Summer Kicks Off With a Bang: Memorial Day at Denise’s
May 29th, 2007
The warm, sticky air and the coming of the “J” months heralded the onslaught of Summer. And as if just to prove that it was coming, it was time to celebrate Memorial Day – the kickoff to swimming, laying out, cookouts, non-stop air conditioners, and long Summer walks. These are all things that before last Summer I wanted no part of (except for the air conditioners of course), but now am feverishly looking forward to. Denise wisely chose to hold her picnic on the Sunday before the actual holiday this year. This would give everyone a day to relax and recuperate on the holiday itself: Monday, May 28. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m not even sure I realized exactly who Joe and Hazel Klippel were when we used to go visit them throughout the 1970’s, but I always enjoyed making a trek with my parents to their house. Joe was actually the brother-in-law of my Grandma Range…so my Dad’s uncle by marriage. He was married to my Grandma’s sister Bessie. Joe and Bessie were the parents of Arline and Harold. Bessie passed away in 1963 and Joe later re-married a widow in 1970 who was named Hazel Mankel at the time. 
I’ve just spent well over an hour scouring photographs, documents, and collapsing inward inside my own head trying to piece together my trip to Hollywood during the Summer of 1995. If I had to do it all over again, I would be sure to keep some notes as to what I did on an important trip like this. For example, in the picture at left, I have no idea why I’m posing in this doorway! When it comes down to it, the dates aren’t all that important, but they are nice to know. Fortunately, I have enough memories and photos to keep the trip alive in my head for the time being as I try to record what we did.