Universal Studios StarWay

Jonella 3/13/14 Jonella 3/13/14

Wahiawa

Jonella 10/10/13 Jonella 10/10/13

I Could Fall Asleep Anywhere

Apparently, as a kid, I could fall asleep anywhere.
If only I could do that now.

Jonella 10/3/13 Jonella 10/3/13

Pink Motorcycle

Pure glee!
And look at those pigtails and bangs.
I was adorable.
Always the squinty eyes when I smile.
Some things never change.

Jonella 9/26/13 Jonella 9/26/13

Feeding Elephants

They used to let you feed peanuts to the elephants at the San Diego Zoo.

Jonella 9/19/13 Jonella 9/19/13

Backyard Garden

My sandbox in the backyard in Denver,
completely surrounded by Mom's garden.

How cool is that?

Jonella 9/12/13 Jonella 9/12/13

Summer 1955

Still hanging with my sisters. The greaser reunion rages on!

Kathy and Beth from the summer of 1955.
Yup. They're OLD!!!

Jonella 9/5/13 Jonella 9/5/13

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Kathy & Beth in front of the house on 28th St.

I'm hanging out with Beth and Kathy at Grauman's Chinese Theater right now.
Or maybe exploring Madame Tussaud's.
Beth's never seen the Walk of Fame.

Are We There Yet?

Greaser reunion starts next week!

Gonna be hanging out with my sisters.

So much fun stuff planned!

Are we there yet?

Jonella 6/13/13 Jonella 6/13/13

I have no idea...

... what's going on in this photo. Or why. This was taken in the house we rented in Long Beach while we were transitioning from Denver to San Diego in 1978. I'd spent most of the summer living in San Diego with Beth while Mom and Dad dealt with the details of moving. Maybe Mom dealt with the move while Dad was working.

Anyway, all I can tell you is that I'm wearing my swim goggles with sticks stuck in the sides like antenna. In the photo they're competing with the rabbit ears from the TV so it looks like there're four of them. I assure you only two of them are mine. That's my purple hippo sleeping bag wrapped around my shoulders.

At least I'm all blond and tan from so many hours at the public pool. It cost $0.25 to get in. Mom would save quarters in a blue mug I'd made in a ceramics class with her in Denver. She kept the mug in the buffet. I would take a quarter, my towel, and those lovely goggles and walk to the pool where I would alternately pretend to be either a dolphin or a sea otter. The dolphin was kind of exhausting. No kicking allowed. Sea otter was much more relaxing with lots of floating on my back.

There was a woman who was always there. She wore a black bikini with string ties at her hips. Her skin that was tanned to a deep dark brown and her blond hair was slicked back into a tight ponytail. Most of her face was covered by a pair of Jackie Onassis worthy sunglasses. She would recline on a towel ignoring the chatter and splashing. Every so often she would remove the sunglasses and climb the ladder to the high dive where she would stride to the end and in one final springing step hurtle into the sky and fall with Olympic grace into the water before repositioning herself on the towel. I thought she was beautiful.

Then one day I saw her in the locker room. I was standing under one of the showers, leaning on the wall button to keep the water flowing and rinse away the chlorine. Out of the bright sunlight, in the slanted shade of the angled wooden roof, I got my first really good look at her. Up close her skin didn't look smooth like everyone else's. It looked stiff and leathery, like my Buster Browns after I'd been jumping in puddles. This wasn't the alluring woman I'd been admiring for weeks. She looked crunchy. And very very old.

This wasn't when I gave up tanning. That happened about eight years later when skin cancer started popping up in the family. It certainly doesn't explain this photo. The only excuse I've got that is being eight.

Jonella 5/30/13 Jonella 5/30/13

Call Me Katniss?

Katniss? I don't think so.

This was my first year at Girl Scout summer camp, Camp Winacka.

I loved summer camp!

I just found the San Diego-Imperial Council song book! What a hoot!

You can check out the official Camp Winacka song.

Jonella 5/23/13 Jonella 5/23/13

Ash Grove Elementary

I attended kindergarten at Ash Grove Elementary in Denver. My mom was wonderful enough to write all of my classmate’s names on the back of my class photo.

Row 1: Mr. Seeber, Mrs. Coffey, Sara Wilkins, Scott Hays, Katie Kennedy, Andrew Samaras, Lauel Gregory, Michael Wolfson

Row 2: Laurie Hansen, Cara Olin, Richard Mohr, Jody Ambrose

Row 3: Katie Flanigan, Adam Welter, Danielle Pokonney, Patrick Bailey, Jill Fogel, Brian Geraghty, Christa Michele Doty, Steve Higgins

Row 4: Me, Meghan Jones, Lisa Burkhart, Gabriel Gehia, Charne Schmidt, Jenny Olson, Seth Matus, Millyon Pak

Row 5: Lisa Berg, Nicole Campbell, Marcella Epper, Joy Wagner, Dana Swartz

Seth Matus lived directly across the street from me and was my very first best friend.

I’m pretty sure that plaid shirt was blue...

...and my jumper was red with red yarn ribbons at the end of each braid.

We were all pretty stinking cute.

Sara Wilkins, from row 1, was my partner in crime. No, really. I committed my first crime with Sara. We shiplifted stickers with our initials from some hardware store. Mine are still stuck to my toy chest.

Jonella 5/28/11 Jonella 5/28/11

January 19, 1975

I think I liked the wrapping as much as the gift inside.

My 5th birthday on Locust Street in Denver. The Mickey Mouse record player was used hour after hour for years. I still have it. Well, of course I do. And the felt doll, most of the metal dish set, and the Fisher Price school bus with most of the little people.

I even have the cake stand and white handled cake knife.

Oh, the dress too. Mom sewed the dress. Was there nothing she couldn’t do?

That red horse is the wrapping for Silver, The Lone Ranger’s horse.

How cool is my mom?

Time for a wardrobe change.

Such a dork.

My dress is caught in the wheels of the Fisher Price school bus.

tiered cake on a pedestal = love