We lived on Midway Island for 30 months and our youngest child was born there, (rode my bicycle to the hosp/clinic while 'husband' played softball for the communications department against the administrative department.
After Midway we were stationed on Guam, in the Mariana's Islands. We had a car there that I had shipped over from PA. Did us proud till the trunk rusted out from the tropical weather and spilled my bags of groceries on the road. Many good stories: Like; I worked as a cocktail waitress at the "Chief's" club and I was working the night of one of NASA's Splash Downs. They sent their whole crew of the NASA station to club to party. I was very busy and made $300. in tips. We had a "Hold Out" from the 2nd War living in the jungle behind our housing area. I discovered he was rummaging through our garbage at night so I took to putting the left over food from dinner on a paper plate and wrapping it with plastic wrap and setting it on top of the can. I hoped he enjoyed my cooking which was different from typical Japanese cooking, although I did make a lots of meals that included rice.
From our 2 years on Guam, we hustled up to Japan for a 30 month tour. And I must say it was a terrific 2 1/2 years. Our 3 girls really enjoyed living in Japan. The first year we were in Hyama (Emperor's summer home) in an authentic Japanese home. Tatami floors and rice paper walls. Futons on the floor for the girls. Charlie (the youngest daughter) had a tricycle that she could ride down the 3 wide hallways and she did so with a stick in her hand and made noises as she rode around. When we moved finally onto the base, I gave "Mama San" 5 rolls of the rice paper to fix all the sliding walls the "tiny human" had put many holes in. The hall on the back side of the house was where all the bathrooms were. One had only a 'urinal' but at least it flushed. The next one had a "gravity" operated Western toilet. That meant the tank was high up the wall and the water just rushed down and the trap closed to fill up the tank again. Right next to this one was the tub-shower. In Japan, you don't get into the tub dirty, you clean off in the shower on the wall (like at the pools in the USA) and then you get into the tub. Now this tub was about 2/3 rd's the size of an American bathtub. and it was sunk into the floor because it was about 3 feet deep. The girls used it as a swimming pool, I used to get in and kneel on my knees to wash up. The last bathroom on that wall was the typical hole in the floor over a septic tank. Charlie lost one of her Barbies in that one and was really upset with me that I wouldn't dig it out, not withstanding I couldn't see down that hole any way.
They loved going to the Ginza with me, but the rule was they hold hands and whoever was right next to me would have to hold onto my shirt or pocket. Most of the time this left Charlie (youngest daughter) on the outside. Shopping one day with them and I was looking through the girls clothing, trying to estimate the sizes (they use metric and it doesn't match mine) when I heard Charlie scream. Mama bear turned in a split second. I had been warned that my cutest youngest one was a prime target for kidnapping. And all it was, was a little Japanese going to the bathroom on her shoe. For those children of that age, going to the bathroom in public was commonplace. Charlie was mortified and I made sure she was either in the middle or right next to me. I even contemplated getting one of those kiddy leashes to tie her to my side when we were out together. They have those harnesses and leashes in Japan.
And after almost 10 years outside of the Good Ole USA, we came back home to San Diego where we lived in Lakeside while he was on the base. We had a car so he could drive back and forth. The girls and I would walk to where ever we needed to go in Lakeside and our friend Carolyn Dube lived there also and whenever she went to the commissary she took us with her.
I think I'll post some of my scrapbook pages now: These are from March.
Grand daughter Bridgit and her Husband Jess Langdell in a St Patrick's theme.
Bridgit and Jess as they toured NY City. They went there to work on the filming of a commercial. Jess and the shop he works at did the cyclone in a bottle or something like that. It's classified yet until it's released to TV.
My good friend Moe's first Grand child.
I loved her picture so much I made a second page for her Grandma.
This is Maggie's reaction when she learned she's going to be a Big Sister!
A scrapbook page I made for one of my Facebook friends.
I'm going backwards with the pictures. Have to find out which ones I've already posted.
Have a great day and enjoy the rain. Turns grass green, sprouts your garden and makes for muddy paw prints on the carpet.
God Bless and Hugs from Washington State.
