A Little Boy and His Dog

This video struck home with me, because when I was little my dog, Pete, was in every photo ever taken of me. Thanks, Northanna, for sending me this link. 

Kids at Play; Three Generations

My friends, Alan, Sherry, and me; taking a break from Cowboys and Indians (c. 1950)

Nowadays, for whatever reason, when I walk or ride my bike around the neighborhoods, I rarely see children outside playing. Back in San Francisco's Sunset District in the 1940s and 1950s, we kids were rarely inside. We rode bikes, jumped rope, roller skated, played long and involved games of something we called "covered wagon," and, of course, we always had a cowboys and Indians series of some sort going on. The rule was more that kids were out playing, not in.

My own kids played outside a great deal at our place in Washington state in the late 1970s. There were chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, pigs, and even a donkey to either play with or run from. These kids from the two neighboring houses joined my son, Ben (the littlest), in a somewhat crowded "day at the beach."

Edgewood, WA, 1977

Interestingly enough, my own grandchildren posed for a similar photo in California, not too many years ago. They live a wonderfully healthy lifestyle, as their home is situated in a dead-end court where the neighborhood kids join in playing ball and riding bikes--not so different from my own childhood. Except, as my son would say, their life is in color.

A surprising number of kids here are in the same Zee family; another has been added since!

Innocent Misunderstandings

When my son was four years old, we were eating supper with friends. As he served himself some of the rice that I had cooked, he sighed, and said, "This is why my parents had to get divorced, because of rice like this." There was a big silence, then we laughed until we howled. From that day on, slightly sticky rice served at our house has always been called Divorce Rice.

When I returned home from the hospital after a three day stay for knee surgery, my littlest dog Weetzie came to sit in my lap. Weets, a rescue from the Clovis Animal (kill) Shelter, gently put her tiny paw on my arm and looked up into my eyes. I swear to you that this is what she said, in an incredulous tone: "They...brought you back? I thought that because you limped they had taken you away to the animal shelter."

Homegrown Talent

I'm a sap for little kids performing on a stage, so when my sister and I recently went to the spring musical about insects performed at the James Bickley School by the first and second grades, I was ready to enjoy myself. I laughed, I cried, I clapped, I giggled, and I even learned a little about "bugs." I got hugs from my students in the HOSTS program, where I mentor students learning to read. My sister agreed that it was a wonderful experience; she spent some time meeting and congratulating several of the performers after the show, and she honestly had a hard time believing that they were only in the first and second grades.

If you have a chance to attend a performance at a local school, don't miss out! You will see what the kids have been learning, and you will be amazed at the wonderful talents displayed by both students and teachers. I promise you, you'll come away feeling pretty good about our schools.