The White House

The feature photograph, shown above, floated to the top as I was working on a project this week. It was snapped in 1963 as my brother and sisters (Karen, Laura and Paul) and I watched cartoons in our small white Spenard house on Lincoln Avenue. We appropriately called it The White House. Blackstone, our Old English Sheep Dog, was one of many Jensen dogs in our lives.

Anyway, here's a forensic look at the photograph and some things we don't hear or see any more (including having all of the kids in one room watching the same programming - without a remote control.)

- Burl Ives Album on the shelf "Pearly Shells." (1963)

- McCall Magazine (our mother, Nancy, was a lovely, strong and quite fashionable woman.)

- Wilkins Coffee jar (somewhat violent Muppet Commercial)

- Seminole High Fidelity Transistor Radio - AM/FM

- RCA Portable Black and White TV (Handle on top.)

After a few years, when my parents would go out for the evening, they'd tell us to go to bed by 9 p.m. "Don't watch television all night long."

The next day, we'd receive a light scolding for breaking that rule. We didn't know how they knew. But they knew.

More years passed and they told us their secret. Upon coming home, they would rest their hand on the television tube. A warm tube meant we were watching too late. Today's televisions do not offer those kinds of clues.

Good memories.