My dad, Charlie Bird spent his life serving and protecting the citizens of CA...He has been retired many years now. He is invited to the annual Alameda County Sheriff's Office Retirement Dinner held in Livermore every year... My sister has taken him in the past, but she decided that this year was my turn...My dad says I have two speeds when I drive, STOP and pedal to the metal...I feel that I drive according to the conditions and if the conditions warrant it...GONE....
We had a pleasant trip...He only screamed once or maybe twice...We had made arrangements to stay with a friend of ours who still lives in the house two doors away where I spent ages 7 thru 12...Formative years for sure...The freedom of unsupervised bike rides, stopping after school at Carol's house for warm chocolate chip cookies and milk, with a side cup of milk for dipping are just some of the memories...Running amouk on the Govenor Earl Warren Estate was another...His granddaughter and I were in Brownies together...We had the greatest adventures there, exploring the creeks and trails...Oh...Least I forget, I stopped by the home of my former Brownie leader Donna Rhode...She is still kickin'...I wanted to let her know how much her life had made an impression on me...In my later professional life, her field trips and crafts played a huge part in the curriculum that was developed for the many preschool programs I was involved in...
Meanwhile, back in the hood...Charlie and I met the owners of the house I lived in those 5 years...They paid $400K...We had sold it in 1964 for $12,500...
Boy, did those trees get BIG...I remember climbing them...My mom had worked so hard on the gardens there, instilling the love of plants and gardening in me...
The many fruit trees in the back yard, as well as the almond tree had been removed...So sad...
Charlie and I enjoyed the dinner... He was given many special honors that night...He was the oldest retiree there...A gal asked me if I had retired from ACSO...I told her no, I was too incorigible to be hired...Saw many OLD friends...My sister called to see how it was going...I told her I was in a room wirh happy, lucky, sons-of-bitches...Anyone who could serve in Oakland CA and live, was indeed blessed...
The next morning we journeyed into that city by the bay...Charlie wanted to visit the house he was born in...Back in the day it was a melting pot of many ethnicities...He speaks some Jewish, some Italian and Portuguese...Mainly curse words he heard shouted from the front porches of 21st Avenue and 21st Street...
After several lapses in his memory, he is 86, we located the ole homestead...
Charlie is standing under the window of the room he was born in...The window to his left is his boyhood room...Grandma Bird's house was built by my Grandpa Charlie Bird and his brothers Frank and Dana re-using the old horse barns that had been torn down when the electric trolleys replaced the horses...I have fond memories of Grandma's house...In it's later life I remember the walls covered with wisteria and a HUGE lavendar/blue hydrangea beside the porch...Again, many unsupervised adventures there in the apricot tree in the back yard and the garage built from the same barn wood...The house is currently occupied by an asian family, 3 generations...Several family members have been born in the same bedroom also...So the melting pot history continues...
As all good things must come to an end, we headed up I-80 to began our winter out of the snow at my sister's goat farm in Litchfield, CA 20 east of Susanville near Honey Lake...We don't get a lot of snow, mostly cold and wind...And if the conditions are JUST RIGHT, you may experience this:
Marsha's windows were shut and locked, but no defense againt a howling snowstorm...Imagine my surprise when I returned to find out that this is how my night was gonna start, with a wet dream...
See you on down the road.....
