My mother dressed me "in your Easter bonnet, with all the thrills upon it," so I ran down that hill like a lady, not like a greedy egg squanderer. The hill seemed far steeper in a new dress than in my play clothes, which were also dresses. By the time I got to the bottom, all eggs were gone. I was sad, but even more so I wanted to take off that silly hat, and I didn't even win a prize for it. The creek area was too dirty for that day.

I remember the big back stop--it's not there any longer, and I really remember the seesaws, but even moreso I remember the ping pong table and a little girl I played with (perhaps she went to a private school) who had only 4 toes each. I contributed that fact for the reason I beat her all the time. The ping pong tables were under the trellis. At home on Los Angeles Ave, where Kent says the garages are so narrow you can't get a car in them--true--my father converted the garage into a ping pong room. The table barely fit. Keith and I soon became proficient at hitting the light-weight ball off the walls and ceiling. It was more like handball. However, if you smashed the ball, you lost the game and your allowance to buy another one.

When I was older at Live Oak , I remember the Pet Parades. My cat always won 1st prize, but I felt sorry for him having to sit in the hot sun all couped up in that jail with other furocious animals all around. But that blue ribbon sure looked good on his cage.

In High School I played a lot of tennis at Live Oak with Keith. In those days there were no lights for night tennis, but we couldn't stop. We yelled out "to your right" or "to your left". It was crazy. Keith was my buddy. He loved sports and still does, but he sure had trouble learning to ride a bike. I rode a two-wheeler on the first try. Roy was never a sports enthusiast - playing or watching. It seems I was quite competitive in those days.