*The Two of Us Nuggets
A piece of driftwood sticking a few inches out of the sand, was wiggled and waggled by my wiggling and waggling Sweetie, and ended up being 5 feet long, branches about 2 feet long near the middle, the heavy 18” piece at the end looks like a horse's head. We sent it to Los Angeles on a Matson Freighter ship. A wood expert told us it did not originate in Hawaii, it drifted there from somewhere else.
Across the street from our new home in Encino, Calif., was the large estate of Edward Everett Horton, a famous movie star. Over 50 years later, the palm tree that was three or four inches high when we planted it in front of our house, is now higher than the roof.
After all the years I drove many kinds of vehicles, and taught driving in the Army, imagine my surprise when I flunked a driving test at Fort Worth, Texas.
After I had been in the Hospital for two days (1955), I still had not been told why, so I got dressed to leave. The doctor was upset, and said “You aren't my only patient.” I replied, “But you are my only doctor and you haven't given me any information, or any reason to stay here.” The doctor was shocked, but thought that was a logical comment, so explained the problem (collapsed lung), then let me go home. It was many weeks before the Doctor allowed me to do anything that required much physical effort. I have tried to follow that Doctor's orders ever since, so no reoccurrence of a collapse, ever!
After I met the One and Only, thank goodness she felt much the same way I did in social situations. Rather than non-Social, we were un-Social.
After we built a swimming pool at our home in Woodland Hills, I could go into the water, and float here and there, and wag my arms and kick my feet, as long as I had the face mask on. I never learned to swim, and never could go in the pool without the mask.
Amazing how little air conditioning there was anywhere in Los Angeles in 1955. We remember looking for restaurants we could afford, that were cool, and they were difficult to find. Maybe they wouldn't let us in because we were dripping wet from trying to cool off in the bathtub!
Analogy: We go to a fine restaurant, the atmosphere is wonderful, the building is beautiful, the salad and appetizers are excellent, the food is all we could ask for. Now here comes the waiter with desert, his dirty thumb is in a dish of melted ice cream, with a piece of rotten fruit. We don’t need that, we want to leave, and go HOME, right now.
Analogy: We had a wonderful life, our work was a lot of fun, our marriage is all anyone could hope for, we were able to travel for 25 years, and enjoy everything we could want. Now here comes a man in a white coat with a bunch of wires and tubes, with a knife in his hand. We don’t need that, we want to leave, and go HOME right now.
Anniversaries (including Wedding Day) have been celebrated in 55 restaurants; Athens, Greece; Cruise Ships (3); Dallas (2); Ft. Worth; Greimerath, Germany; Las Vegas (4); Los Angeles area (18); Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii (the best!!); Lowes Hotel, Monte Carlo (the worst!!); Palm Springs area (16); Park Ridge, Ill (Wedding day); Phoenix; San Diego (2); San Francisco; Santa Barbara; Strasbourg, France.
As for Seat Belts, I installed a set in the front seats of our 1951 Plymouth. They were slightly held in place by a stove bolt in a hole punched in the tin floor of the car.
As I lifted my head, I would swear she had a different expression on her face, she took two more breaths, then left for Heaven.
At an US Army surplus store I paid $13 for a new US Army Uniform (I was on active duty). Emmy had borrowed a dress from a girlfriend at work. The large church was being decorated for a wedding later that day ($10,000 worth of decorations, at least), and as we approached the Altar, the pastor yelled, “Hey you guys, quit hammering for a few minutes, doesn’t hurt to use this stuff twice.” Our wedding took 5 minutes, the Marriage lasted 55 years.
At one point what the IRS was trying to do to me was so bad, my Congressman personally went to the IRS office in DC and complained. That so infuriated the IRS office in So Cal, that I got an anonymous obscene phone call, that I recognized as being from the IRS So Cal office. I made a detail note of the call, and sent it to the Congressman for his files.
At Sweetie’s insistence, in the 1970s I spent a day taking tests at University of So. Calif., and received membership in Mensa. A Mensa card and a dime won’t even buy a cup of coffee, but then I don’t drink coffee anyway.
As we arrived at the Guadalupe Pass, near the border with New Mexico, the highest point in Texas, I saw the twisty narrow road that dropped thousands of feet, and thought “This is the time and place she will lose her cookies.” I watched Emmy, and talked to her, and the only response I got was about how beautiful and interesting it was. She had said she was afraid of mountain roads, and this was her first.
At the bottom of Guadalupe Pass, Texas, I told Sweetie that at no time on the rest of the trip, and almost any other trip, would she see anything that was even close to the steep, narrow road we had just driven on. She couldn't imagine what she had expected to see. Years later, driving through France, Norway, and Italy, and other such places, she had reasons to be afraid of the drop off, almost always at her side of the road, and there were times that she would have rather walked.
At the Fruit Inspection station at the Arizona/California border in 1985, the inspector asked, “Have you been east of Phoenix?” I said, “Oh yeah, we were in Prague, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, and a hundred other places.” The inspector’s jaw dropped, he waved us on.
Bill, a friend she knew from Chicago, now living in Phoenix, had told Emmy so many stories about how bad the roads were in the west, and how high the mountains were, etc., that Emmy was really afraid to go from Texas to California in a car. We considered having her take a plane, but then she decided that she would try it.
Concerning a happening in one of our Apartment buildings, Sweetie reported to me, “Belinda just shot Edgar.” Belinda was out of jail before Edgar was out of the hospital.”
Due to a lot of work by my wife Emmy (who managed our apartment buildings) and President Carter’s inflation, I was able to get off the computer industry payroll in 1978 at age 50, after nearly 30 years of making my living in the computer business. I didn’t quit work, we just worked for ourselves, owning real estate and trust deeds. That provided enough time and money to live well (our opinion of living well) and permitted many trips, including nearly 1,000 nights of travel in Europe. It’s been fun, both the 30 years in the computer business, and especially the nearly 55 years of working and enjoying life with my beautiful wife, Emmy.
Due to a mistake in reporting to the IRS by a partnership I was involved in, during ten years that the partnership fought this mess, I was audited each year. I invested the $8,000 or so I thought I owed in taxes, in industrial bonds, and by the time the IRS mess was solved, I had earned enough profit to pay the tax, plus penalty and interest on the original problem, and on the profit I had earned in the meantime.
During 50 years of both business and personal travel, we spent hundreds of nights in very nice hotels, and have eaten a thousand meals in very nice restaurants. Rarely was either experience appreciated as much as a meal and a night in our trailer, campers, and small RVs.
During my Sweetie’s illness, several times, while we were in McDonald’s, Del Taco, or wherever, ladies (always ladies) came to our booth and told me how nice it was that I was taking such good care of her. That made me proud, I tried, I’m glad it was obvious to others.
During that obscene call, the IRS promised to get even with me. A couple of years later I got a demand for an audit, but everything they said, was wrong. When I got to the IRS office, the auditor blew his top, and said that even if everything they said was true, I still would not owe any tax.
Each and every detail here is true, we lived them all, and wrote each and every word. It’s been fun, the 30 years in the computer business, our years of travel, and ESPECIALLY the nearly 55 years of working and enjoying life with my Beautiful Wife, Emmy.
Even after she had been ill for years, people stopped us as we walked in the mall, and complemented Sweetie on her beauty, and her mode of dress.
Following my firm rule, “If Sweetie wants it, I will buy it,” is why we ended up with a couple of hundred fantastic reminders and collectibles. Many of the things we have and enjoy, most likely will not be found in any other home in this, or any other neighborhood.
For both of us, especially for me, food is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We eat to travel, we don’t travel to eat. Hotels, restaurants, and campgrounds are tools of travel for us, never our destination.
For breakfast in the RV I have an assortment — nuts, cheese, dates, peanut butter, bread, honey, orange or pineapple juice, and Ovaltine. When we can find it, the cheese is English Cheddar, the Velvetta found mostly in Germany, or the similar Laughing Cow (that really is the name of a cheese). That’s not really roughing it, is it?
For my Sweetie and I, it was not Love-At-First-Sight. This was for real - this was LOVE AT FIRST GLIMPSE, AND FOREVER, as she opened the door on Nov. 3, 1950, for our blind date.
For our 30th Anniversary we went to Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, in Hawaii. Excellent food, excellent service, excellent ambiance, the best by far, of the 54 anniversary dinners.
For the loft at our condo in Culver City, Calif. I enrolled in a nighttime “shop class” at Culver City High School so I would have the wood working equipment needed to make the dining room cabinets. We bought a metal circular staircase in a “junk yard” for $100. Had it cut it to specs, a platform was made to connect to the loft. A truck with a crane put it over the balcony, and into the living room. Our favorite of a dozen remodels.
Gunfire played a part in our lives three times. I called Sweetie from a hotel in Denver, and asked, “How did things go at the apartments today?” She answered, “Belinda just shot Edgar.” Belinda was out of jail before Edgar was out of the hospital.
I fell on the tennis court and maybe broke my wrist. After two hours and a couple of dozen X-Ray pictures, I was told the good news was, my wrist was not broken, the bad news was, an arm bone was. We had three houses that needed a lot of renovation before we could sell them. I did one-arm work, and Sweetie worked so hard!!
I had priced a beautiful rosewood cane, inlaid with brass, at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey. The price of $75 elicited this comment, “Bob’s not that good of a friend.” I did buy Bob a very nice cane. A few years later Bob's Cadillac was stolen, and when it was returned, the cane was missing
I kept the gas tank filled, Sweetie never pumped gas into the car in her life. But one time she thought the Cadillac really needed gas, so she stopped, the station man said, "Where’s the gas tank?" We had owned this car 20 years, Sweetie didn’t know it was out of sight, in back of the license plate. That wonderful car was so old, the young gas station operator didn’t know where the gas cap was either.
I remember that the car and the trailer were very overloaded, when we left Schiller Park, Ill. When we got to Joliet, Ill, we stopped somewhere and unloaded and shipped the console TV (not a table model), to somewhere in Dallas. How we did this, and who did it, and where we shipped it, and how we found it again in Dallas in 1952, we have no idea, but it worked!
I signed up for a couple of classes at Northwestern University’s night school. After attending just a couple of classes, I got the letter recalling me into the Army, for the Korean War. I left for the Army, and never returned to study in a college. I won my Sweetie, and no diploma or peace treaty would ever be worth as much as that Marriage License!
I wanted to put a sign on our several huge suitcases quoting a well known source, “There wasn't room to take everything I wanted to take.” We traveled for as long as 5 months at a time in our RV, so we did need everything, except the kitchen sink.
I was no more than 5 or 6 inches from her face, so did not miss a thing. It was as if I had given her permission to leave, and that was her last look of love, especially for me. I am crying as I type, I want to be with her, now!
In 1950, when we met, Emmy worked at the CAA at what is now O'Hare Field. At that time it was mainly a grass field, with about one airplane landing per week. The answer to a trivia question: Why do the luggage tags for the Chicago airport have the letters ORD on them? The answer, O'Hare Field was called Orchard Field, way back then.
In 1951 I was 23 years old; had been raised on a farm; had been a diesel engine repairman; a spot-welder; lugged bales of rubber in a warehouse; operated a metal band saw; was a milkman (twice) in Chicago, and in Penna.; in the Ohio Stage Guard Band; in the Merchant Marines; in the US Army twice; and had several other jobs. I didn’t want to do any of those jobs for the rest of my life.
In 1955 we left Dallas in our 1951 Plymouth, pulling a large luggage trailer. When we got to the Ariz.-Calif. border, the man at the fruit inspection station told me to unload the trailer. I said, “Where can we turn around and go back to Arizona?” The border man was surprised and said, “Aren't you coming to California?” I said, “Sure, but this is not the only border crossing and you don't work 24 hours a day, so we'll be back later.” The border man had a very shocked look on his face as he just glanced under the “tarp” and waved us on.
In 1962, we shook hands with former Vice President Richard Nixon, as he ran for Governor of Calif. Yes, he was later elected President
In 1965 we borrowed Brother Paul's RV, and drove to the New York World's Fair. People in New York City were not familiar with RVs, so we caused a lot of excitement. Taxi drivers would almost break their necks, looking at what we drove. We wanted to park near Rockefeller Center, and the policeman said, “If you let me look inside, I'll let you park right here and I'll keep my eye on it for you.” One man wrote down the RV name, so he could buy one.
In 1966 after one year in her secretarial job at Lytton Industries, Sweetie had earned two weeks vacation, that was the end. We went to restaurant to celebrate, and the waitress asked how long she had worked. When told one year, she sighed and said, “I have worked 30 years, and there’s no end in sight.”
In 1966 Emmy got a secretarial job, so if ever necessary for her to work, it wouldn’t have been so long since her last experience. Lytton Industries was just a few miles from our home in Canoga Park. The worst part was her training in Word Processing. There was no little computer those days, her typewriter — no video screen — was connected to a large computer 20 miles away. Type, then print, then make corrections, print again, etc.
In 1973 we moved to a condo in Culver City. The ceiling sloped from 8 feet in the bedroom to 19 feet high in the living room, so we built a loft, reached by a metal circular staircase. The nine feet wide loft was “L” shaped, 16 feet over the kitchen and dining area, and 25 feet over the kitchen and the living room.
In 1985 Pan Am Airways had just settled a strike, then advertised some very cheap seats to get their business moving again. I called a travel agent in Palm Springs and asked them to check with Pan Am and schedule our trip. We didn’t hear from them for a day or two, so I called Pan Am and they said there were only two tickets still existing. The Pan Am agent then said the seats found a moment ago, have just now been sold, no more were available. Right then our other phone rang. Emmy answered and was told the Palm Springs travel office had just purchased two Pan Am tickets for us. When I reported this to the Pan Am agent, he checked, and found we had in fact just bought the two tickets he was trying to sell to us. Talk about a coincidence!
In 1991, while parked on a Los Angeles street near a doctor’s office, the window of our Cadillac was broken, and Sweetie’s Majorca leather jacket was stolen. Funny thing was, while we were still a block away and across the street, I saw a bunch of young people standing near the car, but never gave them a thought. It wasn’t until we got on the freeway that we noticed wind blowing in the car, then saw the window was missing.
In 1997, since we hadn’t been on a trip for awhile, when a friend of Emmy’s said a group from nearby Sun City was going by bus to the Los Angeles Harbor, then board the Viking Serenade a Royal Caribbean International ship (launched in 1982), for a few days, we said that’s just fine with us. We knew what to expect, and that’s just what happened, but they should forget the ports, and just cruise. The cruise people would have to spend a lot more money for fuel, and they would not get kick-backs from the cities and the stores they try to steer you to. They tell us that everyone wants the ports, but I questioned over 20 people on this trip, and only 3 wanted to stop at the ports. Over all of our cruises, I have asked that question about 106 times, and 90 people said they would love to just cruise, and not shop.
In a Palm Springs shopping center, we saw a Chinese Gentleman painting beautiful pictures, he was painting with his fingernail. Sweetie being the shopper she is, loved the pictures, but not the colors. A few months later we were in Vegas when we found Johnson Lee painting his art in the Dunes Hotel. He remembered Sweetie and her comments about his colors, and found she still had the same idea. We stopped by the next day and Mr. Lee had a beaming smile for Sweetie, and pulled up a picture in the colors Sweetie loved. He said that when he awoke that morning, he remembered Sweetie, and painted a piece of art just for her, in her colors.
In an apartment building we owned, a boy found a gun, played around, and accidentally killed a tenant’s son. Another year there was a murder right in front of an apartment where we lived for a few months. We didn’t know either party.
In Dallas we went to a used car dealer. Ronnie was asleep in the back seat. A few minutes later a man asked for our keys to move our car, because it was blocking some other cars. Then they said we had already agreed to buy some other car, and ours had been taken to be refurbished for resale. I picked up a large brick, pointed towards the large plate glass window, said I would count to ten, the car with our son sleeping in the back seat had better be back by then. It was!!!
In Dec. 1979 we bought a 1978 Cadillac ($6,500) that our partner in Dallas had leased for two years. They said it was the best (of a dozen) Cadillac’s they had owned. We not only believed that at the time, we believed it for the next 22 years. It had 269,000 miles on the odometer at the end.
In early 1960s, we moved to Sierra Vista, AZ (south of Tucson), so I could work on a computerized War Game for the US Army Signal Corp., using an IBM 709 computer located at Ft. Hauchuca, AZ. On the staff were Ph.Ds, retired Generals, retired Colonels, and me.
In her last years, I took my Sweetie for a walk and a drive to Nowhere, most every day. I liked to see her smile and laugh, then found that happened when others were laughing. I then made sure that several times each day, I would find some reason to tell a joke to someone we met on the street, because if I could make them laugh, my Sweetie would laugh. Well, in a small way I have continued that as I walk on the street and in the Mall each day. By the end of my walk, at least a half dozen people have smiled or laughed out loud, and I haven’t been hit yet.
In spite of my work history, I have had only one romance in my life, and nothing could compare to a life like that. The dictionary says — Romance: A love affair; an ardent emotional attachment; fascination; involvement between people; love; enthusiasm for someone; something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful. And that doesn’t even begin to describe my love affair with my Most Beautiful Sweetie.
In the 1950s, people kidded that the sun came up late in Fort Worth, Texas, because the tall buildings in Dallas blocked the sun.
In the 1960s, we were on ‘stand-by’ for several years to get an overnight trip on a Matson Liner from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In those years Matson passenger ships sailed a triangle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, then to Honolulu and back to San Francisco. Sometimes a cabin would be available for the San Francisco to Los Angeles leg of the trip. They finally called one Thursday noon, and said we must be in San Francisco the next morning. We didn’t want to be in such a rush, and had hoped to spend a couple of vacation days in San Francisco along with the ship ride. So we refused that time, and never got another opportunity.
In the 1970s, Eastern Airlines had a special deal — three weeks of flying, $185 per person. (That’s a guess, but close.) We visited Chicago (rented a car and visited family in Indiana), Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, and several places in the Caribbean. At the end of our flying days, we were in Dallas. Eastern did not fly from Dallas to Los Angeles, so we flew from Dallas to Atlanta, then to Los Angeles.
It is the intent of our Tidbits, Snippets, & Gems, to pique your curiosity, stimulate your interest, and prompt you to investigate travel ideas.
Jim and Emmy's Tidbits are just that - vignettes, samples, suggestions, incidents, why not visit stories, without a hint of the "How To" that is the major topic found in many travel publications.
McDonald’s seldom cooked my burger well done enough. On August 28, 1983 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, I told my Sweetie, “No more.” Over the years Sweetie said, “Why not?” but I will never ordered another. I said, “Who else knows when they ate their last Mikky burger?” Sweetie and I had Egg McMuffin, Fries and Carmel Sundaes in dozens of states, a couple dozen countries in Europe, across Canada, and on Islands in the far Pacific.
Moved from Dallas, Texas, to Los Angeles, Calif., in May 1955, and drove the 1951 Plymouth, pulling a two wheel trailer. I piled boxes even with the back seat of the car, making a play pen for the kids. There were no seat belts or kiddy seats in those days.
Moved to Texas from Illinois on April 14, 1952 driving the '46 Olds, pulling a one-wheel trailer. Emmy remembers the date. When she called Esther from Joliet to tell her we had left, there was no answer and we learned later that Esther had gone to the hospital to deliver Nancy that day.
Near downtown Fort Worth, Texas, there was a rather long underpass, which was called the Subway, for some reason. Some of the people I worked with at an insurance company, would not believe me when I described the Subway in Chicago, New York City, and other places. I checked out a book from the library to show them the other part of the world.
Now as I write this, I remember a lady in Phoenix, Arizona, a long time friend, who went to our 10th Aniversary dinner with us. She loved a Well Done steak, but would order chicken or fish, just to make sure no one made fun of her. When I ordered “Well done,” Evelyn changed her order. I loved the meat the way I wanted it, and didn’t care what anyone thought or said about it. But my poor Sweetie, for 55 years she cooked and cooked my steak until it was dead, as she called it.
On our last visit to London, Sweetie shopped at the Selfridge Department store on Oxford Street, and a few other stores. She soon decided that even if she found a suit or a dress she would like well enough to wear (not likely), the price would scare her away. Prices and styles were equally atrocious.
One day I reached over to pat Sweetie on the fanny, as I have been known to do a million times. Sweetie received one broken rib, one cracked rib, and one night at Eisenhower Hospital. Forgot to mention, we were on our bicycles at the time.
One day while traveling in Rome, Italy, Sweetie needed a shampoo and set. Luckily we found a hairdresser who would keep her off the streets and out of the stores for an hour or so, for only $12. The hairdresser visit was a real bargain, saved us a lot of money.
One evening Sweetie felt ill and needed to see a doctor. It was (a) Sunday, (b) six o'clock PM, (c) we were in a campground, (d) in Germany, (e) behind the Berlin Country Wall (that is different from the more famous Berlin City Wall) in West Berlin, so what was the chance to solve her problem? Not only did we find a Klinik nearby, but the stomach doctor was IN. He answered her immediate questions, checked this and that, then said there was no emergency, and no charge. Try that in your home town some Sunday night.
One IRS man had worked with me for the ten years of Income Tax audit. He jokingly said he would not retire until it was solved. I asked for the name of his boss so I could write a letter of compliment, and he said, “Don’t you dare, they would fire me.”
One of our trips to Hawaii was a business trip, computer business. Would you believe it, Sweeties schedule (beds didn't need to be made, dishes didn't need washed) was such that she could go along. I flew somewhere many weeks each year, for over 20 years, but only when and where necessary. Sweetie went with me on business trips a few times a year, we always vacationed, so a business trip “just for fun” was never considered.
One time we received permission to visit on the famous “SS Lurline.” Dress code on the SS Lurline, required men to wear coats and ties at evening meals. It was nearing dinner time, an officer saw I was dressed in sports coat, sports shirt, no tie, he asked, “Are you a member of the crew?” For many years, Sweetie would say, “Are you a member of the crew,” when she thought I was not dressed appropriately.
One time we visited a freighter ship at the harbor. The cranes that were used to load and unload a ship in those days were called “booms.” And of course we were on a dock, a place where a ship is tied while loading and unloading. As I pointed out these important facts, Sweetie said, “Oh, that's why they call this the boom-docks.” The driver of the passing fork-lift was laughing so hard he almost ran off the dock into the water.
One time we watched while our Chow dog, Lady, lay on her side, a kitten sat on her nose, put its front legs around Lady’s ear, and licked the ear like an ice-cream cone. It was hilarious to see the look on Lady’s face, as she pleaded, but waited for our permission, to get up and get rid of that stupid cat.
Our first Christmas Emmy came home from shopping, and discovered that a gift she had paid for was missing. She asked me to go and see if I could find it. I had her describe the gift in great detail, the color, the size, the cost, and anything else I could think of. When I got to the store there was no sign of the paid for gift, but fortified with a detailed description, I determined there was another pair of gloves, which fit Emmy’s description. She didn’t hear about this for several years.
Our first experience with buying and selling Real Estate occurred in Dallas, Texas. We bought our first house at 3719 Dawes Drive from the owner, saving the cost and effort of a RE Agent. When it was time to sell our house in Dallas, and move to Los Angeles, we tried for a couple of weeks to sell it for $8,500, without any luck. We ordered an FHA appraisal that said $9,250. We advertised in the newspaper that we had a FHA appraisal that required very little money for the down payment. A man came and bought the house before we even got our copy of the newspaper with the ad in it.
Our friend for 20 years, Mitch, was a retired Marine Colonel and recipient of the Congressional Metal of Honor for his service on Guadalcanal, on Oct. 26, 1942, during WW II. Mitch was involved in unearthing dishonest individuals who claimed to have received the Congressional Metal of Honor. One Sunday, the CBS program “60 Minutes” had Mitch on TV, telling the story of these fraudulent people. Imagine my surprise when one of the fraudulent people was a man that I had played tennis with many times. I never saw him again at the Tennis Club, his house was for sale immediately, and he disappeared from our area.
Our house was turquoise with white trim. Our Plymouth station wagon was turquoise and white. Sweetie wore a turquoise dress so often she called it her uniform. I knew what Sweetie liked. I painted the house, I bought the car, I selected the dress.
Over the years, several other people, from kids to grownups, thanked us for telling and demonstrating the face mask in the swimming pool idea, so now they could get in the water also. I still can’t put my face under water, without the face mask.
Pat gave me the phone number of her beautiful friend, and the rest is history, or better yet, Herstory. For over 55 years that “phone” rang and rang and rang, and Sweetie “answered” each and every time.
Saturday night we checked into the Hotel Stevens (now the Chicago Hilton and Towers) into a very tiny room, on our Honeymoon, about $9 per night, we still have the receipt. Since then we've had Honeymoons most every year, I mean several times most weeks.
Seven months later — minus one day — on June 2, 1951, after we had seen each other maybe 10 to 15 times, we were married. Emmy is the first and only lady I ever dated, or ever touched. What would I have done without her?
Several times when I was walking with my Sweetie, I would say to a Gentleman, “Wow, am I lucky you are here today, usually I'm the only one here with a beautiful lady.” His lady, and mine, were always thrilled.
Since Emmy did not yet drive, she had to ask a neighbor, Dede, to drive her to visit me at the County Hospital in 1956, when I had infectious mononucleosis. I was in the contagious ward, we communicated by telephone, with a glass window between us. Emmy decided that she must get a drivers license, and she did. She got her learner's permit, then one day while my parents were visiting, she was driving them in North Hollywood, so she just stopped at the DMV, took the test and passed.
Some of our very first dates were at the “Youth for Christ” meetings in downtown Chicago, on a Saturday night. I remember Billy Graham was the speaker. We met him, and shook his hand in Dallas, and later at the Hollywood Bowl.
Some people like the regimentation, Emmy and I are so individualistic we said “no” to the two offers for us to be “wagon masters.”
Some people travel from restaurant to restaurant and see hotels in between. Others go from scenic spot to scenic spot, and see the towns in between. We travel from town to town and see the scenic spots between.
Sweetie usually agrees with me in what we see or where we go, but sometimes it appears that agreement is just her easy way out. If she agrees with me, she doesn't have to present an alternative.
Sometime in the 1970s, I was scheduled to give speech at a convention in Phoenix on a Friday, and another in Las Vegas on Monday. I decided to drive my car instead of flying, and take Sweetie with me. On Saturday we stopped at the Grand Canyon. We recognized the man standing near us, and saw his name on a vehicle nearby, he was Sun Myung Moon. We smiled and nodded, nothing more. As we drove on towards Vegas, his vehicle passed us at high speed, and just moments later, a car coming from the other direction pulled out to pass a car, and went into our lane, and almost hit Moon's car head-on. Moon swerved onto the side of the road and missed the accident, I slammed on my brakes, and luckily no one was hit. At those speeds, it would have been a horrible accident, and we would have been involved.
Somewhere Sweetie bought a 10 inch high, 5 inches across, half round, with handle, and a hole to hang on a wall, light blue porcelain “something.” She was going to put flowers in it, but when we got home, she noticed a little spout at the bottom, and inside are markers for each half/liter up to 2 litters. Best we can figure, it is hung on the wall and is used to supply water for a douche. It never made it as a flower pot.
Soon after Sweetie and I met, I was driving her home to Schiller Park, after introducing her to my sister and family, who lived nearby in Franklin Park, both suburbs just west of Chicago. As we were in the left turn lane, waiting to turn from Grand Ave. onto River Road, I was convinced that this was my Sweetie for the rest of my life. Over the years, each time we visited in the Chicago area, I made sure I turned left at that very spot, and retold that story. Sweetie always agreed I had the right idea, but didn’t always agree that the subject under discussion was a good enough reason to get married.
Sweetie ate a buffet lunch at a large Department Store. She enjoyed items like herring, various salads, paella, chicken, artichoke hearts, even ice water with plenty of ice. None of those are my favorites, so I just kept her plate filled, and I watched her eat, as I have done hundreds of times. You've heard the story, “I would rather - do this or that - than eat.” Well, “I would rather keep my Sweetie's plate full, than eat.”
Sweetie bought a pink coral necklace one year, then bought a matching pair of earrings during a visit to the same store in the country of San Marino in another year. The $11 blue purse (negotiated down from $22), she bought was used many days of the year.
Sweetie decided to get her hair colored and set. We found a tasteful looking shop in Kórintho, Greece, the nice lady's hair was pleasantly styled, we thought she must know what to do. The hairdresser was anxious to communicate with Sweetie. She was a very attractive young grandmother, and showed pictures of her grandchildren. She showed a picture of a man on a tractor, and to let Sweetie know it was her son, she touched her stomach. Her husband drives a tour bus.
Sweetie said she wasn't feeling well. I checked, then said, “Wow, you feel just great to me.” After we checked into the Vienna, Austria, campground, I rode the bus and streetcar downtown, she rested in the RV. After a sight seeing walk around the downtown area, I returned to the RV with a McDonald's bag with a Big Mac and French Fries for the invalid.
Sweetie says her disposition is affected by the rain. I wondered what caused that. I liked it best when her predilection, or preference was for me. Sometimes I wondered what I could try next to agitate her propensity, her innate inclination.
Sweetie thinks Millau, France, is a nice town, probably because it has a flea market. We had spent the night on the bank of the Tarn River. People floated down the Tarn River in canoes, and a man in a truck went down the road to retrieve them, and bring them back to the starting point.
Sweetie tried to hold a conversation with a lady and her son named Paul, in Urbino, Italy. He had been studying English for about three months, and he tried very hard and did know some words. We got the impression Paul was surprised Sweetie didn't speak better English.
Sweetie visited her favorite brass and copper shop in Limburg, Germany, and if I thought she was going to buy a brass pot, I was half right, she bought two. One was a gift for Cousin Toni.
Sweetie was shopping for a dress, and offered a price. The dress salesman indicated agreement, then quickly kissed Sweetie on the neck and said “Bella, Bella.” But when she indicated a lack of interest in what he was really trying to sell, he showed a lack of interest in selling the dress for that price, so no buy, and no sale either. (Town of Capri on the Isle of Capri, Italy)
Sweetie was wearing a favorite blue print blouse, with plain blue slacks. Two Supervisors of the Carnival Cruise Lines congratulated her on how nice she looked, and how nicely she was dressed. She was 76 years old, and we were sailing on our 52nd Anniversary. The “Salvation Army Store Reject” dress style of these days did not please my Sweetie at all.
Sweetie's friend asked her to buy a set of Villeroy & Boch dishes with the Amapola pattern. The cost, including packing, postage, and customs duty, was about $800. (List price about $3,000) I thought that spending someone else's money should have satisfied Sweetie's craving for Villeroy & Boch, but it whetted her appetite.
That winter, 1951, it snowed and snowed in Schiller Park, IL, and one morning it took me 3 or 4 hours to shovel the driveway, so I could get the car out. But that did no good, as no one had plowed the street. I always did like warmer weather, and convinced Emmy that anything is better than this. We subscribed to newspapers in Dallas and Phoenix, at least, and studied the want ads, for jobs and apartments, and cost of food in grocery ads. We then moved to Dallas, Texas, and a few years later to Los Angeles, Calif.
The compliments to my Sweetie, and the humor you see in these Gems, actually appear in our Journals, and were said or happened where stated. I didn't just make them up as I created the Gems. Well, knowing me, maybe I did just create, or edit a couple of them.
The house Emmy really wanted to buy was beautiful, cost $10,000, it was near White Rock Lake, east of Dallas, with a white rock roof and turquoise trim. My drive to work would have been long, the monthly payments almost impossible. We later painted our Archwood house in Los Angeles, Calif., turquoise w/white trim, and our turquoise and white Plymouth station wagon matched. Emmy wore a couple of turquoise dresses so often we called them her uniform. I knew what she liked, I painted the house, I bought the car, and I bought the dresses
The national news was showing a police chase as it followed streets with very familiar names, Fallbrook, Ventura, Woodlake. I watched carefully, and sure enough there was a helicopter news shot that showed the swimming pool we had installed at the corner of Woodlake and Hatteras, where we had lived 50 years earlier.
The storekeeper in Dallas, Texas, had felt the Necchi sewing machine was the best machine and the best buy, but he was happy to exchange it for the Elna Sweetie had purchased a few weeks earlier. Sweetie was so worried because she'd already sent in the warranty for the Necchi. The overtime and part-time job permitted this all to be owned free and clear in short time. We also bought a brown sectional living room set, and blonde Formica end tables.
The story of my “Memories of Early Computer Days” on our Internet Site, is different from most such stories. It's a yarn from down in the pits, doing the actual work of making computers useful, not just elegant comments by/about the educational elite, in their penthouse facilities. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) liked my story well enough to put it their web site.
The Swimming mask was near the pool, so I reached it, held it over my eyes and nose, and stuck my face in the water a whole 2 inches deep. It was amazing, it really was clear, and even though my whole face was not below the water, I felt safe. Without saying a word to anyone, I put the mask on, with the strap, and looked deeper in the water. It was so nice I just floated deeper, and even touched the bottom. Someone hollered, “He’s drowning!” I had never had my face below water before!!
There was a friend in Dallas, Texas, who was wheelchair bound. He had been a glider pilot during the Normandy invasion, many of those pilots had been killed or injured. A few years later he fell out of bed during the night, broke his back, and was in a wheelchair from then on. He loved to bowl, so I went with him a few times, and bowled my normal 100 to 110 points a game. I seem to remember that one time, for one game, I bowled over 210, but I’m not at all clear on that subject. Perhaps I misremember it just as if it really happened.
There was a murder in the street right in front of our apartment in Palm Desert, Calif. We didn't know either party.
They anchored the Princesses Cruise Line ship, TSS Carla-C, a mile offshore, near the Guadalupe Islands, and loaded us into life boats for the trip to the island. As our little boat circled the TSS Carla-C and headed for the shore, Sweetie looked around here and there, then said, “Oh! Where did that big ship come from?” Well, how did she think she got here!
To be happy each time I met my beloved Sweetie was the easiest thing I ever did.
To describe the high quality of the equipment involved, the physical object used to hold my camera steady for telephoto time-exposures, was of the highest quality. Sweetie stood very still and held her breath, while I steadied the camera on her shoulder. Among the many differences from the usual tripod - Sweetie has only two legs, beautiful legs, but only two.
We always kidded Sweetie for getting one thing mixed with something that was maybe similar. For example, when we still lived in Chicago, IL, and were looking at the Dallas, Texas, newspaper, trying to decide if we would move there, and saw the advertisements that mentioned houses with Cyclone fenced back yard. She didn’t realize chain link fence is often called Cyclone Fence, and said, “I don’t want to move somewhere that has Cyclones.” Well I certainly agreed, and didn’t want to live where there are Cyclones, another word for "hurricane" and "typhoon."
We borrowed a couple of hundred dollars from brother Paul, and another couple of hundred from Carl and Lee for our down payment in Dallas, Texas, in 1953. All was repaid in a very short time. We later added a one-car garage, and enclosed the screened-in porch and made it into a 9’ by 12’ den/sewing room. The house had a beautiful tea rose trellis that Ronnie climbed one day and got onto the roof. Scared Emmy to death! Can’t remember the exact details, but we paid a little over $7,000, and sold a couple of years later for over $9,000.
We bought a 1955 Red Chevy station wagon and took an 8,000 mile three-week trip to visit friends and family in Dallas, Texas, Chicago, IL, Several places in Indiana and Pennsylvania, and on to Wash. DC. On the way home we stopped to see Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone Park. A number of nights we slept in the station wagon, with Ronnie on the front seat, Linda at our feet in back. The motel in Las Vegas cost $16, and Sweetie was horrified at the exorbitant cost!
We conducted numerous meetings at Senior Centers and Libraries, entitled "Talk about travel in Europe,"
We drove from our home in Dallas, Texas, to Chicago, IL, and Indiana during early summer of 1954. It was so nice seeing everyone again. We ate meals at roadside picnic tables while we traveled. Funny how that works, when we had to do this to save the money we did not like it, but now when we don't have to be that careful, we hate to eat in a restaurant.
We felt safe when we found that one of Betty Ford's Secret Service agents was spending a lot of nights with one of our neighbors.
We found a class that would give Sweetie information about buying, managing, renovating, and selling an apartment building for a profit. On a street lined with apartments, she went door to door asking if anyone wanted to sell, and hit the jackpot. We completely renovated the 17 units, traded it for a 39 unit building, sold that one a couple of years later, for about 40 times our original investment. My Sweetie did it, in 4 or 5 years!!
We found that we could stay at the Motel 6 in Palm Springs, with our Pomerian dog, Pixie, with us. Otherwise the cost of a kennel was more than our hotel room for the weekend. She behaved herself while left in the room, and never messed up the floor. And was nice company as we went for a walk.
We had to visit Dallas, Texas, on business in 1980 (watching our money disappear), so we scheduled this trip to Europe to start while we are there on business. We must stop and conduct more business when we return. Calling that “fiasco” business, must be the world’s greatest oxymoron.
We have visited the Grand Canyon, maybe 12 or 15 times, in all seasons of the year, twice when it was covered with snow. We have spent nights in the hotel, in our RV, and other times we spent a few hours, then drove on our way. One time the Visitor's Book was open to a page, back in the early 1900's. The name of the visitor was the author, Zane Grey, when he was there on his honeymoon.
We learned how to buy and sell Real Estate starting in Dallas, Texas. When we were going to move to Los Angeles, we sold our house on Dawes Drive to a man who needed a little more cash to complete the deal. So I met him just outside the Escrow Office and gave him the $250 needed to close. The people in the Office asked him where he got the money, but we forget why they asked, and what he answered, but it didn’t matter. That was just the second of over a hundred deals we were involved in, concerning Real Estate over the next 40 years. Never a problem, I learned from each, and never had to pay for advice.
We lived in a Dallas, Texas, apartment for two weeks in 1952. It was a very nice two-bedroom apartment, but some wallpaper was coming off the walls and seemed to be infested with roaches. Don't think we had ever seen roaches before. The other tenants weren't concerned at all. Emmy had a favorite pair of green suede platform shoes she must have left in that apartment when we moved, never saw them again.
We moved from Sierra Vista, Arizona, back into the same house on Archwood Street in Canoga Park, Caif, where we had lived for several years. While the mover was unloading the furniture, he had a puzzled look on his face, and finally said something "funny" was going on. All the furniture fit where we told him to put it the first time, and when he was done it looked like it belonged. We told him that the furniture had been bought for this house, and we knew just where each piece fit. Interesting that he would notice something like that.
We moved to a small brand new duplex on Dalford Drive in Fort Worth when I accepted a job in 1952, with an insurance company in Fort Worth. This duplex did not have any built-in heating system, and we were afraid of the non-vented heaters. One morning when the thermometer registered 52° in the house, we thought it was time to move to an apartment with a furnace, another duplex on the north side of Fort Worth.
We never got to visit the Earthly Holy Land. But we will be in the Heavenly Holy Land together, in the near future.
We planned to get married on Saturday June 2. My Army class in Indianapolis was graduating Thursday May 31, if I could catch the early train to Chicago, Emmy could meet me, we could get the license and save a trip downtown the next day. I had permission from the Colonel, so had all my clothes already at the train station and my shaving kit hidden in the bushes near the Army Chapel. It would do no good to make the rush and not have Emmy meet me, so if I got to the early train I would call my sister Mary, and she would call Emmy — if I called her office, Emmy might not be available right then. I caught the bus, then ran the 6 blocks to the train station, gave the phone operator Mary's number and the right change, picked up the phone said “It's me,” and ran on to the train. In those days you could not dial long distance, operator assisted calls only.
We remember one time taking coke bottles to the store to get our deposit back in about 1953, so we could buy a loaf of bread. Money was tight at times, but we don't really remember a time when we had to do without something that we really needed and we never really wanted something that we couldn't afford. We were smart enough not to “want” beyond our needs, at least in the early days!!!!
We shook hands and talked with President Gerald Ford who lived in nearby Palm Desert. When I mentioned I was born in Lake Odessa, Michigan, a town he knew about, he just beamed. Once when Sweetie was shopping, Betty Ford and her Secret Service men came into the department store, and Sweetie was immediately ignored. We did feel safer when we found that one of the Secret Service agents was spending a lot of nights with one of our neighbors.
We sold our Dallas house to a man who arrived before we even received our copy of the newspaper with the advertisement. He stood in the living room and said he would take it. Emmy asked if he didn't want to see the bedrooms. He did, but was not really too interested, he believed us that there were two of them.
We spent our second Christmas in Fort Worth. Emmy felt rather lonely. One of Ronnie's presents was a small car. Our bed was angled in the corner and we hid the car behind the head of the bed as best we could. Ronnie discovered it before Christmas. He really did enjoy driving it after his first disappointing moments of discovering it had no real head lights, and the doors didn't open, and there was no rear-view mirror.
We stopped in Indiana to visit family, stopped in Dallas, Texas, to take care of business, stopped other places to visit friends and just because, on our way to California.
We stopped in Phoenix, Arizona, to visit, and stayed overnight with Bill and Evelyn, people that Emmy had known in Chicago. At that time their home was beyond city-limits, but by now Phoenix has grown many, many miles beyond their home. We visited them several times over the years.
We used to spent some Saturday nights at a ball game in Dodger Stadium. The Angels played at the same field, and often we not only didn’t know who the visiting team was, we didn’t know if the Dodger’s or the Angel’s were the home team. One time there was a fight on the field, players from both teams scrambled all over the place, and the umpires were very much involved. On the way home, the radio was on, and the announcer (most likely Vin Scully) was telling of the fight, and gave the name of one of the umpires, the famous Hank Soar, whose name Sweetie misunderstood. She then said, “I didn’t see any swords.” As I remember we paid $1 for parking, 50¢ each for Sweetie and Linda, (ladies night) and $1.50 eachfor Ronnie and me. These days parking is $15, no idea what tickets cost.
We went house-hunting in Dallas, Texas, each and every weekend in 1953, and finally bought a house at 3719 Dawes Drive from the owner, a two bedroom, one bath, large kitchen, nice backyard, for about $7,200. Monthly payment was $54 per month. Part of that was a second mortgage that would have been paid within a couple of years, and then the monthly payment would be $37! Can't buy dinner for that these days!
Well, one time a chess piece fell off our game table in California, landed on the carpet, but it didn’t break. We had no Earthquake insurance to cover the labor cost to return the chess piece to its place on the table.
When Dan and Linda bought their first house in in 1986, a pool had been installed in their back yard. A one-piece fiberglass swimming pool that was 9’ by 25’ and about 5’ deep at the deepest, the same one as installed at our friends home, where I first put on the mask and put my head below water, 30 years earlier.
When I had completed the Army’s IBM school near Indionapolis, Ind., I rushed to Chicago, IL, Emmy was waiting at the train station. We got the marriage license, and on the way home, while waiting at the bus stop it started to rain, and boy did it pour. We both got soaked, but then who cared, we were in love and were going to get married tomorrow!
When I wanted to watch a ballgame, Sweetie would go to the bedroom to watch her TV program. I wanted her right next to me, so finally I got smart enough to solve the problem for only $150. I bought another TV.
When Sweetie was shopping, my rule was; If my Sweetie wants it, I will buy it. I am lucky that the only really, for real, actual, ridiculous item Sweetie ever wanted, was me.
When we arrived in Los Angeles in 1955, we rented a very small one bedroom furnished apartment over a garage near downtown LA. The price was $75 per month. We remember an exceptional heat wave that summer, and we had no air conditioning. We kept the bathtub filled with water at night, and we would just get in the tub, then back to bed.
When we lived in Fort Worth, Texas, we bought a lovely limed-oak six-drawer chest of drawers, and eight-drawer dresser and a desk for the living room. Many years later Emmy antiqued them in a dark wood-tone finish. We still have them. The rest of the furniture we bought used, including our first Beautyrest mattress. We've been sold on them ever since. “Sold” is not the only thing we have done on them! We have slept also.
When we lived on Eccles St. in Canoga Park, CA, in January 1979, we felt an earthquake. I telephoned Linda who lived on the second floor in an apartment about five or six miles south. Aftershocks continued, and as we talked she would say, “There’s another one,” and I would count to about four or five and say, “I feel it!” We later found the earthquake was centered in the ocean, about 30 miles south of us, and Linda lived between us and the epicenter. The shake moved about two miles per second.
When we moved to California, and bought our house in Encino, we became good friends with the Miller family. They installed a one-piece fiberglass swimming pool that was 9’ by 25’ and about 5’ deep at the deepest. One day Gray Miller put on a face mask and went to the bottom of the pool, and picked up the small item. He mentioned how clear it was in the pool, when he was wearing the mask. I was curious, tried it, and liked it!!
When we visited my long ago home town, Sweetie was surprised to find I must have attended an all girls school. I didn't seem to remember any boys, but I remembered the girls.
While we were at Eisenhower Hospital, Rancho Mirage, CA, an ambulance arrived. It turns out that the people were attending a special dinner at a Mobile Home Park, when this man just collapsed from his chair. His wife, who had been sitting beside him, was here, and when she found he was dead, of course she broke down and cried, and her friends did what they could to calm her down. She then pulled herself together, and said I must call my boys at home. You never saw such a change in demeanor. The lady straightened herself up, talked in a firm voice, and explained to her boys, that now she was the only parent left, and that the boys would have to learn how to help her conduct their way of life.
Wish we had kept the letter we received from the Phoenix, Arizona, Chamber of Commerce in 1951. They said that Phoenix did not have any jobs, did not have enough water for growth of jobs and people, and if we were not retired, or were not interested in being a bell-hop or waiter, please do not move to Phoenix.
Our Wedding Anniversities were celebrated in 54 Restaurants in Six states, Five countries, Three cruise ships.
'51 (00) The Pantry (Wedding Day) Park Ridge, Ill.
'52 (01) Western Hills Hotel Fort Worth, Texas
'53 (02) Baker Hotel Dallas, Texas
'54 (03) At Home Dallas, Texas
'55 (04) Lawry's Prime Rib Los Angeles, Calif
'56 (05) Carolina Pines Los Angeles, Calif
'57 (06) Fireside Inn Encino, Calif
'58 (07) Good Wife Encino, Calif
'59 (08) Wild Goose Studio City, Calif
'60 (09) Steers Los Angeles, Calif
'61 (10) House of Lords Las Vegas, Nev.
'62 (11) Black Angus Phoenix, Ariz
'63 (12) Rams Horn Encino, Calif
'64 (13) Sportsman's Lodge Studio City, Calif
'65 (14) Tail of the Cock Studio City, Calif
'66 (15) Sorrentino's Palm Springs, Calif
'67 (16) Castaways Glendale, Calif
'68 (17) That John's Palm Springs, Calif
'69 (18) Mission Hotel San Diego, Calif
'70 (19) La Scala Glendale, Calif
'71 (20) Cliff Hotel San Francisco, Calif
'72 (21) Talk of the Valley Van Nuys, Calif
'73 (22) Rococo's Woodland Hills, Ca
'74 (23) Kirkaby Center Club Los Angeles, Calif
'75 (24) The Golden Tale El Segundo, Calif
'76 (25) Shearton Hotel San Diego, Calif
'77 (26) Hilton Hotel Las Vegas, Nev
'78 (27) Tropicanna Hotel, Las Vegas, Nev
'79 (28) Cask and Cleaver Rancho Mirage, Calif
'80 (29) Lowe's Hotel Monte Carlo, Monaco
'81 (30) Mauna Kea Beach Kamuela, Hawaii
'82 (31) Chart House Rancho Mirage, Calif
'83 (32) Sterns Wharf Santa Barbara, Calif
'84 (33) Lord Fletcher Rancho Mirage, Calif
'85 (34) Hotel Zur Post Greimerath, Ger.
'86 (35) Circus Circus Las Vegas, Nev
'87 (36) Marriott's Palm Desert, Calif
'88 (37) Ports of Call San Pedro, Calif
'89 (38) Marriott Hotel Athens, Greece
'90 (39) Jeremiah's Palm Springs, Calif
'91 (40) Cask and Cleaver Rancho Mirage, Calif
'92 (41) Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage, Calif
'93 (42) Stoffers Esmeralda Indian Wells, Calif
'94 (43) Hilton Hotel Palm Springs, Calif
'95 (44) Strasbourg Cafeteria Strasbourg, France
'96 (45) Palm Valley Country Club Palm Desert, CA
'97 (46) Outback Steakhouse Palm Desert, CA
'98 (47) Westin Hotel Rancho Mirage, CA
'99 (48) Wild Goose Rancho Mirage, CA
'00 (49) Star Princess The Pacific Ocean
'01 (50) SS Elation The Pacific Ocean
'02 (51) Smoky's Palm Desert
'03 (52) SS Ecstasy The Pacific Ocean
'04 (53) Damon's Glendale, CA
'05 (54) Taylor's Steak House La Canada, CA
For Eternity - - in Heaven
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