DOWN MEMORY LANE, PART ONE...

Today, 

before all else, 

I want to pay my respects to 

Mary (My Dogs, My Garden and Mary).

 She recently passed away 

and our blogging community 

lost a treasured member.

 She was a kind and generous person 

who loved

 her friends, family, dogs, her beautiful 

garden and her lovely home. 

 She was a dear lady with a kind soul

 who became a very dear friend. 

 She will be missed. 

 Rest in Peace,

 Sweet Mary.

The Captain, 1957 

Me, 1957

I hope you won't mind 

me taking you on

 a trip down memory lane.

  A trip that the Captain and I started

 many years ago, individually,

 but we will focus on the time 

when we first met in high school (above).

 We knew each other then 

but were not an "item". 

 We had a lot of the same friends 

but we didn't travel in the same circles.

He always tells me 

that he had his eye on me 

and he did turn around a lot and stare 

in the only class, choir,

 that we had together, 

but I don't believe him

 as he was "indisposed" at that time,

 if you know what I mean!

 We only came together

when we were "fixed up" 

on a blind date 

while my cousin and I were living

 in San Francisco for a short while, 

in the late 1950's. 

 We have made a lot of memories

 since then 

and will have been married for 58 years 

come this October.

Santa Cruz High School

 where the Captain and I

 spent our high school years.

 We were in the same grade 

and graduated at the same time.

  It is a fairly large campus

 with a multitude of out buildings.  

It was in those out buildings 

that our classes were held. 

 The big building, pictured above, 

was not available to our class

 as it was undergoing extensive remodeling

 at the time.

  To this day, 

I have never seen the 

inside of it.

This is the home

 my dad built 

and where I lived with my parents,

 one sister and one brother,

 when the Captain and I 

started making our memories.

 I remember it as a charming place 

with a beautiful green lawn 

and flower gardens surrounding it,

 all overlooking Soquel Creek. 

  It didn't look anything like

 it does in this picture

 to my eyes,

 but a long time has passed.

This is Mountain School, 

where I spent all my elementary school years,

 as did my dad, my grandfather,

 my sister and my brother.

 It was a two room school house; 

the "Little Room" 

grades first through fourth,

 and the "Big Room" 

grades fifth through eighth.

 There was one teacher for each room

 and there were three kids 

in my eighth grade graduating class,

 myself and two other boys.

It is used as something else now 

and a newer, larger Mountain School 

was built, down the road, 

to fill the needs of a larger community.

This was the hang-out spot

 for the community in which we lived,

from the kids who attended Mountain School

 to the hard working men, 

coming from work, 

and stopping for a cold beer

 on their way home.

 I walked past it every day 

to and from school 

and it was where I was introduced to

 Look candy bars

and tall, cold, glass bottles of 

Royal Crown Cola.

 It doesn't look quite the same now

 like it did back then...

... but fortunately, 

an artist has painted its likeness

 on a building in downtown Soquel

 that brought the memories back

 bright and clear...

...and this part of the painting 

brings back the most vivid

 of the memories.

 Frank Casalegno 

was the son of the owners.

  He was a boyhood friend of my dads

 and was wheelchair bound most of his life due to an accident, as a teenager,

 with a freight train. 

It was just a natural thing,

 when passing by the store, 

to stop and have

 a conversation with him.

 You could always find him,

 rain or shine,

 sitting out in front.

 To my recollection,

 I don't think I ever saw 

him pumping gas.

 It was always

 a self-service establishment 

and I think the only time 

Frank wheeled himself inside

 was to put your payments 

into a

 big brass cash register 

setting on the counter.

 That wheelchair 

looks a little more modern

 than I remember. 

 The original

 had a much higher back 

with cane backing 

but it did have 

the hand cranks and pulleys 

that Frank worked to get around.

 One thing 

that the artist got right, however,

 is the wide, rolled cuff 

that was always apparent 

on Frank's jeans.

 Frank was an icon 

in those parts 

and everyone from miles around, 

young and old, 

enjoyed spending time 

in his company.

This was 

the Captain's home base back then.

 He lived there with his parents, 

two sisters and two brothers.

  The house was within 

a row of charming Victorian houses 

and close to downtown Santa Cruz,

 the beach and the boardwalk.

This post has become

 much longer than I intended

 so will be continued next week

 when the remainder of past memories

 will be tied up in a tidy bow.

 You will also find out

 what we were up to

 on our vacation 

at the beach. 

 I hope you will return then.

...Judy...

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and

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