Nothing Much Else Happened: August 15, 1978

Today, I finally found Tracy next door. He was down by the lake waiting for his friend, Chris, to come pick him up so they could go water skiing. I asked if I could come along to watch. We were out for almost 3 hours, and when I got back, Craig was waiting for me. We played a little ping pong and a little pool, and really had a ball -- until Tracy came over. I've learned that 3 is a crowd and it's just not worth it. He (Tracy) finally left. We had a big dinner party tonight with all of Craig's family, my Mom and Dad, and Aunt Sherry and Uncle Don.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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To view the next day click: August 16, 1978

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 14, 1978

Today, I spent an active day at the farm. After a late breakfast, Mom, Aunt Sherry and I decided to go canoeing. So we (laboriously) pulled the canoe down to the canal out to the lake, ducking our heads under the spider webs, and we finally got out on the private lake! That's right -- no one else is there anymore! When we got back, Aunt Sherry got out a Slip N' Slide. After we patched up the holes, it worked great! It started working better when it rained! On our way home, we picked up 2 of the puppies, "Speck" and "Checkers", who will be Uncle Don's dogs.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 13, 1978

Today was one of the best days of my vacation! We went to Kim Ogilvie's house with 3 dogs in the car! It's true, we picked up another dog, "Checkers", last night! Well, let's get down to business. After lunch, we went down to the lake (about 30 yds. away) got some skis on, and got right up the first time water skiing! I went around the lake once and wiped out once. My second time, I was almost slaloming! We left around 4:00 P.M. for the G.O. (Gregg-Ogilvie) farm and arrived about 7:30 P.M. We'll be here until tomorrow.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 12, 1978

Today Craig and I did about everything you can fit in one day. We started out with looking at the new puppy, "Speck", who was brought here last night. We then played a little Trac Ball. Craig's mother got the idea of going down to the lake, so, we spent about 4 hours in the lake. We came up for a little lunch, and went out and lit about 12 firecrackers, 7 of them in a packet of toilet paper! It blew it apart. Well, tomorrow I will learn how to Water Ski.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 11, 1978

Today, Mom and Aunt Sherry spent most of the day planning out a party for Mom tonight. Mom says she gets this party every time she comes here. So, while she is at the party, I'll be on my way out to Craig Ogilvie's house. When I got there, I met his younger sister, Ann-Michelle, who is adorable. I also met their German Shorthair puppy-dog, named "Yeager". "Yeager" means "Hunter" in German. His full name is "Yeager Meister Von Foots". I think I'm going to have a lot of fun here.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 10, 1978

Today, I went over to check on one of my old friends, Tracy. I met him 3 years ago, when I last came here to the Ogilvie's house. Unfortuneately, he was away in another part of Florida for a vacation. I have discovered my Aunt's organ (No, not her organs, her organ!). I play it all the time, but my favorite piece to play is Strangers In The Night. I can do it in 9 different versions. Aunt Sherry can't believe how well I play. She said that it took me 1 day and a half to learn what took her 2 years to learn!

***

The organ was one of those Kimball home organs that far too many people had in their home in the 1970s. The "versions" were merely different rhythm settings (i.e., rock, soft rock, samba, etc.). I especially loved playing songs with the "bossa nova" rhythm loop playing.

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 9, 1978

Today it was confirmed that "Foots" was either stolen or got out and then picked up in the streets. So, Aunt Sherry put an ad in the paper. If you found him you would get about a fifty-dollar reward. I shot alot of pool today and also played some ping-pong with Dad, too. But let me tell you about some of my future plans. On the eleventh, I will be going to my cousin's place. (Incidentally, my cousin's name is Craig) On the 13th, I will learn how to Water Ski at my other cousin Kim's house (hooray!).

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 8, 1978

★ Highlight Day

Today, we flew to Florida and met Aunt Sherry at the airport. On the way home she said she had a surprise. When we got there, I found out the surprise was my favorite maid, Alberta! We had a meatloaf sandwich for lunch and then I went out to their gameroom and shot some pool (the first pool I've played in 3 years) They have a new dog named "Foots", and I went out to see him, but he wasn't there. Aunt Sherry thought that Uncle Don had taken him to the vet. But when Uncle Don got home, no "foots"! We figure someone let him out. For dinner, we went to Morrison's. I love their custard pie so I had 2 for dessert.

***

So much to explain in this entry.

First of all, that was two slices of custard pie at Morrison's Cafeteria — not two entire pies.

Secondly, I do make at least one more reference to Foots' disappearance, but it was confirmed after our departure that he had been stolen: a neighbor spotted a pickup truck pull up into their driveway next door, take Foots from his kennel, load him in the back and take him away. (The neighbor mistakenly thought that the thieves had done this with Uncle Don's approval.)

And lastly ... *sigh* ... Alberta. I've always struggled with this, but I can't deny the fact that my mother's father was wealthy enough to have full-time maids — sometimes two at a time. Considering the amount of time I spent at my grandfather's house as a child, it was somewhat inevitable that I became quite close to them, especially Alberta Tooley. She was more than a maid; she was practically my nanny for a number of years, and for all my subsequent visits to Florida. (She also came and visited us in California a number of times as well.) As strange as it is to talk about my family's maid, I have to say that Alberta was one of my closest friends in my childhood.

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 7, 1978

Today was our 17th, biggest and last day of touring. After breakfast, the troup headed for Metro-Rail, the subway of Washington. We got our tickets and jumped on the train for the Smithsonian. When we got there, we split up, Dad and me going to the F.B.I., and mom heading for the Smithsonian East Gallery. After the F.B.I. tour (my last and favorite tour), Dad and I went to see the Archives where the constitution is. We had lunch at the Smithsonian cafeteria, and then Mom and I went to the Dresden exhibit in the last gallery. On the way home we stopped at the museum of Natural History for a few minutes.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 6, 1978

Today was better than August 4 because today I met Sally & Sarah Hodgkins. And today we did go to the Air and Space Museum. We didn't even touch the first floor — well, what I mean is compared to the whole museum, I hardly saw a thing! I did get to fly something called the Link Trainer, which is a training airplane. Tonight we went to see some of mom's and dad's old friends, named the Clements. They have some very cute daughters and a couple of adorable puppy dogs. We went out to the Jolly Ox for dinner.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 5, 1978

Today we weren't planning to do very much, but ended up doing alot more than expected. We started out by taking the tour of the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts. Boy! That is one beautiful place! It has 3 different stages — the Eisenhower theatre, the Concert Hall and the Opera House. They said that if you laid down the Washington Monument on its side in the hallway, there would still be eighty feet left. We then went to the Ford's Theatre and the house across the street where Lincoln died. Tonight we saw a play at the Eisenhower theatre entitled "The Players".

***

"The Players" was a play about — I'm not making this up — Australian Rules Football. You can imagine why it never went anywhere. I've tried to find more information on it, but I can't. It starred Fred Gwynne, and it was difficult to ever get into the play, as I spent the whole time thinking I was staring at Herman Munster.

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 4, 1978

Today, we were supposed to meet My cousin, Sally, and her daughter, Sarah (who is 14). Unfortunately, Sarah couldn't show up because she had to practice with her swim team for a swim meet tomorrow. And we were supposed to go to the Air & Space museum, but we ended up going to Mount Vernon and the National Zoo. We went up to and walked around George Washington's Plantation. At the Zoo, I saw what I've been wanting to see for many years: Pandas! They were adorable! The male, Hsing-Hsing was my favorite because he would do other things then eat — unlike the female, Ling-Ling.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 3, 1978

Today was another big day. But let me finish about last night. After dinner we decided to go to the Washington Monument. We got there at 9:00 P.M. and didn't get into it until 10:30 P.M. Today let me explain everything briefly. First was the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, where all the green stuff (money) is printed. Then, mom and I went to the Lincoln Memorial. After that we met Dad at the Capitol and went to the House of Rep. Then a short walk over to the senate for a while. Then a quick lunch and a short subway (the Capitol's) ride. Tonight we had dinner with some of Mom & Dad's ol' friends, the Baers.

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 2, 1978

Today I found I was right about "alot of things to do". We started out with the tour of the interiors of 3 main buildings in Washington D.C.: The White House, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Museum of History and Technology. The White House was neat, but you didn't get to see Mr. Carter or Amy or Rosallyn. The Capitol was "large", and that's about all I can say about it. When we went to the Museum of History and Technology, where we first went to eat. We spent some time there, came home, went to sleep, got up (does any of this sound familiar?), and went to The Greenery for dinner. (Continued tomorrow)

***

The Museum of History and Technology was renamed The National Museum of American History in 1980.

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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Nothing Much Else Happened: August 1, 1978

★ Highlight Day

Today we flew to Washington on the last stage of our sight-seeing trip. This is not the end of the trip, though. We go on to Florida to see my Aunt & Uncle and cousins; but not to sight-see. When we got to Washington we went to an excellent place to eat lunch called La Souperb. Mom said it was a "find". We then went back to our hotel, "The Gralyn", and did our usual thing: Slept! We then went out to a wonderful restaurant called Flagship. We've been talking about all the things we are going to do, and I'm afraid there'll be alot!

***

All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 12.

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To view the next day click: August 2, 1978

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