The Dining room table

The dining room table... there was much time spent around it. I don't know if we kids spent much time there.. we were always dying to be excused. On big family dinner days, we may have eaten in another room too.. this room was a bit cramped. This picture is of Granddad, Grandpa and Grandma. I don't know if this was a holiday, but you can tell that mom was cooking, because the meal is over and there is STILL enough to feed an army... she never makes small servings.. I inherited this and we ALWAYS have leftovers! And remember that wall paper??? This table is now in my dining room. And I love it when Mom and Dad are visiting and the kids beg to stay around the table and play board games.

February 28, 2007 | Permalink


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I think that this wasn't a REAL holiday, like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter....because I don't have the Noritake china out, with the wreaths of roses....I DO, however, have the footed glasses out. Who knows? but I think the 'occasion' was the visit of Skip and Sharon Caligan, my cousin and her family down from Soldatna, AK. I think that's Sharon's arm in the lower corner of the picture. If it's not THEM, then it's Uncle Duane and Aunt Jan, from Whitefish, MT. Whenever, we were ALL much younger. I think that the dining room may have been small, but I fed 15 people in there the first Christmas we lived there...both sets of parents, my grandparents, the Andersons and all of us...we just butted another folding table up to the dining room table (it was before the round oak one...it was a grey "marble" chrome and plastic monstrosity, with the gold high backed chairs, remember?)and extended it out into the living room. Thank heavens for hardwood floors....we could scoot things around with no problem at all. I do remember that getting everyone seated was a science, and if you were one of the unlucky ones back against the wall, once you got seated, you'd better not have to get up and go anywhere soon, because the whole assemblage would have to get up, pull out the table and wait patiently while you were....busy....in the bathroom, usually.
That wallpaper was a little loud, but it was practically indestructable, and would be on the wall YET if we hadn't gotten tired of it about 8 years into its' life. The next one was a deep mauve with teeny little pink nosegays, remember it? The first wallpaper was hung by Grandad Barnes...but by the time we hung the mauve stuff, I had gotten up enough courage to hang it myself, and did a pretty decent job, if I do say so myself!

Posted by: Mom | March 07, 2007 at 07:36 PM

??????

This will be a quick post... just one question...

What is with the HAIR??? Was this ever a style? Was this just the curse of a bad hair cut? This definitely should be in the "What was she thinking?!!" category!



February 27, 2007 | Permalink

High School Graduation 1981

WOW!!! Look how young I was... well 18.. duh! High School Graduation! I think it was May 23rd (or there abouts..) we didn't go to school into June like my kids do. We were out before Memorial Day, and seniors, well they got to graduate a week before that! This is a picture of me when I was still taller than my little brother, Drex. He would overtake me that summer probably... thinking about that, he would have been 12 1/2??? Hey, Drex! Hannah is 12 1/2 and she TOWERS over me!!! You were a shrimp!

Anyhoo, back to the graduation. I had chosen Michael to be my "walking partner" in the ceremony... he came to the ceremony SMASHED! I had to hold all 6ft. 2 inches of him up the entire way DOWN the grandstands and back up after the ceremony... I was NOT pleased. He thought it was pretty darn funny. Ahh... but I loved him... not like romantically, but he was one of my best friends, so I didn't pitch too much of a fit about it.

I also remember that later that day, I went to the Endicott's house to swim and that was maybe the first time that most of my friends had seen me without platform shoes... they didn't realize how short I really was until then. I even wore speca's (Nat, how do you spell those shoes?) with shorts in the summer!

Later in the evening, we went to the Senior Party at TVCC... Monte Carlo night... that was a blast! I had some of the best friends a kid could have. Kim, Lisa, Chris, Steph, Jay, Mike, Brad... we had some great times. I hope that as my kids get into the high school age (only a year and a half away for Hannah!) that they have friends to hang with that are good kids who don't get into the party scene like I had (well, except for Mike...)



February 26, 2007 | Permalink


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I am SO enjoying these pictures! Have mom and dad taken a look at these yet? I figured mom would have some pretty funny comebacks for all the confessing you're doing here!

I guess I didn't come home for your graduation? I know I was there for Drexell's. I must not have been able to get away for some reason. I think I was in Salem by then. Wonder what was up?

The shoes are "Sibicas" and they still make them - looking much like they did in the 70s and early 80s! Other platforms we wore were Cherokees (they were a gum wedge that was super comfortable!). I also had some bright blue suede clogs with a cork wedge and a pair of cool wedge sandals that had a hole cut out through the middle of the heel. Wish I'd kept all those shoes now. I see a lot of shoes in the store that look like them now.

Looks like you also have the requisite "wings" on your hair in this picture. I remember getting my long hair cut for the first time when I was 15. I got it cut at the salon that was in Keith O'Brien's when it was at the mall. Do you remember that? Anyway, I had very prominent "wings" on each side of my head and as I sat in class (can't remember which) Craig Yunt (who I had a big crush on - he had a big red AFRO!) would stick his fingers through the middle of them and go "choo choo!" like a train. Drove me nuts.

This is fun - keep it up! - Nat

Posted by: Nat - Your graduation | February 27, 2007 at 12:21 PM

It was awful big of me to dress up for the occasion of this photo. I will say that I'm very proud of that shirt. Today, my favorite T-shirt hanging in my closet is a Royals T-shirt. In 1981, my other favorite T-shirt was an bright orange Oregon State shirt. But then, childish attitudes are to be outgrown, aren't they?

As for my height, I will not say that I was near as tall as Hannah at this age, but chances are that you are wearing those huge, white platform shoes at this very moment and I am, from the looks of it, barefoot and not long awake. Not to mention, I'm standing in a hole. I retain, somewhere deep in my repressed memory, a three dimenssional map of that lawn and every divot, crater, worm hole and tree root therein. If I visit this painful spot in my pshyche, I seem to recall a large deprssion in the area which I am standing, approximately eight feet southwest of the western most tree of the pair of evergreens in that corner of the lawn. My wife often asks me where my aversion to yard work comes from. After blacking out for a moment, I have a vision of pushing a Briggs and Straton motor mounted on a rusty cage of what used to be a Craftsman mower deck through three inches of eastern Oregon dust, the same dust mind you that choked the wagon riding pioneers one hundred years before, trying to reach a three inch patch of green grass that insists on sprouting itself immediately beside a Yucca plant that has no earthly reason for being rooted in this inhospitable dust, and shearing off half of the pulpy green yucca leaves while the ancient motor chokes and gasps its last, and I still have most of the yard to finish.

Ah, memories. - Drex

Posted by: Drex | February 28, 2007 at 09:59 AM

Maynard

This is my first car... Maynard.. did anyone else name a car? My whole set of friends had names for their cars.. is that just weird? Please tell me that we were not the only ones...

Ok, so Maynard was a 1965 Mustang. We drove down to Mt. Home to look at it. Dad had seen the ad in the paper in the morning and that night after work, we drove down to see it. I think we got to Mt. Home about 8:30pm.. it was dark. The woman was only asking $500 for the Mustang, so we knew there had to be some problems with it. Well, YEAH.. major problem, the driver's seat wouldn't stay in the "locked and upright" position. It laid down FLAT against the back seat... and it ran pretty rough, but it was a MUSTANG!!! A '65 MUSTANG! We talked her down to $450 and drove off with "Maynard". Now, Mt. Home is almost 100 miles from home, SO, I had to drive all the way home not leaning back! That was painful let me tell you. We fixed the seat first thing...So, I was the proud owner of a car... what a difference that made in my life! I could tool around town..FREEDOM!!!

Did you grow up where people cruised? We had a cruise route, up and down 4th Avenue... Turning around at the mall and Dairy Queen. Every "group" had their own "hang out" parking lot. And then you cruised up and down the street to see the other people hanging out. Maynard was a Friday night fixture on 4th avenue.

Maynard also gave MANY rides to lunch. We once had about 12 people crammed into the car to drive to Taco Time for lunch.

Maynard had a tricky battery/starter/alternator problem... I don't know what was wrong, but 4 out of 5 school days, you would find me with the hood up, banging around with a hammer, getting back in the car and starting it up.

In the winter, I was dug out of many a snowbank by kind neighbor men. Maynard didn't have much traction... or I didn't have very good "snow skills"... its unclear which problem was the culprit. But the time Mr. Trees pulled me UP the hill with his tractor accounts for the warped front bumper, if you were curious, Dad.

I also am responsible for the dent on the front right fender... I don't remember what happened, just that I was afraid for my life that Dad would see it as soon as he came home. Maybe Maynard was beat up enough that he didn't notice, but I don't remember him ever asking.

As long and I am on that subject...Dad.. avert your eyes... Are you still looking? STOP reading...

I was stopped at least 3 times by the police, but never given a ticket... I guess the look of pure terror and tears at the prospect of bringing home a ticket made them take pity on me.

Maynard also made a few trips to Boise...shopping... during school... I don't know how he got down there without me, since I was a "perfect child" and wouldn't DREAM of skipping school.

I was at church the other day and someone had the most beautiful red Mustang fastback in the parking lot... It made me think of Maynard... Maybe when I am done with the Mom/Chauffeur stage of my life, I can trade my mini van in for another 'Stang.

February 21, 2007 | Permalink


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MY first car was a '68 Dodge Dart which was aptly named the "Tan Mother." The whole family went after work one evening to Boise to buy it. It was in pristine condition and I think it only cost $400. I remember that I actually pitched in some money to buy it - maybe a couple hundred bucks? I was awash in earnings from being a Karmelkorn girl at the mall part time.

It was tan (well, DUH) with tan vinyl seats. She had all sorts of silver/chrome-like trim. It had AIR CONDITIONING if you can believe it. It was a unit that was installed after the factory - it was a big long black thin unit under the dash. It actually worked pretty well. It would be a very long time until I owned another car with A/C.

It also had an 8-TRACK PLAYER in it! Sweeeeet!

When we bought it, the body was perfectly staight - no dings or scratches (something Dad likes in his used cars - with the possible exception of Maynard, which apparently blinded him with his Ford pedigree). But by the time Tan Mother was traded in/sold (don't remember which), she was kind of beat up.

The front grill was especially affected by my driving. Back then, I actually DROVE between a couple of my classes on the TVCC campus. In particular, going from the Weiss (sp?) Building up to the gym complex up the hill.

I was always running late and so would virtually SKID into the gravel parking lot at the gym. Well, there were these really big log posts that held a heavy metal chain along the sidewalk and you just wouldn't BELIEVE how many times I came skidding into that parking lot and ended up bumping into one of those posts!!

Anyway, after a couple years, the front grill was bent into some sort of looney "smile." It actually looked like the car was smiling - people would tell me that as they saw me coming down the road. Poor car.

Tan Mother also made trips to Caldwell for the Sizzler Salad Bar during lunch and perhaps Boise a time or two. It was also stuffed full of girls a few times - I think the record was something like 14. And I think I only got stopped once in that car - Mom and Dad know the whole story there (it was when it was snowy and I was going to a basketball game in Nyssa and I slid through the stop sign at the bottom of the hill and got stopped by our neighbor who was a state cop. I was so upset, I went back home and tearfully confessed. They just told me to go ahead and go to the game!).

My next car was a '74 Plymouth Duster - red fastback with a big white stripe. It looked a little like a Starsky and Hutch car but wasn't the right type of car. I drove that going to TVCC and OSU. I had that until I bought a little red 200SX in my early 20's. Neither of those cars had names, though.

At some point in high school, I got to drive Dad's old '58 two-tone pink Dodge that Uncle Duane is now restoring in Montana. I rear-ended a neighbor's brand-new pickup dragging main one evening - right in front of the line waiting to get into the Pix movie theater! I was so embarassed. That was before cell phones (LOOOOOONG before) and I remember going to the ticket window and begging to use the phone.

It recovered from that incident, only to "blow up" in the homecoming serpentine on 4th Avenue. Then it went up to the barn where it languished for more than 20 years before being rescued by Uncle Duane.

Ah car memories - thanks for sharing!! - Love, Nat

Posted by: Nat - MY car memories | February 26, 2007 at 01:08 PM

Christmas 1982?

This is another old picture that I came across. It is my family (dad's side) all together for Christmas in Coeur d'A lene, Idaho. My cousin Laura and her husband and Daughter Amy lived there for a few years and we went to their house for the holidays. I am sure that there was another "better" picture, but this is the one that I found. My Aunt Dee and Uncle Frank, and my cousin Russ were visiting from Kansas (I am not sure about Russ, he may have flown in from somewhere else.. maybe he was in the Army at this point), My Grammie and Grandad were there, along with Mom, Dad, Nat, Drex and myself. We all look pretty serious in the photo, but then Grammie didn't like photos of people smiling (not sure why, just the way it was then I guess), so this is a GREAT photo by those standards! I really don't remember much of that trip. I think that we all stayed at the house, but that is ALOT of people, so maybe some of us stayed in a hotel. I am not even sure what year this is. Maybe 1981 or 1982. I don't think that everyone was together again until I was married and living in Portland. We had some family portraits taken then. We won't all be together again until heaven, since Grammie, Grandad, and Uncle Frank have all gone on ahead of us. So, that is it, some vague memories of this particular trip, but lots of memories of the people in the photo.

Things like-

Uncle Frank trying to get my mom to see a Cardinal when we were in Arkansas. (He was teasing her, and kept saying he heard one, and she would run outside to look for it!)

Grandad- holding my hand and walking through the campground at Wallowa Lake (he had HUGE hands! The size gloves he bought were GIANT.. no lie.. they said Giant!)

Grammie- getting dinner on the table and showing me how to rice potatoes (she was a phenomenal cook... I didn't inherit that at all!)

Aunt Dee- giving me a hair cut when I was 12.. I don't know if Dad ever forgave her for that.. I had REALLY long hair and she cut it SHORT.

Laura- I remember visiting her in a tiny apartment in Boise I think (and I think it was a basement apartment, but I am not sure about that)- Laura was the glamorous cousin that I wanted to grow up to be.

I am so glad that my family saw the value in getting together. Spending time with each other. I am a better person for spending moments with all of these people.

I know that I miss big family holiday gatherings! Maybe I can talk everyone into coming down here some year.

February 20, 2007 | Permalink


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I don't remember much of that Christmas either. The only thing I have to say is that this picture shows the only time in my adult life when my hair was it's NATURAL COLOR (I'm behind Janette apparently holding a cat).

I actually flew to that Christmas. I felt so grown up.

I remember it was very snowy and very beautiful. I also remember shopping and buying an outrageous white rabbit fur coat on that trip! Oh, I thought I was the pincale of high fashion!! I only wore that coat a few times - it shed so bad that I could barely breath when I had it on. White hair was EVERYWHERE.

I hope Drexell looks at this - he's so young! And look at Dad's beard!

Yes, I certainly miss family Sundays at Grammie and Grandad's. Wish we had something like that going on these days, but we're too far apart!

Thanks for sharing - Nat

Posted by: Nat - Cour d'Alene Christmas | February 26, 2007 at 01:12 PM

This was the Christmas of 1982 and we all stayed at the house, we had a basement with a full family room and all of the Drexell Barnes stayed down there and Russ slept on a couch and I think Drexell David slept on the floor the rest of us where upstairs. Amy had a water bed and Mom and Frank slept there, I can't imagine that now and Grammie and Granddad had the spare bedroom - Amy slept in our room - one big happy family. I remember how picture perfect that Christmas was with the setting and the snow. Natalie is holding Mom and Frank's dog I think her name was Tinkerbell we had a big black cat named Coalie but he was three times the size of that dog. There were also 3 other dogs in the house our two and Mom sitll had Taffy. It's fun to look at how much we changed - Leroye still has the beard but it is snow white now....It was basement apartment in Boise by the way - fun to look back hopefully we will make more memories and laughs in the future. Laura

Posted by: LAURA OLSON | March 01, 2007 at 07:54 AM

Grandpa

So I was cleaning out a cabinet, and there was a box full of old pictures... I think that I will scan one a day for this week and tell you about it. I know, not too interesting, but these pictures really brought some memories flooding back to me.

This is a picture of my Grandpa, Clarence Page. I think that this was taken when I was about 20, so that would be 24 years ago (gasp!). I remember taking this picture and thinking that I wanted to always remember my grandpa this way. Fishing... perfect stream... beat-up hat...just before sunset.

My Grandpa was quite a character. He loved everything about the outdoors. Fishing, hunting, camping, if it was out in the wild, he wanted to be there! He had a myriad of jobs during his life and could tell you facts from almost any subject you wanted to know about. He loved reading (maybe that is where I got my love of books... well, I got that from my mom, his daughter.. close enough) and read every western he could get his hands on. He loved Louis L'more (sp?) books. My grandpa had the greatest nicknames for us kids. He would hug you and call you "knot head" or "rotten kid" or some other term of endearment (I am sure that all your grandpa's used the same ones.) Grandpa was a master story teller... We joke about the Page family rule.. "If you are going to tell a story, Make it BIG". My Mom also got that from Grandpa. My grandpa and grandma never had much money. But they sure enjoyed life. We got to celebrate their 50th anniversary before he got too sick. He developed Alzheimer's about when Hannah was born (actually a little before maybe) and we lost the vibrant person he was, long before he went to be with his Savior. I miss my grandpa.. I think that this picture shows what he spends his time in Heaven doing. Fishing.. perfect stream.. beat-up hat...just before sunset... I can't wait to see him there and listen to his latest story.

February 18, 2007 | Permalink



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Thanks for sharing this great picture! It is the quintessential Grandpa Page. White t-shirt and jeans - those glasses that he'd had since the 50s or 60s (they actually came back in style for a while there in the 80s).

What a great walk down memory lane. I sure miss him, Grammie and Grandad. Looking forward to seeing them again. - Nat

Posted by: Nat - Grandpa | February 26, 2007 at 01:14 PM

Honeybun, those shoes were
"Sbicca", and they were right up there with Cherokees, as far as you gals were concerned!
In fact, I still have TWO pair of them out in the storage shed! We will dig them out this summer, okay?
And the picture of Grandpa...it made me cry! It's how I remember him best, and I still miss my "Pappa"....especially on fishing trips. I'm involved in writing a bunch of the family stories/history (okay,. they're PAGE family stories, and history according to ME....but you know they'll be good, right?)
and I've been reminded over and over what a character he was...and how I loved him!
Like Natalie says, thanks so much for a quick mosey down Memory Lane!

Posted by: Mom | February 27, 2007 at 09:35 PM

February...

Ok, so how did it get to be February all ready???? I can't believe it! Nothing much going on here. Life just keeps moving along. Hannah and I are getting excited about our trip to Washington DC in April. I am trying to reorganize my house (it is a HUGE undertaking, let me tell you!)

The girls parakeets are getting used to us. I can bring both of them out of the cage and they sit on the jungle gym, but they don't really socialize with us yet. I am hoping that they do. Bekah's bird, Buddy, is a fiesty female with a bite... and she loves to use it! Hannah's bird, George, is a kind of budgie st. bernard. He is BIG and kind of a ditz. He is very gentle once you have managed to catch him. They are both still just babies I guess, maybe I am hoping for too much from them yet. Only time will tell...



February 08, 2007 | Permalink