BECAUSE THIS BLOG WILL BE INTERACTIVE...I HIGHLY SUGGEST PRINTING OUT THIS PAGE ON YOUR PRINTER...BEFORE PROCEEDING FORWARD...
I'd like to take you on an interactive journey down memory lane...with me...back to the 60's!
I will be introducing you to some ancient relics of my past that were very important to me for some strange & not so strange reasons...
First off...GOOFY GRAPE...!!!
Goofy Grape was a flavor of a Kool-Aid like flavored powder drink mix called FUNNY FACE!
Funny Face tasted great and each flavor had an outrageous name: goofy grape, lefty lemonade, ollie-ollie orange, choo-choo cherry, rootin-tootin raspberry & laugh-out-loud lime...
Way back in the early 60's they had flavors: Injun Orange & Chinese Cherry but they were later deemed offensive...due to their racist sterotypes they implied...
Go to...YOUTUBE.com...and see for yourself...this stuff was very real...
Go to YouTube.com...and SEARCH for...Funny Face Drink Mix-banned commercial...
...(watch it...)...Here you will see your typical little 60's kid like me or my brother Danny getting excited about this wild & crazy new drink craze...from Pillsbury...(before the Dough-Boy)...
Now fast-forward to 1973...Funny Face had the same pitch but a catchy new song to get the kiddies to guzzle down Funny Face in the heat...The song really stuck in your head...
SEARCH YouTube...Funny Face Drink Mix Commercial 1973 Bewitched...
Now let's fade back again...and re-discover another one of my favorite special drinks that was a huge fad for a little while...GREAT SHAKES...!!!
I can remember being up in Knollwood...around 5 years old...in the kitchen...peering up into the cupboards and spotting GREAT SHAKES...Great Shakes was basically this neat little chocolate powder drink mix that came in a special plastic tumbler cup...You just poured in the powder and some milk...covered with this neat lid...and shook, shook, shook...It tasted just like a Milk Shake...Check it out...!!!
SEARCH YouTube...Great Shakes Commercial-Mid 60's...
Notice the Beach Boys-like theme that was all the rage as teens danced about...such an innocent era for so many of us...It's really hard for me to realize I lived thru that by-gone era...
Now for a SHOCKER...!!!...You always remember THE WHO as the 70's Super-group with an endless string of all-time classics...Well...go back a few years and hear them singing the virtues of GREAT SHAKES...Egad....Talk about being total sell-outs...This almost makes them as bad as The Monkees...
SEARCH YouTube...The Who Great Shakes...
To hear this sappy promo with Keith Moon of all people...talking up Great Shakes is a little startling...indeed...
Next up.....JIFFY POP POPCORN...
Jiffy Pop was a huge highlight of any Friday or Saturday Night...It was the treat that was just as fun to make as it was to eat...You would fire up the gas range and let the flame get a little high to add a small element of danger while your arm moved in a small circular motion over the flame until the aluminum foil pan would burst high up with the kernals fully popped...
SEARCH YouTube....Jiffy Pop Witch...
Here you get to hear the witch repeat again & again the little verse that was repeated by everyone including my sisters...as they would shake the aluminum pan over the flame...
Next up...FRITOS CORN CHIPS...
Fritos jumped on the scene as an alternative to potato chips...They really weren't that great, they were greasy and made you a little nauseuas if you ate a whole bag...But they had this great pitch-man who sang home the virtues of this 60's snack...The Frito Bandito...would come on and sing his Frito Bandito Song and that's all you needed...You were hooked...
SEARCH YouTube...Frito Bandito Corn Chips Better Quality....
I can remember demanding my Mom to buy a giant bag of Fritos because it had a Frito Bandito eraser that you could stick on top of your pencil...I was nuts over that eraser...This is about 1969....Damn, talk about a morbid obsession...I might have carried that thing in my pocket forever wherever I went...back then...
Some other familiar favorites in the O'Leary house were Heineman's Chocolate Chip Cookies which we could only get from Dominick's grocery store...Also Green River--Lime Soda and Cactus Punch Soda...before Hawaiian Punch came along...Mister Salty Pretzels, Old Mainze Maple Syrup for our French Toast...SilverCup White Bread...Cheez-Itz...Kayo Chocolate Milk that came in a can...(a favorite of me and my Mom...I could almost drink a whole can down in one gulp it was so good...)...Ore-Ida Fozen French Fries with Lawry's seasonings sprinkled over the top...Huge Box of Jay's Potato Chips which held 2 big pouches...Banquet TV Dinners...(which were downright awful compared to today's frozen entrees...)...Dressel's Cream Puffs and Chocolate Cream Cake...Gonella Fresh Crusty Italian Bread....on and on...My sister Karen also was nuts about the diet soda called TAB...(Search Youtube--Tab Commercial 1982)...There was also some kind of delicious marshmellows covered in chocolate with a cookie on the bottom...that was unique...
One vivid memory is seeing my Mom put out a few frozen tins of Birds-Eye Frozen Strawberries to thaw out a few hours before she would make Strawberry Shortcake covered in whip cream, I can remember on one such night, I was bouncing away on my giant spring-hinged horse-y as we watched this TV Game Show that involved actual taped Horse Racing...The "Jewel" grocery store handed out these tickets as you checked out and they were special chances at winning prizes if your horse won on this game show that was on Channel 9...We would be yelling and screaming at the TV...for our horse...which usually had a funny name like...Betty's Beauty, Lucky Chucky, Harry's Hair Cut...etc...I don't think we ever won...Well, maybe once, but I think all we got was $10...but it was still all very exciting...
They also used to hand out tons of S&H Green Stamps at stores which we collected by the thousands...filling up books and books of these stamps so you could collect neat little discounts and prizes from local department stores...My Mom and sisters would lick, lick, lick away, filling up the pages after pages of these awful glue-tasting stamps...But it was all worth it because you usually ended up with some really neat stuff for free...
I hope you were able to capture a little sense of the 60's...Jim O'Leary style...compliments of YouTube & Me...I'll be following up with another similar entry next time...which will be equally stunning, funny and bizarre in so many ways to some of you but just another passage in time for some of us...I'd be very surprised...If you haven't felt the time warp...that was the 60's...by now...Some of the clips were in color, some were in black & white...It must seem really odd to those who didn't live thru that transition...I guess we were lucky to take it all in stride...as dramatic the changes were...within our worlds...that would rapidly evolve for all of us...
Until next time...When You're Hot--You're Hot--You Need Alot--Al0t--THAT'S FUNNY FACE...!!!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Joe O'Leary or James Bond...???
I guess it would be alot of fun to look back at my brother Joe's progression from his angelic early moments to his very humorous expoits as a typical Tommy More hooligan...
Joe was the first boy of the family...after 5 girls in a row...Not only was my father beeming with pride but he instantly inherited 6 mothers to watch his every move...Joe could be seen early on, wobbling about, holding rosary beads...This was evidence enough to my Mom that he would someday grow up to be a priest...
Joe had a great imagination playing with plastic dinasaurs and MOON MEN...A very odd combination but as we would find out, Joe was no ordinary kid...He excelled in school but never wanted to be thought of as anything special...As a matter of fact, I think Joe took great pride in remaining grounded hanging out with his crazy bunch of friends who would remain life-long buddies up to this very day...
Joe certainly did have his wild side and a penchant for being a little diruptive...His antics with my brother Dan remain classic stories...of which some of them I've shared already...I think Joe was fortunate enough to take advantage of what his surroundings offered him...
His young teenage years were very unique times...It was then, that a show called THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E had every young kid utterly fascinated with being a SPY of some sort. Other shows of his era included were I SPY and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and IT TAKES A THIEF and GET SMART and WILD, WILD WEST...All of these new shows had a flair for getting their heroes in and out of trouble with miraculous deeds evolving from impossible scenarios...I think every kid from that era had a little bit of rambunxious curiosity to push themselves to the limit...and try to get themselves out of improbable jams....
See, originally...along came JAMES BOND, 007...He became an icon, for these youths and his wild adventures of dangers and delights...bringing on a whole new perspective to a young generation that had been trapped in an endless amount of old western tv shows...Seeing cowboys shoot em up at indians had become a little tedious and the life of a dangerous spy was alluring and elusive...like opening a pandora's box...
Joe, like all his friends, had this new sense of thrill and adventure within them and they kinda pushed their limits as they run rough-shod all over the neighborhood...I think he could recall many endless stories growing up that were probably a little on the wild side...and taking risks and chances became a typical thing to do on any given night...
As Joe grew older, he indeed had a robust personality...that indulged in quite a bit of partying and this out-going, good-natured attitude served him well as he grew up on the South Side.
For instance...Listen to this little story...My Dad had this loud, obnoxious gold-plated bell hinged to the top of the inside of the basement door, that stood far back in our laundry room...in our house on 86th Street...This door was the escape route for all of the young O'Leary kids when they had over-stepped beyond the curfew for which my father had established...See, if they came thru the kitchen side door...that was within ear-shot of the bedrooms upstairs...But the basement door...was as far off as you could get. The laundry room, almost itself, almost muffled all sounds, due to the large amount of stuff stacked for storage like board games and sports equipment and stacks and stacks and rows and rows of clothes that had been ironed by my mother, earlier that night.
The concrete floor in the laundery room never left a hint that a footstep could be heard and it was a perfect place to regain your composure...But on some occasions, all of us kids would stumble in a little tipsy and set off the dreaded clattering bell....
RING-A-LING-A-LING...!!!!
Even though we tried as hard as we could to gently turn the key in the lock of the door from the outside and carefully, almost praying as we would creek the door as slightly and as slowly as we could...sometimes the bell would just need a little jostle to send out that horriffic tremor of sound that echoed throughout the house...
You have to remember, most of us...were still at an awkward age...where our clumsiness got the best of us, sometimes...Sadly causing our worst fears to come true...That disruptive noise just went right thru you...It was just too much to rationalize at that point...
RING-A-LING-A-LING...!!!
We all can still hear that high-pitched, alarming, ear-shattering whail...God, that thing was pure evil...The bell wasn't even that big...but the sound it emmited...well...you can get the picture...
In a way, it was kinda comical...because the drunker you were...the more desperate you wanted to conceal your entry past curfew...Yet, it always seemed futile as the door just got nudged a little too aggresively and the result was a thunderous clatter...Sometimes, even worse, you'd be so pre-occupied that you completely forgot there even was a bell on the other side of the back door, basement entry....(Yes, we were that incredibly dumb & stupid at that age...)
It was an ingenious device that my father had installed and insisted that it was there strictly to act as a burglar deterrent...but it was really the funniest thing you would hear, sometimes, in the middle of the night, as some unfortunate soul stumbled in...having had a few too many libations...
Surely, as can be, the bell went a clatter and that person would instantly become horrified. It was as if somebody had thrown a bucket of ice water in your face...the startling alarm echoed and echoed all the way upstairs to my parents room...which in turn...awoke my father from a dead sleep and suddenly he would jump up and immediately proceed downstairs...He was furious, he was angry and he was ready to kick some butt...as his footsteps thunderously, pounded and pounded, down each and every step....You could just sense his temper coming to a boil as he got closer and closer and closer...down two flights of stairs to the basement where he was ready to unleash his wrath upon one of his kids...It didn't matter which one...they were in big, big trouble...I'm sure right now, many of my brothers and sister can recall such a moment happening to them long ago...That damn bell meant some heavy duty chores for the following day for the person who set it off...
But I do have to say...My brother Joe, was like a ninja door opener...even when he was quite toasty... I don't know if he saw this as a way to enact something he had seen in a spy movie or what...It was like a phenomenenol, super-spy, magic trick that he had mastered like no other. Somehow, Joe would just pry the door ajar and set off a tiny, little tinkle...I don't know if his gangly height helped him reach up and clench the bell, silencing it from erupting, drowning out that venomous noise...or he just had the luck of the Irish going for him...
No matter what it was, I always got the sense that he saw himself as somewhat of a master spy, a 007, James Bond type-of-guy, who could get himself out of any predicament....
I can fondly recall such a moment...really a classic Joe moment...late at night...a little past curfew...as I had somehow found myself down in the laundery room searching for something.
Suddenly, the basement door came open, in came Joe, stumbling in...with the uncanny ability of keeping the bell down to a mere trickle of noise...He shut the door and then burst out in laughing as quietly as he could contain himself...For he had once again, demonstrated his amazing ability of thwarting my Dad's curfew trap...
As you can plainly see...Joe was James Bond...at least in our house on 86th Street...
I betcha he forgot about that...
Joe was the first boy of the family...after 5 girls in a row...Not only was my father beeming with pride but he instantly inherited 6 mothers to watch his every move...Joe could be seen early on, wobbling about, holding rosary beads...This was evidence enough to my Mom that he would someday grow up to be a priest...
Joe had a great imagination playing with plastic dinasaurs and MOON MEN...A very odd combination but as we would find out, Joe was no ordinary kid...He excelled in school but never wanted to be thought of as anything special...As a matter of fact, I think Joe took great pride in remaining grounded hanging out with his crazy bunch of friends who would remain life-long buddies up to this very day...
Joe certainly did have his wild side and a penchant for being a little diruptive...His antics with my brother Dan remain classic stories...of which some of them I've shared already...I think Joe was fortunate enough to take advantage of what his surroundings offered him...
His young teenage years were very unique times...It was then, that a show called THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E had every young kid utterly fascinated with being a SPY of some sort. Other shows of his era included were I SPY and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and IT TAKES A THIEF and GET SMART and WILD, WILD WEST...All of these new shows had a flair for getting their heroes in and out of trouble with miraculous deeds evolving from impossible scenarios...I think every kid from that era had a little bit of rambunxious curiosity to push themselves to the limit...and try to get themselves out of improbable jams....
See, originally...along came JAMES BOND, 007...He became an icon, for these youths and his wild adventures of dangers and delights...bringing on a whole new perspective to a young generation that had been trapped in an endless amount of old western tv shows...Seeing cowboys shoot em up at indians had become a little tedious and the life of a dangerous spy was alluring and elusive...like opening a pandora's box...
Joe, like all his friends, had this new sense of thrill and adventure within them and they kinda pushed their limits as they run rough-shod all over the neighborhood...I think he could recall many endless stories growing up that were probably a little on the wild side...and taking risks and chances became a typical thing to do on any given night...
As Joe grew older, he indeed had a robust personality...that indulged in quite a bit of partying and this out-going, good-natured attitude served him well as he grew up on the South Side.
For instance...Listen to this little story...My Dad had this loud, obnoxious gold-plated bell hinged to the top of the inside of the basement door, that stood far back in our laundry room...in our house on 86th Street...This door was the escape route for all of the young O'Leary kids when they had over-stepped beyond the curfew for which my father had established...See, if they came thru the kitchen side door...that was within ear-shot of the bedrooms upstairs...But the basement door...was as far off as you could get. The laundry room, almost itself, almost muffled all sounds, due to the large amount of stuff stacked for storage like board games and sports equipment and stacks and stacks and rows and rows of clothes that had been ironed by my mother, earlier that night.
The concrete floor in the laundery room never left a hint that a footstep could be heard and it was a perfect place to regain your composure...But on some occasions, all of us kids would stumble in a little tipsy and set off the dreaded clattering bell....
RING-A-LING-A-LING...!!!!
Even though we tried as hard as we could to gently turn the key in the lock of the door from the outside and carefully, almost praying as we would creek the door as slightly and as slowly as we could...sometimes the bell would just need a little jostle to send out that horriffic tremor of sound that echoed throughout the house...
You have to remember, most of us...were still at an awkward age...where our clumsiness got the best of us, sometimes...Sadly causing our worst fears to come true...That disruptive noise just went right thru you...It was just too much to rationalize at that point...
RING-A-LING-A-LING...!!!
We all can still hear that high-pitched, alarming, ear-shattering whail...God, that thing was pure evil...The bell wasn't even that big...but the sound it emmited...well...you can get the picture...
In a way, it was kinda comical...because the drunker you were...the more desperate you wanted to conceal your entry past curfew...Yet, it always seemed futile as the door just got nudged a little too aggresively and the result was a thunderous clatter...Sometimes, even worse, you'd be so pre-occupied that you completely forgot there even was a bell on the other side of the back door, basement entry....(Yes, we were that incredibly dumb & stupid at that age...)
It was an ingenious device that my father had installed and insisted that it was there strictly to act as a burglar deterrent...but it was really the funniest thing you would hear, sometimes, in the middle of the night, as some unfortunate soul stumbled in...having had a few too many libations...
Surely, as can be, the bell went a clatter and that person would instantly become horrified. It was as if somebody had thrown a bucket of ice water in your face...the startling alarm echoed and echoed all the way upstairs to my parents room...which in turn...awoke my father from a dead sleep and suddenly he would jump up and immediately proceed downstairs...He was furious, he was angry and he was ready to kick some butt...as his footsteps thunderously, pounded and pounded, down each and every step....You could just sense his temper coming to a boil as he got closer and closer and closer...down two flights of stairs to the basement where he was ready to unleash his wrath upon one of his kids...It didn't matter which one...they were in big, big trouble...I'm sure right now, many of my brothers and sister can recall such a moment happening to them long ago...That damn bell meant some heavy duty chores for the following day for the person who set it off...
But I do have to say...My brother Joe, was like a ninja door opener...even when he was quite toasty... I don't know if he saw this as a way to enact something he had seen in a spy movie or what...It was like a phenomenenol, super-spy, magic trick that he had mastered like no other. Somehow, Joe would just pry the door ajar and set off a tiny, little tinkle...I don't know if his gangly height helped him reach up and clench the bell, silencing it from erupting, drowning out that venomous noise...or he just had the luck of the Irish going for him...
No matter what it was, I always got the sense that he saw himself as somewhat of a master spy, a 007, James Bond type-of-guy, who could get himself out of any predicament....
I can fondly recall such a moment...really a classic Joe moment...late at night...a little past curfew...as I had somehow found myself down in the laundery room searching for something.
Suddenly, the basement door came open, in came Joe, stumbling in...with the uncanny ability of keeping the bell down to a mere trickle of noise...He shut the door and then burst out in laughing as quietly as he could contain himself...For he had once again, demonstrated his amazing ability of thwarting my Dad's curfew trap...
As you can plainly see...Joe was James Bond...at least in our house on 86th Street...
I betcha he forgot about that...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
My Brother-In-Laws Charlie&Ed&Joe John&Pete
My Brother-In-Laws....Sometimes it's kinda funny to look back at the early years of my life and the people who would somehow just show up at our front door on 86th Street...especially these gangly youths...who were barely old enough to drive, who seemingly carried a swagger of reckless abandon...wanting to take my sisters out on a date...But, for the most part, that is how I remember my brother-in-laws, to-be, back in the late 60's.
Each of them quite different but all part of a young generation...that was quite ahead of their time...They would be driving the coolest cars ever to be made...The cars of the 60's were incredibly huge and they had enormous power...all style-ized, spacious, dazzling, souped up---the ultimate vehicles for teenagers to go to wild extremes...in every which way...
Here these young guys would pull up to our house on 86th Street, with probably a 12-pack of Schlitz Beer hidden in a paper sack, in the back seat...trying to contain their excitement of meeting up with my sisters for the evening...
Of course, they had my Dad...famously called Papa Joe, by them, under their breath...to contend with some times...It was the wild card they had to deal with...
Who would answer the front door when they rang the door bell? Would it be me...Jimmy???-The frenetic little bugger who was always full of fun. My mother...who would always try to be as gracious as possible and almost embarrass these guys with her harmless little inquisitive banter or would it be...Uh ohhh...Ohhh noo, Papa Joe!!!
If it was the wild card and it was Papa Joe...all that swagger and confidence went out the window for these young guys as they would face the firing squad...of blustery warnings of dating his young daughters and exactly the time he expected them to arrive home that night...It must have seemed like an endless 5 minutes as they tried to initiate a conversation with my father who pretty much knew exactly what was going down for the evening, so he was going to lay down the law and put a little damper on their unbridled excitement...
Finally, my sisters would emerge, all bright & bubbly...It seemed as though, girls back then had to expend quite a bit of fuss getting all pretty & perfect for their boyfriends...probably using a whole can of hair spray or conforming to the hip creations that were so boldly different...at that time...
In a matter of seconds, they grabbed ahold of each others hands and zooooom...out they would fly, out the door. This little ritual would repeat itself over & over, night after night, sister after sister...In a blink of an eye, they all quickly hopped in their classic cars of those olden days and sped off into the night...
It was a timeless, happy & joyful era for my 5 sisters and their 5 boyfriends they would someday marry. These were the most care-free moments of their lives...They had their whole lives ahead of them together, yet at that moment, they were just out to create as much fun and wreak as much havoc as possible, within the time frame my father had established, for each one of them...
It was the 60's...A very, very uproarious, adventurous time in our history where the Vietnam War was in full stride...all kinds of cultural upheavals, assassinations, wild music and wild times seemed to wait around every corner...America was on top of the world and this generation saw their future as bright and hopeful, despite some of the negative overtones that crept in, once in awhile...
Let's look back at these guys...as I first recalled getting to know them, some 40 years ago.
First up, Charlie Gries...He was probably 17-19 when he came calling for my sister Maureen, probably heading out, to some dance or social event at DePaul University where they both attended...He had known my sister from growing up in the neighborhood and after they met up again in college, sparks flied...Charlie had a bunch of younger brothers so he liked to play tricks on me like taking me by the collar of my shirt and lifting me off of the ground and sticking me onto a door-knob, where I would helplessly dangle my feet, unable to touch the ground...leaving me, calling out for help...I would later get even with him, one night up in Knollwood, as he left a full 16 ounce beer on a table and left the room...I ran up and guzzled most of it down....laughing hysterically as Charlie and my sister came back to find his beer almost gone...I was only 5 or 6 at the time...Charlie always had an uncanny, wry sense of humor and we always got along great...Maureen and Charlie may not have ever got together if it hadn't been for DePaul...yet they seemed destined to be with one another...from the word go...
Next up, was Ed Haggerty, who, at the time, wore these thick black-rimmed glasses and had more of a clean-cut image about him...but at heart, he was just as wild, if not more so, than all of my other brother-in-laws...I remember Ed coming home from a carnival with my sister Kathy, after winning her a giant stuffed animal in some type of carnival game...Well, that night happened to be my birthday, and as both of them arrived late that night, carrying in this huge, giant stuffed Saint Bernard Dog, I ran up and grabbed it out of Kathy's arms, thinking it was a birthday present for me because I had about 20 other stuffed animals...I think Ed just stood there helplessly, shocked, as Kathy just patted his arm, and didn't let on that it was actually a special keepsake of hers from Ed...Ed was from the other side of the neighborhood but once he set eyes on my sister Kathy...there was no doubt...he had every intention of keeping her by his side...for a lifetime...
Next up, Joe Howard..."Howie" was a riot who really was always fun to see come thru our doors. Whether he would show up to give me a few packs of baseball cards or going down to the basement to play hockey with me...My sister Patsy, would almost have to pull him away because I'd be having so much fun...I can even remember Howie showing up, right after school and watching THE THREE STOOGES with me, instead of studying with Patsy as they had intended. I think one of the first times I went to McDonalds was with Joe & Patsy, where I feasted on their delicious french frys which tasted alot better back then...much better then now...Howie always was and always will be a sports junkie...whether we would be playing tag/run-in-bases or tossing around a frisbee...essentially...Howie was always up for throwing a ball around...And he and my sister Patsy would grow inseperable as the months to months and years to years would fly by...
Next up, John Martin...."Teeny" had the coolest car, a Chevy Chevelle Supersport 494 convertible...It had that "WOW" factor as he pulled up to our curb out front on 86th Street. He had the most wild persona about him, with his long side-burns and long curly brown hair...My sister Joan never knew what to expect with a wild night out with "Teeny"...He came from a big family, too, and his father was a Chicago cop, who was good friends with my father...But that didn't mean my Dad was gonna cut Teeny any slack...Especially riding around in that hot car and sometimes showing up a little past curfew...Teeny had a reputation of hanging out with a wild crowd and sometimes I wonder if he wasn't the wildest of the bunch of them...John Martin was your classic Tommy More guy who always had a wisdom all his own and a very funny, contagious laugh...that would pop up out of the blue somwtimes...And Joan was drawn to his outragous spirit...that always kept her on her toes...
Next up, Pete Fitzpatrick...Pete was pretty darn young, when he first showed up to pick up my sister Karen...He had the long side-burns too...and he drove his father's luxurious Bonneville convertible...As sleek and smooth a car could ever be...Pete was from Saint Barnabas parish and he would haul off my sister Karen to his stomping grounds along Western Avenue like Jansen's, a fast food joint that was a mega-hang-out for teens back then...I always got a kick out of Pete because I think he tried to emulate a coolness of a 20 year old while only being 16 or 17...I remember Pete taking us to old Comiskey Park for a White Sox game early on...I had brought my new baseball glove, hoping to catch a foul ball...Well, we got up and found better seats closer to the field but left the glove behind...Pete went back and someone was sitting on my glove. He told the joker to get up and give me back my glove...It was pretty funny stuff...I wonder if the Sox won that game...???...All I can remember is the ridiculous clown sitting on my glove, pretending like there was nothing there...Pete always exuded a smooth charm along with a kenetic nervous energy that will always make him truly unique...It's no wonder Karen and Pete would become childhood sweethearts who never would lose their incredible attraction to one and other...as time would only tell...
There you have it...a little bit of insight into the humble begininngs of the romance and remnants of 5 young teenage boys who would set the world on fire...back in their time...For all these guys now, I know going back that far seems so long ago...yet, really they haven't lost that spark or enthususiasm one bit...I think it is the testament that their destinies have brought them way beyond their wild expectations...and the lives they live today...are a reflection of the immense pride they have in finding themselves to be so fortunate to meeting that special O'Leary girl who would join them on a miraculous journey...
All in all, I hope you got a kick out of looking back at the late 60's and the emergence of my brother-in-laws before they had become responsible, law-abiding, older adults who were an incredible force of energy to reckon with...at that point in time...in their middle to late teens...I know it is hard to imagine that, especially now as they all are now doting grandfathers, hovering around 60 years old...But, believe me, each of them...had the most fun, they could of possibly had at that young age...and me and my sisters were all very lucky to have them emerge as future long-life spouses and relatives...who would become very important parts of of all of our lives...In so many ways...my brothers-in-laws...are equally & uniquely special...and the good times we have had throughout the years have made a huge dent of fun memories for me also, and I'll always recall those moments of hijinx and humor with quite a bit of tremendous laughter...
Each of them quite different but all part of a young generation...that was quite ahead of their time...They would be driving the coolest cars ever to be made...The cars of the 60's were incredibly huge and they had enormous power...all style-ized, spacious, dazzling, souped up---the ultimate vehicles for teenagers to go to wild extremes...in every which way...
Here these young guys would pull up to our house on 86th Street, with probably a 12-pack of Schlitz Beer hidden in a paper sack, in the back seat...trying to contain their excitement of meeting up with my sisters for the evening...
Of course, they had my Dad...famously called Papa Joe, by them, under their breath...to contend with some times...It was the wild card they had to deal with...
Who would answer the front door when they rang the door bell? Would it be me...Jimmy???-The frenetic little bugger who was always full of fun. My mother...who would always try to be as gracious as possible and almost embarrass these guys with her harmless little inquisitive banter or would it be...Uh ohhh...Ohhh noo, Papa Joe!!!
If it was the wild card and it was Papa Joe...all that swagger and confidence went out the window for these young guys as they would face the firing squad...of blustery warnings of dating his young daughters and exactly the time he expected them to arrive home that night...It must have seemed like an endless 5 minutes as they tried to initiate a conversation with my father who pretty much knew exactly what was going down for the evening, so he was going to lay down the law and put a little damper on their unbridled excitement...
Finally, my sisters would emerge, all bright & bubbly...It seemed as though, girls back then had to expend quite a bit of fuss getting all pretty & perfect for their boyfriends...probably using a whole can of hair spray or conforming to the hip creations that were so boldly different...at that time...
In a matter of seconds, they grabbed ahold of each others hands and zooooom...out they would fly, out the door. This little ritual would repeat itself over & over, night after night, sister after sister...In a blink of an eye, they all quickly hopped in their classic cars of those olden days and sped off into the night...
It was a timeless, happy & joyful era for my 5 sisters and their 5 boyfriends they would someday marry. These were the most care-free moments of their lives...They had their whole lives ahead of them together, yet at that moment, they were just out to create as much fun and wreak as much havoc as possible, within the time frame my father had established, for each one of them...
It was the 60's...A very, very uproarious, adventurous time in our history where the Vietnam War was in full stride...all kinds of cultural upheavals, assassinations, wild music and wild times seemed to wait around every corner...America was on top of the world and this generation saw their future as bright and hopeful, despite some of the negative overtones that crept in, once in awhile...
Let's look back at these guys...as I first recalled getting to know them, some 40 years ago.
First up, Charlie Gries...He was probably 17-19 when he came calling for my sister Maureen, probably heading out, to some dance or social event at DePaul University where they both attended...He had known my sister from growing up in the neighborhood and after they met up again in college, sparks flied...Charlie had a bunch of younger brothers so he liked to play tricks on me like taking me by the collar of my shirt and lifting me off of the ground and sticking me onto a door-knob, where I would helplessly dangle my feet, unable to touch the ground...leaving me, calling out for help...I would later get even with him, one night up in Knollwood, as he left a full 16 ounce beer on a table and left the room...I ran up and guzzled most of it down....laughing hysterically as Charlie and my sister came back to find his beer almost gone...I was only 5 or 6 at the time...Charlie always had an uncanny, wry sense of humor and we always got along great...Maureen and Charlie may not have ever got together if it hadn't been for DePaul...yet they seemed destined to be with one another...from the word go...
Next up, was Ed Haggerty, who, at the time, wore these thick black-rimmed glasses and had more of a clean-cut image about him...but at heart, he was just as wild, if not more so, than all of my other brother-in-laws...I remember Ed coming home from a carnival with my sister Kathy, after winning her a giant stuffed animal in some type of carnival game...Well, that night happened to be my birthday, and as both of them arrived late that night, carrying in this huge, giant stuffed Saint Bernard Dog, I ran up and grabbed it out of Kathy's arms, thinking it was a birthday present for me because I had about 20 other stuffed animals...I think Ed just stood there helplessly, shocked, as Kathy just patted his arm, and didn't let on that it was actually a special keepsake of hers from Ed...Ed was from the other side of the neighborhood but once he set eyes on my sister Kathy...there was no doubt...he had every intention of keeping her by his side...for a lifetime...
Next up, Joe Howard..."Howie" was a riot who really was always fun to see come thru our doors. Whether he would show up to give me a few packs of baseball cards or going down to the basement to play hockey with me...My sister Patsy, would almost have to pull him away because I'd be having so much fun...I can even remember Howie showing up, right after school and watching THE THREE STOOGES with me, instead of studying with Patsy as they had intended. I think one of the first times I went to McDonalds was with Joe & Patsy, where I feasted on their delicious french frys which tasted alot better back then...much better then now...Howie always was and always will be a sports junkie...whether we would be playing tag/run-in-bases or tossing around a frisbee...essentially...Howie was always up for throwing a ball around...And he and my sister Patsy would grow inseperable as the months to months and years to years would fly by...
Next up, John Martin...."Teeny" had the coolest car, a Chevy Chevelle Supersport 494 convertible...It had that "WOW" factor as he pulled up to our curb out front on 86th Street. He had the most wild persona about him, with his long side-burns and long curly brown hair...My sister Joan never knew what to expect with a wild night out with "Teeny"...He came from a big family, too, and his father was a Chicago cop, who was good friends with my father...But that didn't mean my Dad was gonna cut Teeny any slack...Especially riding around in that hot car and sometimes showing up a little past curfew...Teeny had a reputation of hanging out with a wild crowd and sometimes I wonder if he wasn't the wildest of the bunch of them...John Martin was your classic Tommy More guy who always had a wisdom all his own and a very funny, contagious laugh...that would pop up out of the blue somwtimes...And Joan was drawn to his outragous spirit...that always kept her on her toes...
Next up, Pete Fitzpatrick...Pete was pretty darn young, when he first showed up to pick up my sister Karen...He had the long side-burns too...and he drove his father's luxurious Bonneville convertible...As sleek and smooth a car could ever be...Pete was from Saint Barnabas parish and he would haul off my sister Karen to his stomping grounds along Western Avenue like Jansen's, a fast food joint that was a mega-hang-out for teens back then...I always got a kick out of Pete because I think he tried to emulate a coolness of a 20 year old while only being 16 or 17...I remember Pete taking us to old Comiskey Park for a White Sox game early on...I had brought my new baseball glove, hoping to catch a foul ball...Well, we got up and found better seats closer to the field but left the glove behind...Pete went back and someone was sitting on my glove. He told the joker to get up and give me back my glove...It was pretty funny stuff...I wonder if the Sox won that game...???...All I can remember is the ridiculous clown sitting on my glove, pretending like there was nothing there...Pete always exuded a smooth charm along with a kenetic nervous energy that will always make him truly unique...It's no wonder Karen and Pete would become childhood sweethearts who never would lose their incredible attraction to one and other...as time would only tell...
There you have it...a little bit of insight into the humble begininngs of the romance and remnants of 5 young teenage boys who would set the world on fire...back in their time...For all these guys now, I know going back that far seems so long ago...yet, really they haven't lost that spark or enthususiasm one bit...I think it is the testament that their destinies have brought them way beyond their wild expectations...and the lives they live today...are a reflection of the immense pride they have in finding themselves to be so fortunate to meeting that special O'Leary girl who would join them on a miraculous journey...
All in all, I hope you got a kick out of looking back at the late 60's and the emergence of my brother-in-laws before they had become responsible, law-abiding, older adults who were an incredible force of energy to reckon with...at that point in time...in their middle to late teens...I know it is hard to imagine that, especially now as they all are now doting grandfathers, hovering around 60 years old...But, believe me, each of them...had the most fun, they could of possibly had at that young age...and me and my sisters were all very lucky to have them emerge as future long-life spouses and relatives...who would become very important parts of of all of our lives...In so many ways...my brothers-in-laws...are equally & uniquely special...and the good times we have had throughout the years have made a huge dent of fun memories for me also, and I'll always recall those moments of hijinx and humor with quite a bit of tremendous laughter...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Intro--House-by-the-Lake--Williams Bay
A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN...In finding a house by the Lake...
It was August 1970, my Mom & Dad were looking to find a place closer to the lake. My Dad was really high on moving into this modern-style house in Fontana. Sure, it was a great place, on the lake, with its own pier...but you would have to walk down 40 steep steps to get down to the water...My Mom, on the other hand, fell in love with this older, charming house in Williams Bay, in Cedar Point Park, only a mile away from Knollwood...
This very unique house was originally built way back in the early 1920's by a quite distinguished Mississippi Riverboat Captain who loved the wide expansive view of the Bay...The current owner, at that time, was Leonard Kapooli, the Interior Decorator for Marshall Fields. He had also been a one-time resident of Knollwood, like us, and my sister Maureen got a tip that his new place was up for sale in the Bay...
My Mom kept on insisting it was the perfect place, where Jimmy could go swimming everyday. He could just swim, swim, swim, building up some strength to his muscles in his back, she kept reminding. My Dad, however, just looked at the place, and shook his head, He saw it as an old house that would need lots and lots of work. Of course, my Mom, in the end, won out and we put in a bid for $40,000 and waited...
I remember sitting over in the cozy, small park, out in front, on the rickety, worn-torn, old green benches(which still remain there today), glancing over at this very, very cool house, with my Mom...It was so, so close to the water. It was only about 25 steps to the pier that even had a diving board, too.
My Mom had her fingers crossed because we would know in a few days if Mister Kapooli would accept our bid. Those were an anxious few days. It seemed like a dream house to me and my Mom, having our own place, situated between two nice open parks, where I could run wild all day, only a stone's throw away from the shoreline. Wow. Not far from the beach, either...
It seemed too good to be true. Surely, someone would come in at the last second and out-bid us.
Finally, the day came, our $40,000 bid was somehow fortunately accepted. I think everyone in our family was extremely happy, especially after getting to see this new house in Williams Bay. We got to enter the house to get a peek at what soon would be our home...All I can remember was Kapooli had a wild Austin Powers 60's lay-out. He had black veneer wood flooring with a giant white fur rug in the living room. It was like the ultimate martini lounge...
As we walked thru the house, so many things had the Kapooli influence. The colorful, glistening chrystal chandelier in the dining room...was surrounded by the four dramatically covered walls which were a black & white dense fabric that had some kind of elaborate Venetian Canals theme going on...Very wild...
Out in the kitchen, hanging over the windows, were two chalkboard plaques with poems Kapooli had written...One had a caption that started off with...IN QUIET PEOPLE, THERE IS VISION AND PURPOSE...The other poem contained a caption that ended something equally compelling like...WHAT IS REVEALED TO THE MEEK IS OFTEN HIDDEN FROM THE GREAT...
Both chakboards with the enlightening versus remained a part of the kitchen's decor for years and years. It added some character and a little bit of wisdom for one and all to enjoy...
Also, the beautiful and durably strong white wicker porch furniture inside and the two majestic, heavy, white plaster greyhounds, remain here, outside our front door entrance, to this very day.
Kapooli moved out and we moved in. Only a few things came with us from our Knollwood cottage. An awesome Universal Gas Oven & Range-Top, for our kitchen, that my Grampa Griffin, Gampy, gave my Mom. Also, her bleached mahogony dining room set and a couple of living room coffee end tables...my brothers bunk beds...and my old, giant-size baby bed...all fit in nicely...Everything else was gonna be brand new...
We put down blue/green shag carpeting in the living room. It was thick and bouncy. My Mom then stuck up this giant, cosmic, rectangular blue/green shag wall hanging, with a snazzy swag lamp that hung down to really light it up at night...On either side, were two ultra-mod chrome directors chairs with comfortable, white 8-inch leather straps...Of course, over in front of the picture window was a large royal blue couch(which became the first of many blue couches to follow...)...Then my Mom loaded up all the shelving units with all kinds of books and funky knick-knacks...You could say she had her work cut out for her to transform the house from hipster bachelor pad to cool. chic, family, 70's Americana...
My Dad was pretty busy too...He had this awesome TV antennae installed on top of the house and you could spin it from indoors with an odd circular, electric, dial controller, any which way you would like...You could whirl it NorthEast to pick up Milwaukee...You could whirl it around SouthEast to pick up Chicago...Whirl it Southwest, you would get Rockford...and even whirling it to Northwest would pick up all of the Madison TV stations...There were even some unique circumstances on a clear day where we would pick up Green Bay or Upper Michigan stations. I can even recall tuning into fuzzy channels from Des Moines, Iowa and even ashtonishingly Springfield, Illinois. You just never knew what that antennae would pull in...it was so powerful.
This was long before cable TV came along and we had at least 20 stations to choose from instead of 5 or 6 channels. Milwaukee had the popular Bowling For Dollars...Rockford had Dementia 13, a Friday Night Scary Movie staple...Chicago had all our familiar favorite stuff and the legendary, fright-fest, Creature Features on Saturday Night as well...And all the available sports options from all kinds of baseball games to football games to basketball games and beyond made your head spin, every single weekend, we were up, back then...
Upstairs, my Mom and my sisters would end up creating a fabulous, jeannie bed out of a carved-out alcove bed area, in the guest room. The interior wall was painted a startling rich pink and the bed itself had this wild, cosmic, hot pink, fake fur, bedspread they got from the Borg Fur Factory Outlet in Delavan. They then lined the opening to the jeannie bed from top to bottom, with long strings of hot pink & lime green plastic chrystal-like beads...To top things off...Inside the bed, against the wall was a long row of soft extra furry lime green pillows and extra furry hot pink pillows, which took quite a beating, down the line...
Why...???
Because...Over the early years...Every little boy and little girl...every single one of my sister's kids, always fought over who would get to sleep in the jeannie bed...every night...I can remember playing all sorts of funny card games like Old Maid and Crazy Eights...(I should have had them playing high-stakes, Texas hold-em poker, dammit, they'd all be millionaire Vegas cardsharks by now). It was funny, once, years and years later I would lift up the jeannie bed mattress and see all kinds of old playing cards and kiddie trinkets and baby pacifiers all lying there underneath, covered in dust...as if time had preserved these ancient relics...Hilarious...
Of course, having the neat little hidden alcove lamp light, way back then, allowed me, my Mom and my sisters to read all kinds of children's books classics inside this magical bed to all of my nieces and nephews as they were barely wide-eyed toddlers and up...right before they would nod off to bed. Everyone's eyes always still light up when they fade back and remember the wild, pink furry, jeannie bed...So much a part of all of their Lake Geneva memories...
Of course...looking back...way back at the time in 1970...this was a huge move for us to land so close to the shoreline of Lake Geneva...I think as my Dad finally relaxed, outside on the patio, probably sipping leisurely on a bottle of Pepsi, looking out at the water, he must have eventually realized this was the absolute perfect place for his big family, no matter what kind of shape it was in...What it comes down to...It had been my sister's tip and my Mom's perseverance that would make this house by the lake in Williams Bay our stomping grounds for close to 40 years now and counting...
Quickly, looking at the evolution of the O'Leary's real estate ventures in Lake Geneva. You have to go way back to the 1930's, when my Grampa Griffin had bought two lakefront lots in nearby Lake Como. He then sold those lots and bought the cottage in Knollwood in the mid-1950's. From there, we sold the place in Knollwood for $25,000 and bought the Lake House in Williams Bay for $40,000. Right now, that looks like a less than net $15,000 investment is now worth over a million dollars easy.
I think, for sure, that makes my Mom, hands down, the most insightful investor, in the whole family. Over the years, so many people have come and gone for numerous visits to our Williams Bay hideaway house and walk out onto the patio outdoors, on a nice summer's day and just be totally captivated....It almost has a trade winds of Hawaii, feel to it, blowing a cool breeze off the lake on a hot day or just exuding a quiet, serene beauty where you can become lost without even moving an inch...One of the old owners once came back onto the porch and said he had traveled all over the world extensively and he said nothing matched the feeling he got from standing right there, looking out, staring out, from our vantage point onto beautiful Lake Geneva...
And to think my Mom's family, long ago, would take the train up all the way up from Chicago to Williams Bay(which was the last stop back in the early 1900's) and settle in for the day and have fanciful, elegant picnics in the park in the Bay that incredibly lies only about 200 feet away nearby, to the left side, behind our house. Me and my Mom, sometimes often wonder if it was my Mom's mother, Annie, up in heaven, looking down, who pulled the strings to get us here where we are....
For a number of years, my Mom had a vintage painting of an olde-time family enjoying a picnic by a lake, decked out in Victorian Era clothes...hanging on our living room wall...to signify the link between the now and the past, long ago...It was a fitting tribute and a sign of how much all of the good times each had shared remained sacred, from her happy memories...of her, long-lost Griffin and Burke relatives, telling her stories...of their fun day trips to Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
There are just so many fun-filled memories about our special house-by-the-lake. And I hope I can capture a bunch of them in the many pages that will follow...As a matter of fact, my Lake Geneva memories, wherever they may be, always have and always will be some of mine and my family's all-time favorites, so stay tuned...
It was August 1970, my Mom & Dad were looking to find a place closer to the lake. My Dad was really high on moving into this modern-style house in Fontana. Sure, it was a great place, on the lake, with its own pier...but you would have to walk down 40 steep steps to get down to the water...My Mom, on the other hand, fell in love with this older, charming house in Williams Bay, in Cedar Point Park, only a mile away from Knollwood...
This very unique house was originally built way back in the early 1920's by a quite distinguished Mississippi Riverboat Captain who loved the wide expansive view of the Bay...The current owner, at that time, was Leonard Kapooli, the Interior Decorator for Marshall Fields. He had also been a one-time resident of Knollwood, like us, and my sister Maureen got a tip that his new place was up for sale in the Bay...
My Mom kept on insisting it was the perfect place, where Jimmy could go swimming everyday. He could just swim, swim, swim, building up some strength to his muscles in his back, she kept reminding. My Dad, however, just looked at the place, and shook his head, He saw it as an old house that would need lots and lots of work. Of course, my Mom, in the end, won out and we put in a bid for $40,000 and waited...
I remember sitting over in the cozy, small park, out in front, on the rickety, worn-torn, old green benches(which still remain there today), glancing over at this very, very cool house, with my Mom...It was so, so close to the water. It was only about 25 steps to the pier that even had a diving board, too.
My Mom had her fingers crossed because we would know in a few days if Mister Kapooli would accept our bid. Those were an anxious few days. It seemed like a dream house to me and my Mom, having our own place, situated between two nice open parks, where I could run wild all day, only a stone's throw away from the shoreline. Wow. Not far from the beach, either...
It seemed too good to be true. Surely, someone would come in at the last second and out-bid us.
Finally, the day came, our $40,000 bid was somehow fortunately accepted. I think everyone in our family was extremely happy, especially after getting to see this new house in Williams Bay. We got to enter the house to get a peek at what soon would be our home...All I can remember was Kapooli had a wild Austin Powers 60's lay-out. He had black veneer wood flooring with a giant white fur rug in the living room. It was like the ultimate martini lounge...
As we walked thru the house, so many things had the Kapooli influence. The colorful, glistening chrystal chandelier in the dining room...was surrounded by the four dramatically covered walls which were a black & white dense fabric that had some kind of elaborate Venetian Canals theme going on...Very wild...
Out in the kitchen, hanging over the windows, were two chalkboard plaques with poems Kapooli had written...One had a caption that started off with...IN QUIET PEOPLE, THERE IS VISION AND PURPOSE...The other poem contained a caption that ended something equally compelling like...WHAT IS REVEALED TO THE MEEK IS OFTEN HIDDEN FROM THE GREAT...
Both chakboards with the enlightening versus remained a part of the kitchen's decor for years and years. It added some character and a little bit of wisdom for one and all to enjoy...
Also, the beautiful and durably strong white wicker porch furniture inside and the two majestic, heavy, white plaster greyhounds, remain here, outside our front door entrance, to this very day.
Kapooli moved out and we moved in. Only a few things came with us from our Knollwood cottage. An awesome Universal Gas Oven & Range-Top, for our kitchen, that my Grampa Griffin, Gampy, gave my Mom. Also, her bleached mahogony dining room set and a couple of living room coffee end tables...my brothers bunk beds...and my old, giant-size baby bed...all fit in nicely...Everything else was gonna be brand new...
We put down blue/green shag carpeting in the living room. It was thick and bouncy. My Mom then stuck up this giant, cosmic, rectangular blue/green shag wall hanging, with a snazzy swag lamp that hung down to really light it up at night...On either side, were two ultra-mod chrome directors chairs with comfortable, white 8-inch leather straps...Of course, over in front of the picture window was a large royal blue couch(which became the first of many blue couches to follow...)...Then my Mom loaded up all the shelving units with all kinds of books and funky knick-knacks...You could say she had her work cut out for her to transform the house from hipster bachelor pad to cool. chic, family, 70's Americana...
My Dad was pretty busy too...He had this awesome TV antennae installed on top of the house and you could spin it from indoors with an odd circular, electric, dial controller, any which way you would like...You could whirl it NorthEast to pick up Milwaukee...You could whirl it around SouthEast to pick up Chicago...Whirl it Southwest, you would get Rockford...and even whirling it to Northwest would pick up all of the Madison TV stations...There were even some unique circumstances on a clear day where we would pick up Green Bay or Upper Michigan stations. I can even recall tuning into fuzzy channels from Des Moines, Iowa and even ashtonishingly Springfield, Illinois. You just never knew what that antennae would pull in...it was so powerful.
This was long before cable TV came along and we had at least 20 stations to choose from instead of 5 or 6 channels. Milwaukee had the popular Bowling For Dollars...Rockford had Dementia 13, a Friday Night Scary Movie staple...Chicago had all our familiar favorite stuff and the legendary, fright-fest, Creature Features on Saturday Night as well...And all the available sports options from all kinds of baseball games to football games to basketball games and beyond made your head spin, every single weekend, we were up, back then...
Upstairs, my Mom and my sisters would end up creating a fabulous, jeannie bed out of a carved-out alcove bed area, in the guest room. The interior wall was painted a startling rich pink and the bed itself had this wild, cosmic, hot pink, fake fur, bedspread they got from the Borg Fur Factory Outlet in Delavan. They then lined the opening to the jeannie bed from top to bottom, with long strings of hot pink & lime green plastic chrystal-like beads...To top things off...Inside the bed, against the wall was a long row of soft extra furry lime green pillows and extra furry hot pink pillows, which took quite a beating, down the line...
Why...???
Because...Over the early years...Every little boy and little girl...every single one of my sister's kids, always fought over who would get to sleep in the jeannie bed...every night...I can remember playing all sorts of funny card games like Old Maid and Crazy Eights...(I should have had them playing high-stakes, Texas hold-em poker, dammit, they'd all be millionaire Vegas cardsharks by now). It was funny, once, years and years later I would lift up the jeannie bed mattress and see all kinds of old playing cards and kiddie trinkets and baby pacifiers all lying there underneath, covered in dust...as if time had preserved these ancient relics...Hilarious...
Of course, having the neat little hidden alcove lamp light, way back then, allowed me, my Mom and my sisters to read all kinds of children's books classics inside this magical bed to all of my nieces and nephews as they were barely wide-eyed toddlers and up...right before they would nod off to bed. Everyone's eyes always still light up when they fade back and remember the wild, pink furry, jeannie bed...So much a part of all of their Lake Geneva memories...
Of course...looking back...way back at the time in 1970...this was a huge move for us to land so close to the shoreline of Lake Geneva...I think as my Dad finally relaxed, outside on the patio, probably sipping leisurely on a bottle of Pepsi, looking out at the water, he must have eventually realized this was the absolute perfect place for his big family, no matter what kind of shape it was in...What it comes down to...It had been my sister's tip and my Mom's perseverance that would make this house by the lake in Williams Bay our stomping grounds for close to 40 years now and counting...
Quickly, looking at the evolution of the O'Leary's real estate ventures in Lake Geneva. You have to go way back to the 1930's, when my Grampa Griffin had bought two lakefront lots in nearby Lake Como. He then sold those lots and bought the cottage in Knollwood in the mid-1950's. From there, we sold the place in Knollwood for $25,000 and bought the Lake House in Williams Bay for $40,000. Right now, that looks like a less than net $15,000 investment is now worth over a million dollars easy.
I think, for sure, that makes my Mom, hands down, the most insightful investor, in the whole family. Over the years, so many people have come and gone for numerous visits to our Williams Bay hideaway house and walk out onto the patio outdoors, on a nice summer's day and just be totally captivated....It almost has a trade winds of Hawaii, feel to it, blowing a cool breeze off the lake on a hot day or just exuding a quiet, serene beauty where you can become lost without even moving an inch...One of the old owners once came back onto the porch and said he had traveled all over the world extensively and he said nothing matched the feeling he got from standing right there, looking out, staring out, from our vantage point onto beautiful Lake Geneva...
And to think my Mom's family, long ago, would take the train up all the way up from Chicago to Williams Bay(which was the last stop back in the early 1900's) and settle in for the day and have fanciful, elegant picnics in the park in the Bay that incredibly lies only about 200 feet away nearby, to the left side, behind our house. Me and my Mom, sometimes often wonder if it was my Mom's mother, Annie, up in heaven, looking down, who pulled the strings to get us here where we are....
For a number of years, my Mom had a vintage painting of an olde-time family enjoying a picnic by a lake, decked out in Victorian Era clothes...hanging on our living room wall...to signify the link between the now and the past, long ago...It was a fitting tribute and a sign of how much all of the good times each had shared remained sacred, from her happy memories...of her, long-lost Griffin and Burke relatives, telling her stories...of their fun day trips to Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
There are just so many fun-filled memories about our special house-by-the-lake. And I hope I can capture a bunch of them in the many pages that will follow...As a matter of fact, my Lake Geneva memories, wherever they may be, always have and always will be some of mine and my family's all-time favorites, so stay tuned...
Sunday, August 17, 2008
2nd GRADE---Little Monsters in the making
2nd Grade--Age 7--Little Monsters In The Making ____________________________________
HOW COME SCHOOL HAS TO GET HARDER AND HARDER EVERY YEAR...!!!
I think that was the battle cry cry from all of us...every year...
Why couldn't we say something like it was our quest for knowledge that catapulted us forward...
Huh...???...This was Tommy More...Let's be realistic...
At age 7...we'd be all ditching every day...if we knew how...And the fact that my lunch box always consisted of either a boiled ham sandwich or P.B.J. sandwich and two measely oreo cookies didn't exactly make me look forward to our lunch break at any given time...either...
Though...now...looking back...2nd Grade was a no-brainer...we simply added a few things that boggled our minds...First off, we had to learn how to write our names, not print our names anymore. This truly was a bummer...And to add insult to injury...we were instructed to go up to the chalkboard and write our names...so everyone could see...
This was pretty scary stuff...because most of us never saw it coming...Suddenly, a chalk stick was thrust into our hand and we were nudged up to the front of everyone...where we became the runaway train wreck about to embarrass ourselves like never before...Sure, almost all of the girls got up there and made a few graceful strokes...but the boys...they were grinding the chalk...into the chalkboard, making screeching noises and an incoherent mess...At least I fell into this notorious category...I was pretty bad back then...and even today...I still print everything I can...at all times...
The only cool thing about using the chalkboard so much everyday is that at the end of the day, several boys were chosen to go outside with the chalk erasers and clap them together until all the chalk dust was gone...
We'd go off into this outdoor area called the breezeway all by ourselves and we'd have a ball, throwing the erasers at each other, deliberately striking a giant chalk mark on each other's school clothes...We'd be hacking and coughing the whole time because there was a ton of chalk dust coming out of those erasers...
After about 5 to 10 minutes...we'd come back into class...as innocent as can be...except for the giant white chalk stains...embedded into our clothes...which was pretty easy to notice...and got a few chuckles...
I remember this special year in 2nd Grade was my first class year with life-long friends...Slim(Pat Farrell)...and Eddie Bar(Eddie Barkowski)...They both had buzz cuts and buck teeth. And they pretty much acted like The Bruiser and The Crusher...Well, maybe not all the time. But their school photos that year are priceless...By the way, my photo was equally absurd as I was sporting the giant sloth look with one extra long tooth, hanging down, and wearing a burnt orange sport coat, which made me look like some bizarre little mobster....
It also didn't help that I had this funky, looks-like-a-dog-bit-off-half-my-right-ear, going for me, too. Somebody quick, call Junior GQ!!! Ah yes...We were all quite the sight to behold...Don't worry...Our looks would rapidly change...And it really wouldn't be long for our full potential as all-out party animals to come forward a few more years down the line...
I think the way coolest thing about the 2nd Grade was the location of our classroom. It was ROOM #8...and it was on the ground floor and it looked out onto the wide expanse of the church parking lot which was also our recess area too...You could peer out at all the older school kids, running wild, having a ball. You could really feel the palpitating energy and excitement, with all of the laughing and shouting and screaming from outside, even though, our teacher, Sister Peter Thomas, tried to keep our attention away from the windows...as much as possible...
I remember my brother Danny said he had his 2nd Grade class in Room #8 five years before...and once they had a fire drill in that same classroom...and he and his buddies jumped out of the windows very quickly and very easily and ran out into the parking lot as the siren rang in the background. They...no doubt...got into big trouble for that...
One funny aspect to 2nd Grade was our advancements into the creative arts world using scissors, colorful construction paper and glue...I think we all set out to use our scissors to cut out the perfect figure, then glue that onto another piece of construction paper. We did have good intentions but the results often ended up looking less than spectacular...As a matter of fact...I think if we saw some of those creations today...we'd wonder what kinda glue were we sniffing that day...
I gotta admit...I was totally, totally into ELMER'S GLUE...It was white...it was sticky...and it even smelled good enough to eat...I would pour a giant glob of Elmer's Glue onto the palms of my hands...spread it around....wait for it to dry...and then peel it off like it was dead skin...It was an extremely unusual fascination, but hey, I was Age 7, and pretty much everything was fascinating at that point in time...to me...
2nd Grade opened up new avenues of friendships with so many girls and boys whose faces I can still recall, vividly...There were just so many kids who were so much like me...We were small but we were catching on so fast to the ways of the world...Most of us still were not allowed too far off of our block we lived on...to play...with all our fun school chums...so hanging out together would have to wait...Yet there was an undeniable bond that would grow stronger & stronger as our years at Saint Thomas More flew by...
HOW COME SCHOOL HAS TO GET HARDER AND HARDER EVERY YEAR...!!!
I think that was the battle cry cry from all of us...every year...
Why couldn't we say something like it was our quest for knowledge that catapulted us forward...
Huh...???...This was Tommy More...Let's be realistic...
At age 7...we'd be all ditching every day...if we knew how...And the fact that my lunch box always consisted of either a boiled ham sandwich or P.B.J. sandwich and two measely oreo cookies didn't exactly make me look forward to our lunch break at any given time...either...
Though...now...looking back...2nd Grade was a no-brainer...we simply added a few things that boggled our minds...First off, we had to learn how to write our names, not print our names anymore. This truly was a bummer...And to add insult to injury...we were instructed to go up to the chalkboard and write our names...so everyone could see...
This was pretty scary stuff...because most of us never saw it coming...Suddenly, a chalk stick was thrust into our hand and we were nudged up to the front of everyone...where we became the runaway train wreck about to embarrass ourselves like never before...Sure, almost all of the girls got up there and made a few graceful strokes...but the boys...they were grinding the chalk...into the chalkboard, making screeching noises and an incoherent mess...At least I fell into this notorious category...I was pretty bad back then...and even today...I still print everything I can...at all times...
The only cool thing about using the chalkboard so much everyday is that at the end of the day, several boys were chosen to go outside with the chalk erasers and clap them together until all the chalk dust was gone...
We'd go off into this outdoor area called the breezeway all by ourselves and we'd have a ball, throwing the erasers at each other, deliberately striking a giant chalk mark on each other's school clothes...We'd be hacking and coughing the whole time because there was a ton of chalk dust coming out of those erasers...
After about 5 to 10 minutes...we'd come back into class...as innocent as can be...except for the giant white chalk stains...embedded into our clothes...which was pretty easy to notice...and got a few chuckles...
I remember this special year in 2nd Grade was my first class year with life-long friends...Slim(Pat Farrell)...and Eddie Bar(Eddie Barkowski)...They both had buzz cuts and buck teeth. And they pretty much acted like The Bruiser and The Crusher...Well, maybe not all the time. But their school photos that year are priceless...By the way, my photo was equally absurd as I was sporting the giant sloth look with one extra long tooth, hanging down, and wearing a burnt orange sport coat, which made me look like some bizarre little mobster....
It also didn't help that I had this funky, looks-like-a-dog-bit-off-half-my-right-ear, going for me, too. Somebody quick, call Junior GQ!!! Ah yes...We were all quite the sight to behold...Don't worry...Our looks would rapidly change...And it really wouldn't be long for our full potential as all-out party animals to come forward a few more years down the line...
I think the way coolest thing about the 2nd Grade was the location of our classroom. It was ROOM #8...and it was on the ground floor and it looked out onto the wide expanse of the church parking lot which was also our recess area too...You could peer out at all the older school kids, running wild, having a ball. You could really feel the palpitating energy and excitement, with all of the laughing and shouting and screaming from outside, even though, our teacher, Sister Peter Thomas, tried to keep our attention away from the windows...as much as possible...
I remember my brother Danny said he had his 2nd Grade class in Room #8 five years before...and once they had a fire drill in that same classroom...and he and his buddies jumped out of the windows very quickly and very easily and ran out into the parking lot as the siren rang in the background. They...no doubt...got into big trouble for that...
One funny aspect to 2nd Grade was our advancements into the creative arts world using scissors, colorful construction paper and glue...I think we all set out to use our scissors to cut out the perfect figure, then glue that onto another piece of construction paper. We did have good intentions but the results often ended up looking less than spectacular...As a matter of fact...I think if we saw some of those creations today...we'd wonder what kinda glue were we sniffing that day...
I gotta admit...I was totally, totally into ELMER'S GLUE...It was white...it was sticky...and it even smelled good enough to eat...I would pour a giant glob of Elmer's Glue onto the palms of my hands...spread it around....wait for it to dry...and then peel it off like it was dead skin...It was an extremely unusual fascination, but hey, I was Age 7, and pretty much everything was fascinating at that point in time...to me...
2nd Grade opened up new avenues of friendships with so many girls and boys whose faces I can still recall, vividly...There were just so many kids who were so much like me...We were small but we were catching on so fast to the ways of the world...Most of us still were not allowed too far off of our block we lived on...to play...with all our fun school chums...so hanging out together would have to wait...Yet there was an undeniable bond that would grow stronger & stronger as our years at Saint Thomas More flew by...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
First Grade
...FIRST GRADE...AGE 6...THE BRAIN CAPACITY OF A CHIPMUNK...
If we peed in our pants by accident....no big deal...That big wet pee spot would dry out eventually...
Our greatest nemisis...was identifying the difference between A&B, C&D, E&F...and sometimes Y
There were no qualifications to be a FIRST GRADER...You only had to show up...sit down...and let the knowledge sink in...
Our greatest fear was forgetting which locker we left our LUNCH BOX in...
We could barely tie our shoes...We could barely see over the top of our desks...and we couldn't even tell time yet...so the big clock on the wall was some oddity with numbers on it...
Yet we had a slight bit of sophistication towards our knowledge of Crayola Crayons...We were the first 1st Graders to blaze a path with the new giant-size 64 color crayon box...
We actually had the first access to PBS school programming with shows like The Electric Company...and Sesame Street...but...darn...by the time they came on...we were too cool to sit and watch that crap when good shows like The 3 Stooges and Little Rascals were on at the same time...
Our First Grade Teacher inside the hallowed halls of Saint Thomas More was Sister Marie Charlotte...a wonderfully bright and energetic soul who kept us in line with her smarts and her kindness...She could play the guitar wonderfully and she sang beautiful also....
So technically, you could call her THE SINGING NUN of Saint Thomas More. We were truly lucky to have her for a teacher...I can barely remember her short brown hair, always dressed in her nun's habit, yet I will never forget her impact...
Of course...first day of school came and went and no sign of Jim O'Leary...I may have been busy brokering a deal between Nabisco and Jay's Potato Chips so that they could come out with an OREO FLAVORED POTATO CHIP...
Weeks and weeks...would come and go...Where the hell is O'Leary...???...Doesn't he know we are going to be singing KUMBAYA today...???
Then...that fateful day would finally come...My agent had re-negotiated my first grade contract with an open clause that allowed me to choose a FREE CHOCOLATE MILK option. I took it!
As my other classmates had walked thru the door into the first bright little classroom on the left, weeks ago, I had my own flair for the dramatic...I was carried in by my 22 year old sister, Maureen, lugging me along like a heavy sack of potatoes..customized in my retro plaster cast...from chin to waist, covered in a solid, concrete glaze of off-white...
There was nowhere to put me so they pushed 3 desks together and placed me flat out, on top of the desks...in the back of the classroom...where I would lay wobbling and rocking, back and forth, with bubbling excitement...on a daily basis...
My classmates were unphased by my presence...after the initial shock...and we all became fast friends as time went by...some of them for a lifetime...I especially remember Nancy Turcich who looked like an angel despite having two chipped teeth when she smiled...I think we all were a bit shy at that stage...but that didn't last for long...
These were heady times...where we conquered the alphabet and even flirted with counting up to 100...Damn...there was no stopping us...and to think we had such a long way to go...
It didn't bother me that all the kids would go out and run around for recess...Me, my sister Maureen and Sister Marie Charlotte would chat about funny stuff and just be glad we had a short break amidst such a long day of schooling...
As time went by...in First Grade...I would finally get my ungodly restrictive cast off and walk thru the door like any other kid...
I think the first time I walked in...there was a sense of amazement from my classmates. I think they touched me like I was Jesus, risen from the dead...Yes, I told them, the cast was finally off and I'm gonna sit behind a desk like everyone else and be a normal kid like everyone else...
The only difference, my FREE CHOCOLOATE MILK option was expiring and I may have to go with the flow and drink any kind of milk available...from that day on...
I look back now and I am very grateful for my sister Maureen to carry me around, in and out of school, like a sack of potatoes...She must have developed the biceps of a weightlifter but she also had a heart of gold...as the time just flew by...
All in all, I was a very normal, very happy little kid and my time in a cast allowed me to view the world from outside of the box and helped shape my understanding that adversity has its advantages when it is all said and done...
Onward we go...!!!
If we peed in our pants by accident....no big deal...That big wet pee spot would dry out eventually...
Our greatest nemisis...was identifying the difference between A&B, C&D, E&F...and sometimes Y
There were no qualifications to be a FIRST GRADER...You only had to show up...sit down...and let the knowledge sink in...
Our greatest fear was forgetting which locker we left our LUNCH BOX in...
We could barely tie our shoes...We could barely see over the top of our desks...and we couldn't even tell time yet...so the big clock on the wall was some oddity with numbers on it...
Yet we had a slight bit of sophistication towards our knowledge of Crayola Crayons...We were the first 1st Graders to blaze a path with the new giant-size 64 color crayon box...
We actually had the first access to PBS school programming with shows like The Electric Company...and Sesame Street...but...darn...by the time they came on...we were too cool to sit and watch that crap when good shows like The 3 Stooges and Little Rascals were on at the same time...
Our First Grade Teacher inside the hallowed halls of Saint Thomas More was Sister Marie Charlotte...a wonderfully bright and energetic soul who kept us in line with her smarts and her kindness...She could play the guitar wonderfully and she sang beautiful also....
So technically, you could call her THE SINGING NUN of Saint Thomas More. We were truly lucky to have her for a teacher...I can barely remember her short brown hair, always dressed in her nun's habit, yet I will never forget her impact...
Of course...first day of school came and went and no sign of Jim O'Leary...I may have been busy brokering a deal between Nabisco and Jay's Potato Chips so that they could come out with an OREO FLAVORED POTATO CHIP...
Weeks and weeks...would come and go...Where the hell is O'Leary...???...Doesn't he know we are going to be singing KUMBAYA today...???
Then...that fateful day would finally come...My agent had re-negotiated my first grade contract with an open clause that allowed me to choose a FREE CHOCOLATE MILK option. I took it!
As my other classmates had walked thru the door into the first bright little classroom on the left, weeks ago, I had my own flair for the dramatic...I was carried in by my 22 year old sister, Maureen, lugging me along like a heavy sack of potatoes..customized in my retro plaster cast...from chin to waist, covered in a solid, concrete glaze of off-white...
There was nowhere to put me so they pushed 3 desks together and placed me flat out, on top of the desks...in the back of the classroom...where I would lay wobbling and rocking, back and forth, with bubbling excitement...on a daily basis...
My classmates were unphased by my presence...after the initial shock...and we all became fast friends as time went by...some of them for a lifetime...I especially remember Nancy Turcich who looked like an angel despite having two chipped teeth when she smiled...I think we all were a bit shy at that stage...but that didn't last for long...
These were heady times...where we conquered the alphabet and even flirted with counting up to 100...Damn...there was no stopping us...and to think we had such a long way to go...
It didn't bother me that all the kids would go out and run around for recess...Me, my sister Maureen and Sister Marie Charlotte would chat about funny stuff and just be glad we had a short break amidst such a long day of schooling...
As time went by...in First Grade...I would finally get my ungodly restrictive cast off and walk thru the door like any other kid...
I think the first time I walked in...there was a sense of amazement from my classmates. I think they touched me like I was Jesus, risen from the dead...Yes, I told them, the cast was finally off and I'm gonna sit behind a desk like everyone else and be a normal kid like everyone else...
The only difference, my FREE CHOCOLOATE MILK option was expiring and I may have to go with the flow and drink any kind of milk available...from that day on...
I look back now and I am very grateful for my sister Maureen to carry me around, in and out of school, like a sack of potatoes...She must have developed the biceps of a weightlifter but she also had a heart of gold...as the time just flew by...
All in all, I was a very normal, very happy little kid and my time in a cast allowed me to view the world from outside of the box and helped shape my understanding that adversity has its advantages when it is all said and done...
Onward we go...!!!
Monday, August 4, 2008
ADVERSITY
....I know by now...some of you have had very slight glimpses of the medical surprises that arose during my early years...I've purposely avoided trying to draw you into my trials and tribulations of dealing with scoliosis and what-not...I'm a very, very positive person...I very rarely dwell on the negative...This is a huge secret which I hope to impart on one and all...
...ADVERSITY...comes in many ways, shapes and forms into everyone's life at some point in time....Believe me...you are talking to someone who has faced some horrifically bad situations that most people just could not possibly fathom...In many ways...each time you do face ADVERSITY...you learn something about yourself...The fear alone of dealing with traumatic moments that come our way is always more intense than we think we can bare...But it is the triumph of the human spirit...to hang in there...and somehow manage to cope with the pain and suffering and of course...the overwhelming fear of when will this end....
...I would like to try to emphasize that maybe reaching out to God is a valuable asset when in the midst of facing some personal extreme....It certainly can't hurt and you really have nothing to lose...I know this maybe scares some people who do not have much faith but you would be awfully surprised how well it has worked for me...And I am by no means...carrying around rosary beads or in some constant ferver that only God can help you thru extreme circumstances...
...As I stated above...ADVERSITY...actually makes you a stronger person on the inside...Being pushed to the absolute brink of your physical and emotional abilities is something that you never forget...You can always reach back and tell yourself...I've faced adversity before and got thru it and have every intention of overcoming it once again...
...In some strange way...ADVERSITY...has actually become my friend...I've had to make some major adjustments throughout my life...and I've utilized the knowledge of past adversities to stay strong...stay focused...and to always try to remain positive...
...Recently...I've faced the biggest adversity of my entire life...a seven month ordeal of dealing with pneumonia...which took me to the very edge of life and death...on so many occasions...I cannot break down in numbers or shock levels which I had to endure...I had to depend on my closest friends and family members for inspiration to carry on, day in...day out...with an emphasis on hanging tough...
...It's very true...tough times do not last...but tough people do...
...I guess I am very lucky in the sense that I've faced and conquered so many adversities throughout my years...Really, I am no stronger than you...by any means...We all have the inner strength and inner will if we really dig down...deep inside...
...So rather than ramble on and on...I'd just like to share this with all of you...I realize this comes very early on in my memoirs...but for most of the people who know me best...I think it may be one of my greatest virtues I can entrust upon you...
...Life itself...is such a gift...why not just accept the adversities and the triumphs with equal value...Really, they are one in the same...when it all boils down to it...and the fact that always emphasizing the positive despite all of the overwheliming negatives is probably the best way to lead you back to better times ahead...
...You might want to print this out or put a bookmark on this page...You really aren't going to get a more poignant view on ADVERSITY than this testimony...
...ADVERSITY...comes in many ways, shapes and forms into everyone's life at some point in time....Believe me...you are talking to someone who has faced some horrifically bad situations that most people just could not possibly fathom...In many ways...each time you do face ADVERSITY...you learn something about yourself...The fear alone of dealing with traumatic moments that come our way is always more intense than we think we can bare...But it is the triumph of the human spirit...to hang in there...and somehow manage to cope with the pain and suffering and of course...the overwhelming fear of when will this end....
...I would like to try to emphasize that maybe reaching out to God is a valuable asset when in the midst of facing some personal extreme....It certainly can't hurt and you really have nothing to lose...I know this maybe scares some people who do not have much faith but you would be awfully surprised how well it has worked for me...And I am by no means...carrying around rosary beads or in some constant ferver that only God can help you thru extreme circumstances...
...As I stated above...ADVERSITY...actually makes you a stronger person on the inside...Being pushed to the absolute brink of your physical and emotional abilities is something that you never forget...You can always reach back and tell yourself...I've faced adversity before and got thru it and have every intention of overcoming it once again...
...In some strange way...ADVERSITY...has actually become my friend...I've had to make some major adjustments throughout my life...and I've utilized the knowledge of past adversities to stay strong...stay focused...and to always try to remain positive...
...Recently...I've faced the biggest adversity of my entire life...a seven month ordeal of dealing with pneumonia...which took me to the very edge of life and death...on so many occasions...I cannot break down in numbers or shock levels which I had to endure...I had to depend on my closest friends and family members for inspiration to carry on, day in...day out...with an emphasis on hanging tough...
...It's very true...tough times do not last...but tough people do...
...I guess I am very lucky in the sense that I've faced and conquered so many adversities throughout my years...Really, I am no stronger than you...by any means...We all have the inner strength and inner will if we really dig down...deep inside...
...So rather than ramble on and on...I'd just like to share this with all of you...I realize this comes very early on in my memoirs...but for most of the people who know me best...I think it may be one of my greatest virtues I can entrust upon you...
...Life itself...is such a gift...why not just accept the adversities and the triumphs with equal value...Really, they are one in the same...when it all boils down to it...and the fact that always emphasizing the positive despite all of the overwheliming negatives is probably the best way to lead you back to better times ahead...
...You might want to print this out or put a bookmark on this page...You really aren't going to get a more poignant view on ADVERSITY than this testimony...
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