Anna says, "I bet the next second I picked up that marble ashtray and threw it across the room and then grabbed those flowers and ate them."
1961, St. Louis, Missouri
Notice that Leonard got down low to take this photograph. He had natural talent, like his father.
1961, Berkeley, Missouri
I climbed on that dog's back while he sat in the kitchen waiting for my mother to feed him. When he stood up and put his head down to the bowl, I slid face-first onto the floor and busted out a front tooth.
Anna and I weren't always dressed alike, but once in a while. We kind of liked it.
1965, Philippines
My mother made the Madonna and child hanging on the wall to the right of my head. She got the pattern from a woman's magazine, like Family Circle, or one of those. Anna still has it.
1968, Norfolk, Virginia
Kurt says, "The model on the desk is of the Apollo Lunar Lander. All things astronaut were the thing in the 60s and 70s. It was really advanced for a kid, and I think I had help from Dad or Mom, but I really painted it well, and did ...a real good job with it. It came apart and docked - connected - like it did in flight, and the lunar lander's landing gear operated (I was really proud that I got that to work!). The plans/instructions for the kit are at the front right of the desk.
1970, Arlington, Virginia
"There's a Voodoo Fighter desk model on the desk; I got that from Grandpa Dee Dee; it was from McDonnell-Douglas.
"There's that cash register savings bank. An old-styled globe; I liked those when I was a kid. A pile of magazines; I always saved magazines (still do). Just above the Lunar Landing Module is a fire alarm box that I got somewhere. (You're looking at the bottom of it in the pic.) I wanted to make it into a light switch for my room somehow; never did. On the base of the lamp are little figurines of characters from a Pop-Tarts offer. I ate pounds and pounds of crusts from Susan's Pop-Tarts to get those! Just to the left of my left shoulder is an old cigar box that has trinkets...and I still have it, and likely lots of the trinkets. Of course, we all remember that 3-legged chair. Who has it now? [Susan says, "I do."]
"I remember the drawer to the desk, it had a pencil tray in the front. Mom made the dress Susan is wearing. Those are Boonedockers shoes that I'm wearing. There was a push button on the base of the lamp to turn it on/off that you had to hold for a few seconds before it would fire, and I remember a bunch of other silly things.
"On top of the pile of mags to the right of the pic are three stacked clear cases. They are car models from a series that included those stacked cases, for display. Which reminds me...
"One time Grandpa DeeDee took me to a car show at the old St. Louis Arena. I was struck by one concept/experimental car there, a Deora. I bought the plastic model kit of it and took it home to Dee Dee's and built it. I put it under a desk lamp to dry the body paint on the model during dinner. It melted! The main body piece was badly deformed, but maybe reparable. I cried, but I thought we could do something with it. Grandpa Dee Dee decided to teach me a lesson, so he put the melted mess on the kitchen table and said something like "It's done! Get over it!" And then he smashed what was left with his fist. I bawled!! (Grandma Dee Dee did not like this!) And then he took me back to the car show the next day (and I think paid another pair of admissions) and bought me another model. So basically, he taught me to not cry over spilled milk."
"Really???"
