Those vent/wing windows in one of the ads were great in the summertime. And wow, the car companies probably made a couple of bucks apiece when they discontinued them, but an upper lip bee sting resulted from one that bounced off an open vent one fine summer day; thought I heard the bee scream just before it hit the window; it's loss was greater than mine....duh JFM

When a kid I worked in a filling station that did work on cars. About the worst was putting snow tires on a car that had those beautiful but dang skirts. They usually came in for the change after the snow and yuk was here and the muddy frozen /wet stuff ran down your sleeve as you made the change. Lots a fun!

Looks like 6 steps up to the front door. Aw, come on! Does it have a sports car tucked underneath?

Working in Personnel at Army Missile School at Ft. Bliss Tx (ElPaso) a Sgt came down the hall opening office room doors making announcement that President had been shot in Dallas. Since I sat in back of room by door our boss, a Chief Warrant Officer had me go to the barracks for my radio which we listened to until lunch time. Finishing chow a little early standing by my bed with Joe Z from Philly listened to the confirmation that he was dead. When Oswald was being transferred the only guy with a tv had a room full of us watching Jack Ruby shoot Oswald. What a time, I still have that little transistor radio as memento. What few local Texans we knew from off base were really hurt that it had happened in their state. I still wonder if we'll ever really know who dunnit. Interesting feeling standing many years later in the back of the presidential 707, in a museum, where his casket was placed on the return to DCA. On we go! JimM

I've made several wooden "urns" for family members, mine is under construction but I'm not being real hasty with getting it done! JimM

Wasn't 'tar' that black rubber thing you put on a wheel to go down the 'rode' in your 'cah'? One of the fellows in our Madison WI morning coffee group is from Brooklyn NY; he catches it in the neck regularly. When in the Army we had a lot of fun with guys from all over the country!

Neat old timers with thousands/millions of miles on their named railroad, but what strikes me is what cities, villages in the rural part of this country have they visited and what all have they conveyed.

Well now, I don't remember my first personal cell phone but the first one I saw was at a transportation meeting, I worked in the state aeronautics division of the DOT. On display at a convention, was an early cell phone with camera. My picture was taken and transmitted across the meeting room to the receiving phone which through a connection to a printer made personalized bag tags for those in attendance. Being touted as new tech for the police departments who could transmit pictures of miscreants to field agents etc. That wasn't the first 'radio phone" I'd heard. On a Short Wave radio, I had, we listened to a person make a call on a "portable phone in a brief case" to his wife explaining his meeting had gone on late so would be home late. We didn't hear any glasses tinkling but his next call from the local watering hole to another lady (a very different voice) who asked him how soon he'd be getting there, "you're late", "I'll be there shortly" was his answer. That was in about 1970, technology can be used in many ways other than for true emergencies. Then put a GPS function in the 'phone' along with the camera and you can get a picture of the dirt road you can sometimes be sent down. Then again our daughter and son-in-law were in India for a family wedding and we received both communication and pictures that would have amazed all of us back in the '50's'. nuf'said, JimM

Amazing young talent! Listened to Nikki's Montreal night at 20, wouldn't Ella have been astounded. Also caught Diana Krall with Fly me to the Moon. Wow there is great young talent around these days. Thanks Mark, JimM

Thanks Mark for another really great one! Desmond is/was superlative! JImM

Interesting photo; could Cyrus McCormick (inventor of the reaper in the mid 1800's) have envisioned that machine? Would take a pretty good sized field to turn that around!

Wow Jerry, haven't heard that for quite a while, sure beats, my opinion, the banging, screaming junk put out now. Didn't it used to be called 'elevator music' which I haven't heard lately - come to think of it how long has it been since I was in an elevator? Thanks.

A dear friend has a T-Shirt with the following inscription printed on it!

TO MY CHILDREN:
Never make fun of
having to help me with
the computer stuff
I TAUGHT YOU TO USE A SPOON!


Pretty much sums that up! JimM

Sorry for your (our) loss Pixelmaster. His shop looks familiar, I note two very important tools among your pictures. No. 2 shows his lathe and No. 3 his torch. Quite a few parts which are unavailable can be made or modified when needed using those 2 tools. When an Uncle passed his Atlas lathe on to me he commented 'you may not use it very often, but come some weekend when something breaks you'll be glad you have it', also the torch came in handy when Brother-in-law came up with the seat frame broken from the floor; a couple minutes with the torch (yes I stayed away from the gas line) fixed it so he wasn't looking at the inside of the roof. I'm sure a lot of folks in your area were grateful for his wisdom. Blessings to you both. JimM

Thanks Mark for presenting us with some more great jazz. JimM