For C.P. and anyone interested

In the comment section of yesterdays post, my cousin, C.P., asked me if I remembered going to my Aunt Mary's house, Pat's mother. Aunt Mary was really my great aunt and she owned a "rest home" in Berkley. I would go up and stay with her and Red for a week every so often. I played a lot of Casino (the "old ladies" loved me, as I was pre-teen) with the residents of the home and drank a lot of "coffee" shakes from Johnny's.

Let me relate a couple of stories about my visits to Aunt Mary and Red's place. One time I took the train Oakland so Red and I could go duck hunting in Bodaga Bay. Well the day we went hunting the sky was so high we needed a howitzer to get any ducks, so Aunt Mary, Red, and I started looking at property on the Russian River. We found a wonderful partial of land with a really run down cabin on it. But, it was beautiful. It had large redwoods and was on a tributary to the Russian river. Well, Aunt Mary and Red purchased the property and building a usable dwelling became a family project. Of course, Pat's husband Johnny and her two boys, cement contractors if I remember right, and Harvey (Pat's sisters husband), Jack (Pat's brother) and when possible, my dad would work building the cabin. It was a great place and whenever anyone would ask what they were doing on a weekend, the answer was " We're going to my place", so that is what it was named. In the summer, the river was dammed in several places so there was a "swimming hole" at the front yard. Betty and I spent our Honeymoon there after I finished basic training and we took the kids up there later. What a great place.

Another story about my visits. I once rode to San Francisco in a truck that came into Mupu and with a driver whom my father knew very well. We got to S.F. food market and their was a stevedore strike going on, but we were running late, so we ran the picket line. Since the truck had perishables, it had to be unloaded by law, but that didn't stop a visit from the unit rep and his goons with guns. The driver talked his way out of it and everything was O.K.. Now comes the bad part. He had to go up to Sabastapool to load frozen berries and asked if I wanted to go and earn a little money. To make a long story short, we went to Sabastapool, loaded the truck and waited for a sister truck. The problem was, Aunt Mary expected me in the morning and I didn't call her until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. To say I caused a little trouble isn't the half of it. The highway patrol up and down the 101 were looking for us. I will have to say, when I finally got to Aunt Mary's house (I took a cab from the southern side of the San Rafael bridge) people were not happy with my actions. But they were happy with my being safe.
Lets' see if Pat remember that, I'm sure she does.

Aunt mary and Red in later years.

Memories are wonderful, even when you did something stupid.