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Category: Remember Whensday

Remember Whensday – Oompa!

June and Ray celebrating birthdays, June 1974
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs but never spent much time in the city. Yet when I was dating Paul he introduced me to Dianas Restaurant in Greek Town. Incredible food, atmosphere and fun. The owner was a handsome man maybe in his 50s (I was too young then to guess) and I don’t think any woman that ate there left without him kissing her hand in a gentlemanly fashion. You made reservations for dinner knowing you’d have to drink in the bar for up to an hour before being seated. Plus there was music and dancing. The two choices of Greek wine are like turpentine and gasoline but after a few glasses who cared. (No offense, I’m not a wino.) Appetizers always included Saganaki, Kasseri cheese broiled to golden brown. Then the waiter poured warm brandy over it and ignited it and finished putting out the fire with the squeeze of a lemon. Every time this was served everyone in the place would holler “Oompa!” (Which according to Wiki means “Whoopie.”) They also served Ouzo, an anise-flavored liquor which I can’t stand even the smell of. However my Mom being a lover of licorice went crazy for the stuff when I took them there to celebrate birthdays. Mom’s is June 21st and Dad’s is the 24th. My then current boyfriend went with us and Dad drove a company Cadillac. We met four more of my friends there. My parents didn’t go to the city often and when Dad had to turn the car keys over to a parking lot attendant he was a little nervous. Soon forgotten by the alcohol. When we finally staggered out of Dianas at 2am the attendant was gone but the keys hung on the board at the almost empty parking lot. Dad drove out onto a one-way street, the wrong way, with Mom yelling in his ears. Then on the freeway drive home he had to pull over on the shoulder so I could jump out and get sick in the ditch. I think we all had a good time.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #7. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.
birthdays, Greek restaurant, parents, Remember Whensday 13 Comments

Remember Whensday – Grandma’s cabin on the lake

When I was little kid my family spent many a two week summer vacation at Grandma Bea’s cabin. I marveled at this real log cabin hidden in the woods of northern Wisconsin on a peninsula into Enterprise Lake just out of Elcho (between Antigo and Rhinelander). It always seemed like such a long drive to get there from the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Grandma Bea was fun. She would sit on the floor with me in the evening in front of the huge stone fireplace building houses of cards from her multiple pinochle decks. She taught me to play jacks. Took me hunting for wild blueberries still covered with dew to put in the morning’s pancakes. I’d help her with the compost/worm box as we watched the hummingbirds at her colorful flower garden. When I’d come out of the lake shivering and shriveled from long play she’d meet me with a towel, and the salt shaker to remove any stray leeches. We’d take the row boat across a small bay to fill the huge metal milk tins she used to store potable water. Sometimes the long driveway would sink into the swamp that separated her land from the main road so the row boat came in handy there also. There was running water piped from the lake and even indoor plumbing that had been added at some point in time. She had a huge wood cook stove that I was baffled by and marveled to watch her whip up a magnificent meal. (I respected this many years later when I tried to bake a cake in a wood stove.) I remember sleeping in the screened porch and listening to the night’s nature sounds that surrounded the cabin on the lake.

Then there was Grandpa Butch. Bea’s second husband retired from working on the railroad. He seemed to fish all day and drink at night before passing out in his bed built in an alcove off the big living room. There were two very small bedrooms and my parents slept in one, the other was Grandma Bea’s. The beds were deep in handmade quilts and blankets and I loved to crawl in with Grandma in the evenings while she read detective magazines with exciting illustrated covers.

When it rained the roof of the old cabin leaked in many places. I would help place pots, pans and bowls under the drips and enjoyed listening to the various musical sounds of plink, plop, pip-pip-pip-pip. Then Grandma would complain to Grandpa about fixing the roof and he would always reply that he couldn’t fix it in the rain.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #6. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

cabin, Elcho, Enterprise Lake, Grandma, Remember Whensday, Wisconsin 16 Comments

Remember Whensday – The Clown Boat-In

Our boat the Six-Pak
I grew up boating with my parents and we spent many summer vacations at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We stayed in various resorts along the lake and spent day light hours on the water swimming and skiing. One of the favored places to go for lunch was The Clown, a floating hamburger joint with boat slips. The waitresses wore bikinis and always had to refill the bowl of sliced dill pickles several times for us and friends. I loved the pickles but figured Dad liked the place for the bikinis. The immense carp churned up the water enmass as they were fed fish food from the handy gumball like dispensers.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #5. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.
boating, Remember Whensday 14 Comments

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