days gone by

Judy, from IMAGINE, has inspired me, along with Dianne from FORKS OFF THE MOMENT to post some old "vintage" pictures, once again.....This is the summer of either 1941 or 1942....Camp Swatona in Pennsylvania.....I don't remember our bunk having that many girls but we did, because in actuality, it was divided into two sections....Those of us standing were the section to the left in the bunk! And, that is me, standing right next to our Counselor, Buddy.....way over there on the right.....The expression "Not A Happy Camper" is kind of perfect if you take a closer look at me....OY!I wonder whatever became of all those other 10 and 11 year olds? I actually used to know all their names 'back in the day'....but, I don't remember any of them now......I really hated Camp and I really was incredibly unhappy there. That was the year my parents had separated and we all were sent to camp that summer. It was only the second time I was ever in Summer Camp. The first time, I was Four Years Old! How stupid was that? Sleep away Camp for the entire Summer, at Four Years Old?? Talk about unhappy! I wet the bed! I don't know what my parents were thinking....All I know is, that that first summer camp experience pretty much traumatized me in certain ways that affected my whole life.....And it affected how I felt the second time I went to camp at Camp Swatona..... Here, above, is a picture from that first camp experience. This young man was a counselor, but I honestly couldn't tell you his name if my life depended on it....! And below, another picture from that first camp, Camp Merriwood. That is my dear brother Gordon next to me and another unknown counselor....I don't have a lot of memories of this camp, except that I had trouble sleeping and sometimes had bad dreams....I was scared of something and unhappy about being there. No wonder I wet the bed. And here above, Gordon and me and that same nice looking young man counselor from that first picture.....I never realized Gordon had such skinny legs....! I mean, look at the difference in our legs....Mine are kind of fleshy and chunky and his are as thin has sticks! (lol)...... This picture above was probably a year later, like 1936....And this was the backyard of the North Bay Road House in Miami Beach. I love seeing the wash hanging out on the line. Yup. That's the way we used to do it in the old days.....! Back then, my sister Gene and my brother Gordon and I, shared a bedroom in that Florida house. My oldest sister Robin, shared a room with MaaMaw, our dear Grandmother....... That is the back of the house on North Bay Road.....again, it's 1936, I believe. Here is a closer look at Maamaw and Robin....... One of the most wonderful things about Robin and Maamaw is that they both loved people unconditionally.....At least, that was my experience of each of them.....Maamaw died in 1970 when she was 99 and 1/3---outliving, her daughter---my mother---'Jen The Hen', by four years....(she was only 67 years old when she died.....) Maamaw's life was an amazingly long one. My dear sister Robin died in February of 2005. She would have turned 82 in September of that year. I miss them both, still, very very much. It's not that I think of them all the time...it's just that when I do, I so wish I could hug each of them, just one more time..... I have no idea what that funny face was all about, but there is dear dear Robin, accepting me no matter what I did....! Now that is the unconditional love showing from an older sister who hasn't forgotten what it is to be silly when you are eight years younger than her.......!

More To Come.......