As the World and Worm Turns....Venice, Florida 1958

"Time Flies" is the old saying....and once you reach adulthood that is certainly the case.  Here is it is October, the High School Football regular season is more than half over, and the State OHSAA Basketball Meetings start this week.  The local meeting is at Lima this Thursday, but I'll have to skip that one due to a Football game in Celina...will pick up one in Piqua or somewhere else close-by before the deadline.  Round Ball Scrimmages begin in a month....it seems like just a few weeks ago I was putting on the baseball gear for the season, and heck, that was 7 months ago.  2010 has moved along at warped speed....

The Major League Baseball Playoffs begin tomorrow with a triple header on WTBS....The Reds-Phillies game is the middle contest.  I am lucky enough to have tomorrow and Friday without football so I can catch both games between Cincinnati and Philadelphia.  I should also be home in time on Sunday for the 3rd and possible final game of the best of 5.  On paper and in the sports media, the Reds are huge underdogs, but they play the game on the field, so we will see....

Changing Photos-

At the top you'll find  a couple of photos of me and others...the top one has always been a recent mug shot, and the 2nd usually a old photo of days past in my life....I have changed them on a regular basis over the past few years...but have decided to switch the older shots more often(every week or so)...and will change the top one to go with the season or activities every month or so....Why?  Boredom I guess...like Obama, I believe in change...only mine doesn't screw a nation of people over, unlike the Kenyan Fool, I make my own decisions, I don't rely on a group of hard core Marxists to feed me information.  (Insert daily cheap shot at Barry the Wonder Boy here)

Anyhow, today's photo was taken on my 9th Birthday Party in March of 1958.  We lived on what was then The Venice By-Way.....needless to say that area has change and is hardly recognizable today, some 52 years later.   With me at the party that day, a Saturday, were our neighbors, The Blackburn Boys, and younger sister Marty.   I'm the one with the Catchers Mitt, 3rd from left...on my left was my classmate Teddy Blackburn, the rest are his brothers of various ages...along with Marty on the far right.

The Blackburn family was one of the founding families of the Venice/Nokomis, Florida, area back in the early part of the 20th Century.  Although an historic local family, these Blackburns were regular folks, just like the Houseworths...and as I recall, they lived a simple life, just like many of us did back in the Eisenhower era.  The house in the background was theirs...and it was surrounded by acres of Orange and Grapefruit Groves which we spent many hours investigating.  Teddy and I spent hours along with friends, Mike Graff, Jackie Dye, and others exploring the bays, creeks,  and wooded areas off the By-Way....and I've told many a story from Wild Boar encounters, chewing and getting sick from Plug Tobacco, finding unexploded World War II shells and ammo.....it was a different and excellent time.  2 TV channels which we seldom watched, no computers, no video games,  no cell phone, no IPODS...no crowds.  For all the things we didn't have, the things we had and adventures we created, more than made up for it.  It was at that point, "The Best Years of Our Lives"....and the photos help rekindle those years past.

Off to Antwerp for a Junior High game tonight....Sam has picked up his first Varsity Football Contest this Friday in Columbus...he's a veteran of Varsity High School Baseball....but now getting his first shot under the lights for a Big City Football Game....I was nervous the first varsity game I did...I expect him to be the same....but he is with a veteran crew, and should do fine working as a Back Judge.

back later>>>>

Photos-Top Left...also from the Spring/Summer of 1958.  Older Brother Mike and me.  We both played for the Venice Elks in 1958.  Mike was with the "big team" and I played catcher for the "minor league" team for the first year.  The Reds open in Philly in tomorrow October 6, 2010.