More Coronado Memories

No sooner was I finished with my last blog post about Coronado than I thought of more things to share. I know I can get redundant, repeating myself, but I also don't want to forget anything.

Yesterday Laura and I were walking down an alley in Coronado which made me remember several things. I remember when not all of the alleys were paved. It took a long time for all the alleys in Coronado to be paved. Laura even remembers that some were not paved when she was young. I assume they are all paved now. Many communities still have unpaved alleyways. We don't even have alleys in the area we live in.

Our last place of residence in Coronado was on Olive Lane, an alley. It is an interesting alley, shaped like a T, with little cottages facing the alley. There are other interesting alleys especially named such as Adella Lane. Paul and his family lived on Adella Lane in the little house they built before they built their larger home in front, on Pomona Avenue. They lived on Pomona Avenue when I met and married Paul. That is the house that our children remember.

Another memory that was triggered while walking in the alley is a faint one from my childhood. I know it is true because the subject came up a couple of years ago while visiting Paul's brother Charlie and cousin George. The conversation starts with, "Do you remember the alligator in Coronado?" I guess this was a conversation starter during several gatherings that year. Yes, I do remember the alligator. As children several of us looked over the tall fence in an alley to get a good look. It had a nice pond and was securely enclosed in the yard. I wonder how many years it was there.

When my children were young the talk of the town and in the Coronado Journal was the cougar. One family had a real live cougar. I think one of our children knew someone from that family. She may have been in Bill or Griff's class. Paul wrote about the cougar in one of his many letters to the editor. I still run into articles about the Coronado cougar.

When I was young our family raised chickens in Coronado. I remember having an incubator to keep the young chicks warm. They grew fast and my parents sold them as fryers. Yes, Dad had to butcher them. He was not a farm boy, but he learned to do this. My mother was a farm girl and knew how to clean them so they could be eaten. Some grew to be hens and provided eggs. One was our pet and we were attached to her. She is the subject of one of my favorite stories.

When Donna was ten years old she was the first one in our family to fly in an airplane. She flew to Washington state to spend the year with our grandparents on their farm. She went to help them with their chores. I'm sure it was more beneficial to my sister as she received many valuable lessons from our grandparents. There were eggs to gather and lessons learned in the kitchen as well as the barn. There were also Bible lessons to learn.

I mention this story as it leads to the chicken story. In the spring of 1949 Mom, Dad, Betty and I decided to move out of our grandparents' home on Third and F in Coronado and head to the farm in Washington. This meant finding homes for several pets. We decided to take Susie Q, our pet hen, with us on the trip. I also had Mac, my turtle, along for the ride. Our car was loaded with all our worldly goods as well as our family and pets. We had things piled on top of the car and in the large trunk. Betty and I shared the back seat with Susie Q and Mac. Susie was in a suitable box and safe for the journey. She laid two eggs on the trip, and we always said one of them was while we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe that was so.

You can picture us being quite the sight for sore eyes. Before heading north we stopped at our dentist's house as he and his wife were friends of ours. Mom and Dad had done a lot of painting for them. His wife said that her cousin's husband was a pastor in Washington. Can you imagine the surprise when we went to church that first Sunday we were in Washington and the cousin's husband was the pastor at the little church that my grandparents always attended. He had even baptized my sister during the time she had been with our grandparents. It is a small world.

Later that year, right after Christmas, we headed back to California. We left Susie Q on the farm, but my turtle came back to California with us. I have written about this eventful year several times so will not go into more detail about all that happened.

Fast forward to the sixties and we meet up with the pastor from my grandparents' church again. Paul and I were going with our children to First Baptist Church in Coronado. In 1966 we had a new pastor and his family at the church. You guessed right. It was the same pastor as I mentioned before. He had been at the Logan Heights church in San Diego for years and was happy for the opportunity to move to Coronado. To this day his wife Betty is one of my good friends. They were not in Coronado long, but lived in San Diego for many years. Four years ago they moved to Texas to be near family as they were getting on in years. Pastor Clark went to be with the Lord several years ago and it is good that Betty is near her family.

Yesterday Laura and I met Betty in Coronado along with another good friend from so many years ago. Betty is visiting friends in San Diego and then is headed to Washington to spend time with family. This was my second opportunity to see Betty since she moved to Texas. So Betty, Carolyn, Laura and I spent time together at the Ferry Landing in Coronado yesterday enjoying getting caught up on family news. We could have talked longer but everyone has a full calendar. These are precious moments in time. Oh, Betty is 90 years old now, or will be in December. She could pass for a much younger lady. Except for Laura I was the youngest of the bunch. I will be 75 in December. Just a kid, ha ha.

Since I mentioned the Ferry Landing I will mention the old ferries. Until the bridge opened in 1969 we had the large car ferries between Coronado and San Diego. They went from the foot of Orange Avenue to where Sea Port Village is now. We could go across in our cars or as pedestrians. It did not cost much and was a break from the trials of the day. Sometimes as pedestrians we would go back and forth without paying any extra. It was a time to feel the breeze from the bay and look for an occasional porpoise near the ferry. The San Diego skyline was different then too.

When Griff was a cub Scout we had an opportunity to go with his fellow scouts and their families on a whale watching trip out of the Coronado Yacht Club. This was the first time that I can remember going out in the ocean. We enjoyed whale sightings and a relaxing time on the water that morning. Since then we have gone on several whale watching day trips. Another fun trip is the Harbor Cruise around the bay. We have done that a number of times. We have taken friends and family over the years. We like the two hour cruise rather than the shorter cruise.

When I was in fifth grade my friend  Georgette and I spent some time hanging around the yacht club and someone gave us a short jaunt on his sailboat. That really caught on with my friend as she continued to be enamored with boating over the years. I remember one summer I spent a very long day with her at the beach and got very sunburned. We all have to learn the hard way to be careful in the sun. Another time, with other friends when I was fifteen, I spent a day sailing in the bay to the cove which is now part of the State Beach. It was another long day in the sun and another bad sunburn.

My children had their bad sunburns too. The sunburns were so bad they maybe needed medical care. They became very cautious after that. Paul has always been cautious since he was a redhead with fair skin. Kathy is very fair too so has always had to be careful. The other three are the ones that got the bad burns that I mentioned. I remember my sister Donna getting a bad burn or two also.

One time when I was thirteen my friend Georgette and I were walking our dogs on the beach and they got tar or some kind of oil on their paws. It was impossible to get off them. We tried alcohol if I remember correctly. It really hurt their poor little paws. That is a not to do ever again experience.

When I was in sixth grade I spent a lot of time at the Coronado stables. Yes, Coronado had stables. They were near Forth Street, near the North Island gate. There are houses there now which are part of the Country Club Estates. There used to be a golf course on that side of town west of Alameda Blvd. As for me spending time at the stables, I never rode any horses there. I liked a boy that was there. I spent a lot of time with Penny that year too. I'm sure she went to the stables with me. This was not long before our family left for Washington in 1949.

That is also the year that I went on a first date to the Village Theater in Coronado. The Village would have just been two years old at that time. Nicky is the young man who took me to the movies that time. I even remember that we saw "The Three Musketeers". Nicky also spent time at the stables. He was not the one that I had my eye on at the stables though. I liked a boy named Paul. But he preferred that I would turn my attention to Nicky. It was all very proper sixth grade situations. Nothing improper occurred.

I always had another boyfriend as long as I can remember. Hotchy was a neighbor boy that I always knew. I really liked him and sometimes he liked me. One time he took me ice skating in San Diego. Even though I could roller skate I had no luck with the ice skates. I tried and tried to stand up and ice skate to no avail. Hotchy (Charles) lost patience with me and put me on the bus in San Diego with instructions of what to do to get home. I guess it only took one bus as that was no problem. But I misunderstood on when to put my coins in the fare box. I paid as I was getting off and the bus driver said that "It was about time that I paid." I did what I thought I was meant to do. That may have been the end of Hotchy for that year, but there were other years with times as his friend. Once I was in high school we never spent any time together. I often wonder where he is now.

We have a lot of childhood friends that we enjoyed time with for a period of time. Karen and Judy were good friends of my sisters and me. We spent much of our childhood playing with them, not always peacefully. Our imaginations were often in action when we got together. We planned plays or skits with them in their backyard. They lived next door to their grandparents and shared a large backyard with them. They had other relatives nearby too, much like us. We remember Karen and Judy having certain chores to do and their little house was very neat. Karen and Judy were both in the same graduating class as me. We graduated from Coronado High School in 1955. We did not really hang out together much after we were in high school though.

I enjoyed many friendships over the years and am always happy to see these friends again at reunions. One friend that I was close to in high school and for several years afterwards was Joan. I want to be in touch with her again. We have talked on the phone several times, but I never seem to follow through on getting together with her. I hope this will be the year. We are not getting any younger.

Madeline and I have remained good friends all these years. I am ever so thankful. We first met in third grade and we have each had a lot of friends over the years. Yet we have developed an even stronger sister bond as the years pass by. We are sisters in the Lord and that is one reason we have bonded. We are both silly together too. Wouldn't know we are elderly. That is for other people. Her mother could qualify, yet she is a young 94 year old. It is a blessing to have this mother in our lives.

My other mother Rosalie is also 94 years young and a blessing from the Lord. She was born in Coronado and has almost always lived in Coronado. Donna and I both adopted her as a mother. She was also a cupid for Paul and me. Rosalie's father was a Coronado ferry captain in years gone by. Such history our families share.

"More Coronado Memories" could go on and on, but this is time to close this post. There are always more things to write as they come to mind. I think of them faster than I can write. Sometimes they flit away before they reach the keys. See you the next time I sit here. Hugs  :)