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Flashback Friday


The memories get a little foggy when the sources of information are no longer around and you rely on things you think you know.  That is a tortured way of saying I don't recall the story of this picture.  I do remember some of Marj's relatives from Adair.  Adair is south of Bushnell and east of Macomb.  They had this neat farm and this old old car.  Phil is just a year and a half years old and the twins are no more than maybe 6 months old.  

As for the car, I have no idea what it is; it is more horseless carriage than car.  It appears to be licensed so I think it was probably in running condition perhaps for parades.  I have no idea who the people were or what happened to the car but it wasn't a place we went to often.  Perhaps the Wombie will have more info. 



This is a similar pose taken in Quincy at Marj's parents house.  We are older than the picture above, with Phil in the middle and the twins being held captive by the folks.  In the background is a nice Ford or Mercury.  Quincy was always a fun trip with fun grandparents ready to sweep us into nice and loving hugs.   Back in those days Quincy was a virtual playground of things to do for fun.  They had a type of overhead tram system and we'd take rides in it.  




Old postcards of the Sky Ride in Quincy.


Also they had a minor league team called the Quincy Gems and we'd go to their games.  One time we had lots of autographs from their players on a scorecard.  Sure wish we had that old thing; it would have been fun to see whose autographs we got and whether or not any of them ever made it.  

The last time I was in Quincy was around 2000 or 2001 to see Dr. William Glasser, the founder and inventor of the counseling technique Reality Therapy which the Mary Davis Home used on our clients.  He was in town to do a kind of auditorium give-and- take. 

Before the meeting, though, I made sure I had time to visit the two houses my grandparents lived in while there.  One was on Sycamore Street and the other was right next to the high school.  My grandfather used to hide in the garage of that house and throw firecrackers at kids walking to school, if he thought they were going too slow.  

The houses now look different, of course, as one would expect.  I tried putting on my 12 year old eyes and mind to picture them as I remembered, but it was too long ago and my mind doesn't think that way anymore.  Quincy was a long trip back then.  No decent or fast way to get there, it sure seemed like a long trip for us kids.  I'm sure I mentioned it before but my grandmother would fix custard bowls for us for the trip back when we were kids.  Who does that stuff anymore.  Maybe Doritos nowadays, but back then it was a grandmother's way of making a trip more enjoyable for us.   My grandmother from Quincy was the first person who died in our family.  We were just kids and that was a long time ago.  She still lives in my memory.  And I can still smell those custard bowls. 

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