Memories
Cleaning the Canoe
Every summer of my childhood when we went to Cougar Bay for dinner parties at the Larsens' or Flammias', we would get talked into "cleaning" the canoes. What that really meant was that we would paddle out into the lake, submerge the canoe, and then try to make it back to shore in a half-sunken canoe. The older kids would scare the younger ones by saying that the waterlogged tree-trunks floating on the bottom of the lake were dead bodies.
Green Cupcakes
This is at my grandma and grandpa's house, near Sacramento. It was my brother's birthday, and we had these outrageously green cupcakes. I was very young, 3 or 4, but I still have a vision of the cupcakes, with their vivid, alien color. I remember having the frosting everywhere. I've always associated this house with love, comfort and adventure.
Flour Child
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When my youngest daughter KT Bug was about 15 months old, she was an avid crawler with a nose for mischief. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and I was in the kitchen on the phone with my Dad. KT took advantage of this moment knowing that I was distracted. She sat down in between my feet, and opened the cupboard under the counter and quietly pulled out a 5 pound bag of all purpose baking flour. When I looked down at my adorable sweet and innocent 1 year old, I found Casper the ghost. I started to laugh hysterically and my three year old daughter Adelheid had to investigate, marching right through the flour leaving little white footprints all over the house.
Together
When I was a young child, I remember my father being a very animated person, great at making horrible funny, scary faces to make even the bravest child scream and run off in search of Mommy! He used to chase me around the house scaring me to no end, pretending to be a mad gorilla, who's character he had perfected. There was also a much gentler side to him. When I saw Dad sitting at the table reading, and enjoying his peace and quiet, I remember sneaking under the table from the opposite side of were he was sitting, and slowly crawled up and under into his shirt. He had been blacksmithing earlier that day, and I could still smell the coal and the smoke on his clothing as I crawled up towards the light. I wasn't expecting to make it as far as I did. After the photo was taken by my Mother, it was time to crawl back out, but I was stuck. Dad had to pull his shirt off to let me go.
It's been the ruin of many a poor boy...and God I know I'm one
Sometimes in the year you could see the Aurora Borealis (the Northern lights). One night we were driving on a long stretch through a very dark country road and we were listening to the radio, when I heard the song come on - Eric Burden and the Animals - "The House of the Rising Sun," it was the first time I heard that song and as the song built, before the lyrics came on there was a heavy organ part. Just as the organ started to wail, the lights appeared in the sky infront of us like a giant curtain on a stage. It was one of those spine-tingly kind of moments. And everytime I hear that song I remember that moment. "It's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God, I know, I'm one."