Photo Booth Fun......with Dance with Nance

dance with nance and Jerm

 dance with nance and Jamie-roo

  dance with nance and J-to the Cinda

 dance with nance, the Big Boy and Blondies

dance with nance incognito

Photo Booth Fun......With Friends

The Kinder Gang

"Arndt they cute?"

South side - represent!

Eye on You!

Cinda Sandwich

 Jackie and the crew

More Haydens...and family...

 noise makers

 The Mrs. Haydens

Shirley and the Working Man

Lon & Lori

 Bob photo bombs the Childress Family

I had a feelin'...

....That the night would be a good, good night!

One thing is for sure....The Haydens know all the ingredients needed for a good party.

There was lot'sa Food

There were "beverages."

There were props.

There was music.

There was dancing.

hokey pokey style

ballroom blitz style

dirty dancing style

(drew on the shop floor break dancin' in the dirt)

There was a photobooth

There was a birthday video

(From Susie to Jerry)

There were kids

There was family.

There were friends.

There was Scotch!

 "was"

as in past tense

There were surprises!

Jerry rockin' the scooter at the stroke of midnight  and 70!

(thanks Jackie for the pic)

Thanks to the Hayden family

 for another great New Year's Eve! 

Happy New Year!

Directions to here:

Come back for more Photobooth shots!

Flashback Friday...Who was Chuck?

Here is why I accomplish and complete

NOTHING.

On the Fixing Vandercar front, Sandy gives me a new assignment for my apartment (long story there), to start in my storage space downstairs.

I grab the first box and it is full of slide trays:

This SHOULD be an easy box to get rid of, because they are not my slides.
They are not mom and dad's slides.
They are not your slides.

They are Chuck and Ruth Benbow's slides.

Several days later (since I brought the box upstairs),
and a couple (ahem, four) hours later (that I spent looking at the slides),
and a google search and 100 sites and more hours later,
I found what I think is an address for Chuck and Ruth's son.

But, in all this meandering (and NOT working on the storage space)...
I have more questions than answers.

Mainly...

Who was Chuck Benbow?

Here's what I do know about Chuck.

1. He was a friend of my dads
2. He and my dad could have passed for twins, having the same haircut, body build and wardrobe.

3. He was married to Ruth.

4. He hung out at the Log Cabin
5. He lived in the small house next to Ellis' house.
6. He seemed to care about us kids a lot (from all the pics I can gather).

7. He had a great smile, a sense of humor and a ready laugh.
8. He was a good golf teacher.
9. He and Ruth moved to Florida.

10. According to Ruth's obituary, they had a son Bruce of Naperville and a daughter, Dorothy Gergely of Crown Point.

My main memories of Chuck are of him teaching me to golf.

I am still unclear as to what possessed my dad to by a thirteen year old girl a set of golf clubs, even tho she never expressed an interest in golf. I remember mom smiling and saying..."they are from your dad" and coaxing me out of my bewilderment (I'm sure all I wanted was a Fleetwood Mac record) and on to saying "thank you." I now realize that he was retiring and was making an effort to spend time with me (which now, breaks my heart a little, especially to know, how I scoffed at the idea of golfing).

When it came time to the actual golf outing, it was Chuck that took the lead. He was a member at Curtis Creek in Rensselaer and I can remember looking to dad for instructions and he said Chuck's gonna teach you...cause all I'll do is teach you how to slice it to the right.

And Chuck taught. He seemed to absolutely not mind having a kid who never held a golf club in her life. I'm sure I slowed down his game and enjoyment of the outing, but he never seemed to mind at all. I would give the world to be back on that golf course again, between those two friends. But this silly girl was more interested in driving the cart, then listening what those two had to say, let alone asking the questions that I didn't know then that I would have now.

The other main memory is Dad showing up with several boxes of darkroom equipment. Apparently Chuck and Ruth had found out that I was taking an interest in photography. Chuck showed up with an enlarger, timer, easels and all kinds of darkroom stuff. All they asked was that I use it and enjoy it. He said that Ruth always wanted to have a darkroom, but that the chemicals weren't good for their septic system. I set up a darkroom "behind the shelves" in the basement and spent hours down there. I used it for several years. Some of that equipment is in that storage space.

Which brings me back to the slides.
I am 90% sure that with the darkroom equipment, they gave me a slide projector and this box of slides.
But looking thru the slides, I don't see them in any of them. There are slides labeled "Charlie" with a man that could be Chuck's dad?? and there is one slide of an older lady that looks a little like Ruth. The slides themselves are pretty retro fantastic. Imagine my gasp of delight when I realized that "our trip from our place to utah to..." was taken in a Gold Station Wagon pulling a silver Airstream!

But, not seeing Chuck and Ruth in any of the slides, I'm not sure if they came from The Benbow's or if they came from Dad's "junkyard job." (which is another basement/garage story in and of itself).

I found a listing for Bruce Benbow in Naperville and am thinking of writing to see if he is Chuck's son and if he can confirm the names on the slides as relations. And to see if he is interested in the slides (see Sandy...I'm getting rid of things in my storage space).

But this brings me back to my question.

Who was Chuck Benbow?

Why didn't we know his kids or did we?
How did he know dad?
What did he do for a living?
Where was he from?
Who are his parents?

I would have asked him myself while we were golfing, but I was too busy being a thirteen year old teenager.

Please send answers if you can.

07.29.06 Al Elser's homegoing

America lost another one from the "Greatest Generation" this week. Albert Elser...my sister-in-law's father, had his homegoing on Wednesday. I came up to Lowell for the services and saw all the Elser family.

He was a good man.

I don't have a picture handy, but here are some of his beautiful children:

Asking for comfort and peace for you all.

Directions to here: Main Street to 32 to 65 to Rt. 2 to Sheets Funeral Home to this truth: There is a balm in Gilead (this phrase has been on my mind since Jolene's memorial)

Thursday's unplanned road...

A road I never planned on taking, led me to the graveside service of my dear friend, Jolene Miller.

She was killed Friday night in a car accident, only three blocks away from the safety of home.

Jolene. Kind friend, sweet girl.

Jolene worked with me at the bookstore and had only recently left to take another job. There are those who move on from the store and I do miss them when I think about them..but Jolene, I missed everyday. The quality of my bookstore days changed after she left…and I was aware of her absence everyday.

She was a remarkable person...as sweet as all the many desserts she made for each of us on our birthdays. Lovable, kind, generous, caring, funny, flirtatious (in an endearing way), energetic…the list of words does no justice to describe her. She was an animated storyteller and an even better listener. She patiently listened to my random thoughts, observations and stream of consciousness storytelling and accepted all my ramblings about my likes and dislikes from everything from “the right” sofa to sweet snack, salty snack…coke rituals. She accepted my quirkiness and made me feel loved. We both shared a fierce love for our families and the joys and cares of being sisters and aunts. She was loyal to her friends. She had an infectious laugh and a beautiful smile.

It does not seem real that her life is over at 23 years old. I picture her around the corner, up at the register, across the table over lunch or one hundred other places…but not gone from us.

And I have asked “why” over and over this week. But I have a feeling that even if God explained it and answered all my questions…it still wouldn’t be good enough. Because what I really want is for her to have made it home. Made it thru to another day. Made it home to visit her family and on to the next year and year after that…On to the next time we saw each other and hugged and talked and laughed together…and made more plans to see each other again….and again…and again.

Jolene…you are my kind friend…sweet girl… I love you dearly... and will miss you greatly.



directions to here: SR 23 to I-80 to SR 20...look up to heaven and weep

sunday's winding road

Here's what sunday's winding road led me to...

It is real, I've seen it with my own eyes...my friends, Joel and Danielle are parents!
It was fun watching new parents and new grandparents with a new baby...their first...it's been since 1968-9?? since that happened in our family...not new baby...but first baby, first parents, first grandparents. There's always baby wonder...over any baby, but it was fun seeing their experience of "firsts".

Directions to here: 465, I-70, U.S. 40, I-76, I-81, 297, S.R. 23