Around the Table at Ira and Mildred’s ’85
Friday, June 8th, 2007
These interesting photos from our 1985 Florida trip tell the story of our visit with Ira and Mildred at the Teakwood Village mobile home in Largo, less than ten miles south of where we were staying in Clearwater Beach. All eight of us went: Bill, Dottie, Dad, Mom, Lora, Robby, Denise, and me. We played a rousing game of scrabble and sipped on ginger ale. Mildred made snacks for us. Dad didn’t play because he never plays games. Not sure why Denise didn’t play but she was probably fiddling with the organ. Ira didn’t play so he could hang back and chat with Dad…and snap four great candid shots of us around the table, rolling our dice. Read the rest of this entry »
My last trip to California in 2005 yielded one major disappointment as I was not able to meet Dennis DeYoung following his concert in Vegas. The big disappointment on this trip was Friday night, February 16, 2007 after the Courts show. Bob had gotten himself, David, and me tickets to see one of Ray Bradbury’s live plays Leviathan ’99 – an outer space version of Moby Dick at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena. As exciting as it sounds, it simply wasn’t. The biggest letdown, however, was that Ray Bradbury himself was not in attendance. This theater was as small as they come, seating maybe fifty – and it was only about half full. Many – if not most – times, Ray Bradbury will be present at the performances and then have a rather intimate talk with the small crowd after the show. 
Dad jotted in his little brown memo book on Wednesday July 30, 1980: “Went to McCabe Forum. No McCabe. Heard tape. He is ill. Saw films. Went to Gen. Session and parade of Tents. Saw films in P.M. Went to tech stars panel. Saw many behind the scenes people. Lasted from about 8:30 to 10:15. Saw movie and visited Hospitality room. Went to bed at 12.” I believe by the time that this first full day of the convention had rolled around, we had met up with our fellow tent members Harry and Helen Carter and two other inactive tent members from Lima, Ohio, who would quickly befriend me, Steve and Sharon Stayonovich. 
Rather fat and miserable, I embarked on another Florida family outing during the week of July 27 – August 3, 1985. This was a rather tumultuous trip, as my family had been shaken to its foundations by my parents marital problems. We all knew that my Dad would be leaving after we returned from this trip. Depression, loneliness, and low self-esteem were all setting in, not entirely as a result of the family issues, but the general oncoming of puberty and the awkward age. Still, no matter how low I felt, I still regard these times with a sense of fond nostalgia – mostly because all these negative feelings have now completely subsided.