30 Day Blog Challenge Day 16: My Favorite Childhood Book

Map of Pooh's woods

I'm officially in the second half of my 30 day blog challenge. Today's topic is a fun one, but it's another that forces me to make a choice from too many things. I'm asked to choose my favorite childhood book. There are so many. I loved all the Little House books. And I was part of a book club in which I got a book about every month. I loved all of those. Two I remember in particular were Clifford Gets Hatched by Norman Bridwell and The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. They are both about finding yourself and learning that you are worth something and people love you. Sadly, I can't find any record online of the Clifford book ever existing, but I know for a fact that it does.

The real original stuffed animals that
inspired the stories.

But I would have to say my favorite book as a child was a collection of Winnie the Pooh Stories. I loved Pooh so much. Heck, I still do. Beyond the books, I loved watching him on TV. Things weren't the same back when I was little. You couldn't go on the interwebz and watch anything anytime you want. Getting to see Pooh and Tigger and Rabbit and Kanga and Roo and Eeyore and Christopher Robin was a rare treat then. As much as I love Pooh, I think my favorite character was Eeyore. I remember a story in which Eeyore loses his tale and the whole gang helps him find it. I love that he had a gloomy outlook on the world but everyone still loved him and included him in everything they did.

These are the exact reels
I had.

Another fun memory I have of Pooh is a series of View-Master reels I had. If you never played with a View-Master, your childhood was, to put it bluntly, not as good as mine. The pictures felt so bright and tangible that I could swear I could reach out and touch them.

My last fun memory of Pooh is the wonderful song, "House at Pooh Corner." It was written by Kenny Loggins, but was first recorded by one of my all-time favorite bands, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Their rendition is much more raucous and playful than Loggins' which sounds almost like a lullaby. I'll let you decide for yourself. Here's the Dirt Band version:

And here's the Loggins version: 

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 8: Old Picture of Me

This is kind of a fun entry for me because it takes me back to my childhood. Anyone who has read this blog for very long or who knows me personally knows that I am part of an amazing family and I had a terrific childhood. So looking back at pictures brings back positive memories. I couldn't decide which to use, so I just put all three of them on here.

 

This is a family photo. That's me on the far left. Being a mama's boy,
I'm obviously right beside my mommy. Dad, of course, is to her left.
On the far end is my sister Barb. She's the second oldest. Behind me
is my brother Don. I have no idea why he looks like he's holding his
breath like that. Between Mom and Dad is my brother Dave. He's the
oldest. I feel very much like I look like a Muppet in this picture.



I'm just a bit older in this one. The tiny person in the corner is me as well.
The first is a picture Mom had done somewhere. Can't remember where.
The small one was, I think, a school picture. I look awfully smug in that
one for some reason. The best part of the larger one is that it really captures
me--a combination of happy and clueless.

This is my senior picture from high school. You can't tell, but that's a
corduroy suit. Yeah, I was a fashion plate even then. In all humility,
I think I was a pretty good looking guy back then. Before the hair loss
and the head rounding. I now look like how I imagine Charlie Brown
would probably look as an adult.

There you go. Me in all my glory. Stay tuned. Tomorrow's post is all about my first celebrity crush!

30 Day Blog Challenge, Day 4: Earliest Childhood Memory

This is Day 4 of my 30 Day Blog Challenge. Today's topic is my earliest childhood memory.

I'm not sure this is truly my first childhood memory. I'm not even completely convinced it's a memory at all. It may be a story I heard so many times that my brain has tricked me into thinking it's something I actually remember. But since I can't pinpoint any other event, I'll go with it.

From the Ames Tribune. this wasn't our actual Arlans, but I sure do remember
it looking like this.

I was in Arlans with my parents. Arlan's was a department store in Parkersburg once upon a time. Mom was looking at clothes. The reason I know that is because I apparently had this thing I liked to do where I would go up the clothes rack a short way and hide inside the hanging clothes so that I could scare my mother when she got to me. She would come along, I would jump out and yell boo, and she would act like it scared her to death. It was great fun.

Except it didn't work out that way this time. I went up the rack like always and burrowed into the clothes like always, but Mom didn't come by like always. I waited and waited and waited, thinking she must have gotten particularly interested in some outfit. Finally, I got bored and stuck my head out to see how far away she was. Only she wasn't there. I looked both directions, but the aisle was empty. I crept out, a little tickle of fear starting in my throat. I walked to the end of the aisle and called her name. No answer. Now the tickle was becoming an ache. I went to the next aisle over and called her name a little more insistently. Still nothing. I ran back to the aisle on the other side of where I'd been, screaming her name now. No one there either.

Soon I'm careening around the store screaming, "Mom! Mom! Mom!", tears running down my cheeks. I'm quite certain by this time that, forgetting they had me with them, they've gone back to the car to go home and I would never see them again. Finally, an Arlans employee stops me and asks if I'm lost. She takes me to the office and asks my name. I figured I was in trouble for hiding from Mom and I know when I'm in trouble I'm called Joseph Dean, so I tell them that's my name. They get on the intercom and ask for the parents of Joseph Dean to come to the front office.

My parents, who had been looking for me almost as long as I had been looking for them, figure out quickly that I'm the Joseph Dean in the office. After all, what are the odds of there being two lost Joe's in one small town store? They come get me and I get to go home with them instead of living out my days at Arlan's.