New Trike

In 1947, evidently, when I was just three, I received a new tricycle. I remember having that trike for a very long time. Its whereabouts today are a complete mystery--it is probably a pile of rust somewhere. Grandson Anders has one that looks very much like it, however. In the picture, I seem to be having trouble reaching the pedals. My hairdo is nicely in place, though, and I've got my bibs on, but no shirt. That's a pretty smug look on my face. I'm thinking that this is probably right around my birthday. I don't recall for sure, but a good bet would be that the trike was a birthday present. The location is definitely the farm south of Clarence where we lived when I was that age. What else was going on in 1947? Well, the war had been over for around two years. My sister would have been about one and one-half years old, and my folks were a young 29. All was right in the world for me, with loving parents and lots of loving relatives and friends nearby.

Where's The Justice League When You Need Them?

Old-time avid readers of DC Comics may remember the Justice League that appeared in the 1960s. For the unenlightened, a more recent image of the league members appears just below.

In my previous posting, I introduced the original Wonder Women. Here is another original. What biceps! What an impressive grimace! Able to leap small items in a single bound! Faster than a speeding spitwad! Look! Up on the couch! It's a bird! It's a boy! No! It's SuperRobbie.

Wonder Woman

You may have heard that an update of the old Wonder Woman TV show is being prepared for the fall of 2011 on NBC. You can read about that here, if you want. Want to know what the new star, Adrianne Palicki, will look like when the show opens? Just take a gander below.

Well, I'm here to tell you that NBC has it wrong. The real Wonder Woman look was demonstrated years ago by my niece and daughter. Proof appears below. They are much cuter. Read it and weep, Adrianne.

Mixed Feelings

This photograph always brings a smile to my face. It was taken at Lake Itasca, where the Mighty Mississippi is merely a small stream emanating from the lake. People go there to wade across and to enjoy the very pretty Minnesota state park within which the lake resides.

The photograph also makes me feel some combination of guilty and sad about the way this nation has diminished certain peoples and nations. Our history is quite poor and shameful in that regard. This kindly Native American gentleman was doing something fairly common at the time at tourist locations around the country. That is, to offer opportunities for pictures like this to be taken in exchange for a contribution. I have no recollection of how much money we may have given him, but it was surely not enough to compensate for what may have been to him a somewhat humiliating or degrading place in his life or for the state into which we put his peoples. It is difficult to believe that he could make a very good living this way. On the other hand, maybe I give him too little credit.

Snow Days of Yore

Spring is almost here, and we can begin to put those snow days behind us. Here was a snow day that is way behind us (way behind me at least). You think we have had serious snow this past winter. Naaaah! Here's real snow and no snow blowers to move it. Just good old dad scooping away, while I watch with admiration and play nearby. Sometime later, I fell off the snowbank onto the sidewalk, and my play shovel came down behind me and hit me on my forehead. Old Doc Smith didn't believe in stitches. Hence, the scar high above my left eye.

Yikes!

Imagine being greeted like this when you walk into your kitchen. Well, actually, this is a pretty good way to be greeted. Not everyone has three lovable munchkins to make their lives brighter. The trouble is that they grow up and move away and end up being greeted each morning by their own munchkins. So I have some advice for these three: savor every moment like this, because they all pass by too quickly.

P.S. No, I was not feeding them wine. I'm pretty sure that was a bottle of sparkling grape juice that at least a couple of them seemed to like at the time.