Category Archives: Okie

How they did it in the 1930s.

So, this is how it happened. Ode to My Mom and Dad. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a big unexpected kiss on the lips. Then she responded, “now Carl you’re not supposed to do that. When my dad told me this I could only surmise my mom had never been kissedContinue reading “How they did it in the 1930s.”

I like to fly with my shoes off.

Barefooting. Of course, summer time is when we Okie kids went bare foot. And this is when we were growing up in Los Angeles. Something to show our independence from wearing shoes. And it has been that way for generations. And I’m sure generations to come. My sisters hardly ever wore shoes after coming homeContinue reading “I like to fly with my shoes off.”

Our vacation summer 1952.

What to do with an eight-year-old boy? We were on, what they call vacation. Our family and my Aunt Elsie drove from California all the way to Oklahoma. My dad, mom, older brother, youngest sister, and myself rumbled through the heat and dust storms in order to visit kinfolk in Oklahoma. Never mind they inContinue reading “Our vacation summer 1952.”

Wearing ‘Go to meetin’ clothes.

Okie fashion plate. It took my dad working two jobs in order to outfit my mom with her mostly church fashions. As mentioned my parents lived in a ‘third-world’ community in red dirt Oklahoma before immigrating to California. No electricity, no running water, and no indoor plumbing. All of this was missing before moving toContinue reading “Wearing ‘Go to meetin’ clothes.”

Mr. Disney, we need you back here on Earth.

My happy place. It was clean and well-kept and certainly a happy place for me to be. I had looked forward to being in this place ever since Walt Disney talked about it on his Wednesday night Disneyland TV show. Finally in 1955 the theme park opened to the general public. But what was noticedContinue reading “Mr. Disney, we need you back here on Earth.”

If I were a car, I’d be a Beetle.

Automobile manufacturers! Do this! First a bit about my car and my thrifty background. The most fun I ever had driving any vehicle was back in my college years living in Los Angeles. Spring 1967 up to my first real job in 1969. Driving a car by the seat of the pants and mostly handsContinue reading “If I were a car, I’d be a Beetle.”

It should look like midnight inBolivia.

How could you do this? How could a person take perfectly good coffee beans and turn it into a mug of sludge? I know of some seemingly reasonable people who do this. They go to the trouble of having Bolivian coffee beans imported and roasted far away then shipped FedEx to them overnight and goContinue reading “It should look like midnight inBolivia.”

Why, we can do that.

Saturday movie matinee. The black and white photos on the Now Playing theater play bill poster out front were of Tom Mix movie star, trick rider, and sharp shooter. The first cowboy silent movie star filmed long before John Wayne appeared on the screen. The year was 1927 and Two brothers came out of theContinue reading “Why, we can do that.”

If Judy Bloom wrote for pre-teen boys.

A close shave. I grew up in Southern California with clueless Okie parents. It was the dust bowl survivors meet Ozzie and Harriette. Misfits all of us. We had no social skills much less me remembering to not burp when in the cafeteria at lunch. I would have to admit myself an early teen boyContinue reading “If Judy Bloom wrote for pre-teen boys.”