I Had Some Time on My Hands. . .

. . . and wouldn't you know it, another birthday came up. Tony's this time. He sure is getting old, but we shouldn't hold it against him. Hell, Pat's older than Tony is. Anyway, today's his birthday and if I did it for Ellen, I can do it for Butch. I think I've got enough pics for a good post, so let's get to it.

Lord! I loved that car. A Midnight Blue '64 LeMans convertible with white upholstry and a white ragtop. I loved it so much that in '68, when I was stationed down in Kingsville, I bought one just like it. I had to get rid of it when I was transferred to Adak but. . . I digress. The picture above was taken in '65 or '66, the LeMans parked in front of the garage on the hill behind the house on Lowell Street. Tony's lookin' spiffy - must have a hot date.

 

Lord! I loved that car. Whoa! Sorry. . .     This pic shows Big Tony, Tony, and me leaning against Butch's MGA one Sunday afternoon in Brevard - probably 1968. I really liked driving this car, but there wasn't enough room in it to swing a dead cat. Give me the LeMans.

 

I think this picture was probably taken in 1971 or 1972. Donna's standing on the retaining wall where Tony cut his finger. Aunt Chris' Chevy II and Margo's orange VW Bug are parked in the driveway behind the houses. The beer of choice was PBR.

 

By '72 or '73, when I shot Tony throwing darts on the deck, Ann and Tony had moved across the street to the house they're in now, and Tony and Donna had bought Mrs Barnett's house next door. Aunt Chris still lived across the street and KG and Nana lived one lot over from Butch's and across the street. They had the neighborhood pretty well sewn up.

Besides painting the house yellow, Tony, his dad, and I built the deck. We almost ran out of beer, but it was okay - we leveled every post and joist. Next to the house, the deck was about 9' above the ground; at the back edge of the deck, it was about 20'. It was an exciting project.

 

This picture of Tony, David, and Big Tony planting azaleas in front of Ann and Tony's house was taken in 1982. David was really wanting to play in the dirt.

 

This one of Aunt Teeny (up from Fort Lauderdale) and Tony was taken at a group birthday party at Ann's house in September 1984. The cake is decorated for ". . . Donna, Ellen, Jeff & Tony".

The parties have been getting better ever since. This one, at the Biltmore Forest community center in 1997, was the pièce de résistance, Ann and Tony's 50th wedding anniversary. I'll tell you how great this party was: I didn't take any pictures - I was having way too much fun. I think everyone else had fun too. I remember that Jeff's daughter, Erica, thought Marshal may have had more fun than me, but not much.

 

This picture of Pat and Tony, from November 2002, was taken at our (then) Annual Fishing Trip and Whiskey Guzzle down in Charleston. Now, I've really missed that since I moved back to Texas in '05. These events were so much fun that, after the first few, Donna would typically head to Asheville for the weekend - to establish an alibi, perhaps - in case the three of us got in trouble?

Happy Birthday, Butch !