St. Petersburg Florida

In 1972 Grandma and Grandpa moved to St. Petersburgh Florida.  Amost everyone through the years got to go on a trip with them to Florida for vacation.  But when they moved there it was pretty tramatic thinking they would be so far away; but it ended up providing so many people with a vacation destination and alot of good memories.  Grandma's house was always open to visitors.

Back in the day a visit to St. Pete was not complete without a visit to Webb's City.  The store had everything.  The favorite was the top floor which had vending machines with chickens and rabbits that would do tricks when you put in money.  (The humane society would have a fit today!).  Then there were the magical mermaids that would mysteriously know your name when you peered at them through the port holes.  (your parents would give the lady at the entrance your name before you entered.).

One of Grandma's favorite spots was Sunken Gardens.  It had beautiful tropical flowers, foilage, and colorful parrots.

At St Pete Beach the Don Cesar stood as a beautiful tropical pink landmark against the blue sky.  In the forties this was the playground of the rich and famous.

The Pier.  The upside down triangle.

The Kapoke Tree.  A special dinning treat.  Dont forget the punch with the souvenir glass.

Treasure Island Beach

There was always something to do and see when visiting Bertha & Earl in Sunny St. Petersburg Florida.

Backyard 687 W. Main

Great-grandson Robby Ramser with Grandma

This is from the summer of 1988.  Grandma was walking Robby in the backyard where the garden used to be.  You can see by the picture how large the garden was and when you were a kid and worked in it with Grandpa it seemed to never end.

Fishing

Bertha & Earl baiting a fishing hook

Earl & Carl with Fish

One of Bertha's pleasures was fishing.  From her childhood she enjoyed fishing and looking for crayfish in the creek in New Waterford.  This is also a common interest that her and Earl shared. They took many vacations where fishing was on the agenda.  Jeff and I accompanied Earl & Bertha to that hotspot Carrabelle Florida where you went deep sea fishing all day. Grandma caught a 40lb Grouper.  The last time Grandma & I went deep sea fishing was in St. Petersburg on a 1/2 day trip, where Grandma caught several fish.  She told me she found fishing very peaceful.

Earl & fish

  

Buttons

Old Buttons

When we were kids Grandma had an old can that was filled with what seemed like a thousand buttons. There were buttons of every size, color, metal ones and plastic, and some even had crystals.  These buttons were collected for years and a lot of them were her mothers.  We would dump them on the table and look at them and ask her questions about them and tried to see who could find the fanciest button.  We would string some of them or gather them into colors and sizes.  Today it seems hard to believe something so simple was so fun. 

Earl & Ginger



Earl & Ginger at the Bar

Grandma & Grandpa always had a dog.  There was FeFe the chihuahua the mother of my first dog Tootie who grandma gave me when I was 6 months old, Chita the mean chihuahua, and the one that was Grandma's favorite Ginger.  Ginger was just as her name suggests a  ginger brown little chihuahua with a big personality.  Everyone loved her.  Grandpa would take her everywhere; on his bicycle in a basket; he loved when people would stop and talk to him about this little dog.  He was like a celebrity when he had the little dog with him, especially when he went into the bar.  The bartender sometimes would even poor Ginger a small glass of her own.  I witnessed this myself going to the bar with him when I was about 20 years old. But in the evening she was always sitting by Grandma watching TV.  All this came to a disrupt end when she got away from Grandpa and got hit by a car.  Losing her was very devastating to Grandpa, Grandma, and Kim.  How did Grandpa replace Ginger?  With Becky the crippled chihuahua.  He still got a lot attention from people but usually more like sympathy; they would say ohh that poor little dog.

Color TV - 1960s

TV Odd Shaped Screen

In the 1960s Grandma and Grandpa were the first people I knew who had color TV.  At that time there were not many programs were telecast in color and NBC was the only network, everything else on TV was in black and white.

NBC Famous Peacock

So it was major event when a color program was going to be on TV.  On Sunday Night everyone would gather around the TV to watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and right after the main event of the evening; Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

 

Us kids always looked forward to any cartoons but Grandpa loved the shows about animals or Daniel Boone, whereas Grandma liked the shows such as Pollyanna (she really enjoyed the family being together more than anything).  Grandpa would sit in his chair and did not like if people would talk during the programs.  It seems odd today that something like color would be so exciting when now there is High Definition TV with hundreds of channels to choose from.  Now it is an oddity to watch a show in Black & White.  This simplicity is what makes memories so special.

Bertha's Cool Side

 

Grandma took Jeff, Cindy, Kim and I to see the movie "Tickle Me" with Elvis Presley in 1965, I would have been 10 years old.  Grandma always said she enjoyed Elvis singing but did not approve of some of the things that he was associated with.  I do not really remember the movie itself, just Grandma saying when it was done; "If I would of known that it was going to be like that I would have never brought you kids"  Meaning the sexual references but compared to today's movies that was nothing.