Memory Lane Monday: Pets

Similar to my "Kelly"

I’m using the ’52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History’ series as an aid in beginning my personal history this year.  See the entire challenge on my Examiner.com article at http://exm.nr/dOmi09.  I create an article about this series each Monday.  Click subscribe (at the top) if you’d like to get my articles automatically delivered to your email inbox, or click the RSS icon to read my posts via a feed reader.  These weekly challenges are authored by Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog and hosted on the GeneaBloggers website.


Here is the beginning of my memories about pets:

My first pet was an adorable Cocker Spaniel named Puddy.  He was given to me on Christmas morning when I was very small.  Being a puppy and not housebroken, he proceeded to make a “puddle” in front of our heater, thus he received his name “Puddy”.  I loved my new playmate. My remembrances are all wonderful.  My parents, however, became very unhappy as the dog grew because in his love for me and with his playfulness, he would jump up and knock me over.  My parents said he made me cry a lot.

One of the saddest days I can remember as a child was the day my dad told me that he and mom had decided to give Puddy away.  He told me that one of the men at work was going to take good care of him, but my dog had to go.  I didn’t like the news one bit, but adjusted to it.  Then for some reason, the date of the dog’s departure kept getting put off, one day at a time.  After about five days, I decided it wasn’t going to happen at all, then, wouldn’t you know it the next day, the dog was gone.  I was heartbroken.

Over the years I’ve had many pets.  I had lots of parakeets (Hop-along Cassidy, “Hoppie” for short, and Kelly were two I remember).  Bless my mother’s heart, she couldn’t stand the sound of birds flapping their wings and would absolutely freak out if one got loose and would fly across the room.  It wasn’t funny to her, but it was funny to me and dad (although my heart went out to her). 

Once a sparrow got caught in a rosebush outside our kitchen window and was injured.  My dad built a cage of wood and chicken wire, and we nursed it back to health.  When we released it, it would come back to visit, then one day it was gone forever.  Our hope was that it survived the neighborhood cats.

I also had goldfish and little mini turtles that didn’t have a very long lifespan.  Sometimes my dad would catch baby frogs and act like he had money to give me, but would put a frog in my hand instead.  (He was a BIG tease.)  He even found a horned toad once.  I was scared of it, but when I found out he gave it to a neighbor boy, I was sad.  He retrieved it from him and let me care for it for awhile.  It was a great conversation piece.

Ginger was a little Pomeranian whom I loved.  I was probably 10 or 12 when mom and dad purchased her.  My dad was a wonderful dog trainer.  He’d spend hours teaching Ginger to sit, “speak”, roll over and play dead.  When the world seemed bleak to me, I always knew my dog loved me!

There are other pets I had, but I’ll write more about them in my personal records.  I do love the way that caring for animals has added to the love and respect I have for all living things.  I have a lot of happy memories when I look back at the pets I’ve cared for and cherished.
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As founder of Family Tree Quest, people sometimes ask what tools I recommend for organizing and recording personal and family history. Here are my highest recommendations.

HeritageCollector Suite- Your complete Family History Management System  (my highest recommendation)

Personal Historian Software

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Please leave a comment.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” I have not received any compensation from Amy Coffin or GeneaBloggers.com for writing this post. I am listed on the GeneaBloggers Blog Roll because I find it to be a valuable, shared community resource. As founder of Family Tree Quest [dot] com, I am an affiliate of LifeStory Productions, Inc. and Amazon [dot] com.

 

Memory Lane Monday: Restaurants

I’m using the ’52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History’ series as an aid in getting core ideas for my personal history this year.  See the entire challenge on my Examiner.com article at http://exm.nr/gHGdwz I create an article about this series each Monday.  Click subscribe (at the top) if you’d like to get my articles automatically delivered to your email inbox, or click the RSS icon to read my posts via a feed reader.  These weekly challenges are authored by Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog and hosted on the GeneaBloggers website.

Here is the beginning of my memories about restaurants.

I don’t remember my early years and where I would go when we went out to eat, but I do remember when my friend’s dad would bring home hamburgers from the Tip Top fast food restaurant.  Their hamburgers had a sauce on them that was delicious.  I could have easily taken out the meat and eaten just the bun and the sauce.  When he offered to get two for me, I was young and never dreamed that a person COULD order more than one for themselves.  How funny is that!  Ahhh innocence. 

I remember sometimes walking down the street on a summer day with another friend to go to Tastee Freeze, and I’d get a Root Beer Freeze and hamburger.  When I discovered the cool bliss of a Root Beer Freeze, I was a convert for life.

As a youth, I enjoyed going to Fullerton with my mom and dad and eating at Arnold’s Farm House.  I didn’t like all the cafeteria-style food, but loved the melt-in-your-mouth, warm bran muffins oozing with butter.  I had my first taste of Bleu Cheese Dressing there.  We also enjoyed Hof’s Hut and Polly’s Pies.  We went to El Patio for Mexican Food.  There was a tiny little restaurant named Russell’s across from the movie theater in Long Beach.  They made delicious, huge hamburgers and freezes—ahh, is there a pattern here?  Once, my mother was taking me to the airport when I was in college, and we stopped there first.  I almost missed my plane.  I remember wondering if the stress was worth it.

I have great teen memories with my friends at various Pizza Parlors, McDonalds, Hof’s Hut and other quaint sandwich shops.

I loved being taken out to the Embers for prom and other special occasions.   It was
F A N C Y.  Although I felt awkward at first, I learned to love elegant environments and still do.

It’s interesting that as I ponder this subject, it’s the memories with PEOPLE that matter to me most, rather than the restaurant where we ate.  I loved any place I ate when I was a mother of young children and could manage to have some time on my own with a girlfriend.

Here in Arizona when my second son was young, we took him to Organ Stop Pizza for their organ “show”. The pizza wasn’t the best, but the show was captivating to my young music lover.

We now go to Tia Rosa’s, Mimi’s Café, Macaroni Grill, Chiles, Panda Express, Costa Vida and Serranos, and there’s several other places we love.  My husband and I usually order the same thing each time, but we love to be eating out together.  It’s also fun to go out with friends or family.  We are fortunate to have oodles of restaurants within a short distance from our home.

Well, that’s it for now.  I am wondering, however, if any other bloggers got hungry while talking about restaurants.
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As founder of Family Tree Quest, people sometimes ask what tools I recommend for organizing and recording personal and family history.  Here are my highest recommendations.

HeritageCollector Suite- Your complete Family History Management System  (my highest recommendation)

Personal Historian Software

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” I have not received any compensation from Amy Coffin or GeneaBloggers.com for writing this post. I am listed on the GeneaBloggers Blog Roll because I find it to be a valuable, shared community resource. As founder of Family Tree Quest [dot] com, I am an affiliate of LifeStory Productions, Inc. and Amazon [dot] com.

Memory Lane Monday: Sports

As a child, my favorite memories of sports and a sports team were my memories of my MOTHER, who loved watching the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.  I think she developed a love of baseball, the game itself, from her hometown upbringing in Santaquin, UT, yet I’m not sure.

What I do know is that her excitement about watching the game on TV from our Long Beach, CA home baffled me.  What’s all the fuss about baseball?  I learned, from her, about the game, about the World Series and about the joy of watching team sports. I was fortunate to be able to attend some Dodger games, yet I find myself being a people-watcher rather than a game-watcher.  Unless the game is REALLY exciting, my attention wanders in about the third inning. I do have a very fond place for the Los Angeles Dodgers in my heart, however.

In contrast, my dad liked to watch boxing on television on Friday nights.  As a child, I never did understand why.  Years later, my son and daughter were enrolled in karate and took lessons from Johnny Rosas, the United States Welterweight Kickboxing Champion at the time.  In support of their sensei, we watched Johnny train and we attended many Kickboxing events.  Though different than the boxing my dad watched on TV, it was pretty amazing that my own experience ended up including events which were held at a boxing ring.

As a youth, I loved playing tennis.  I have very fond memories of going to Sommerset Park with my best friend and smacking tennis balls across the court! Also, I was on a high school bowling team for awhile. 

My husband has coached basketball for many years, so I've learned to love the game more and more.  Attending the High School games has been exciting.  Although baseball is my favorite game to watch on TV, I think it will soon become basketball because of the enjoyment I share with my husband.

I now enjoy watching my grandsons at their soccer and basketball games, and I love to see my granddaughters sing.  The grandchildren and their dad’s have their own favorite teams, so I’m being educated anew.  We have a growing number of sports fans in our family now.  Funny how life renews itself—even with sports.  

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Note from Family Tree Gal, Carolyn:  Have you joined the Family Tree Quest at www.familytreequest.com ?  I also invite you to join me on Facebook  and Twitter.


I'm using prompts from The ’52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History’ series.   See more of the weekly challenges (in their entirety) by clicking on my Phoenix Genealogy Examiner link.  Clickhere.  Click subscribe (at the top) if you’d like to get my articles automatically delivered to your inbox, or click the RSS icon to read my posts via a feed reader.




The ’52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History’ series is authored by Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog.  These prompts are hosted on the GeneaBloggers website.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation from Amy Coffin or GeneaBloggers.com for writing this post. I am listed on the GeneaBloggers Blog Roll because I find it to be a valuable, shared community resource. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”