10/24/16

© Pictures Daniel DeMarle 2016

© Words and Picture Dan DeMarle 2016

My sisters were terrible drivers. They were old enough to drive, I was not, I was in my early teens.  Since there were a number of us in the house at various times there were multiple cars.  None of these were junkers but some were second hand, often they were passed down from one sibling to another.  Now generally my older sisters were not terrible drivers. They however, had a thing about icy roads, and I remember one Spring with just  a wet road.  Invariably it seemed like once a year during those years,  one or the other would be driving with friends, and end up in a ditch.  Now my parents were not supposed to know that this had happened. But there was the car in a ditch.  Luckily my older sisters typically had older boy friends, so they usually took the job of pushing these various cars out of ditches.   However it would invariably come to their needing their little brothers’ arms, and backs.  Somehow they would get home, and round us up with pleas or bargains.  We would then slip out of the house undetected or before Mom and Dad got home.   Another of the many cars would drive us up.  Next we would be standing in a ditch, pushing a car out of a ditch, some deeper than others, while my older sisters, appeared to help push. The VW Bug was the easiest to push out.  I don’t remember any serious body damage to the cars, while except for once.  That was however how those older boyfriends could come in handy to do light car repair, or to  at the very least pull out dents.  We would then be brought home, before Mom and Dad could find out. Invariably we would be sworn to secrecy.  We actually kept those secrets.  We all had secrets, some big and some small.  It was all for one … and one for all.  Since then I have lost count of the number of cars I have pushed from ditches, and snow banks.  I hope I have taught my children to do the same.   At times however I remember those secret rescue missions and smile.

© words by Dan DeMarle 2016

11/13/16

© words and pictures Daniel DeMarle 2016

© Words and Picture Dan DeMarle 2016

Part of my Americana series .  9/11/16

© Photo Dan DeMarle 2016

© Words and Picture Dan DeMarle 2016

Ran into a neighbor this morning when we walked to the Arnett Cafe for Breakfast.  I asked George how he and his family were doing this week with the election.  He said good, that he was too busy to worry about the election.  He said it was the election between the pant suit woman and the Street Thug.  He didn’t like either one of them.

© words by Dan DeMarle 2016

This monument was dedicated to the West High Boys who gave their lives in the World War. It was dedicated in 5/13/1919.  At that time there had only been one Great War.  Note that it was dedicated to the “Boys” because many of them were not yet Men.

Like so many men and women who died during the Great War. This like many other monuments to those who served in the Great war, although very visible is in large part, largely forgotten and invisible. Most residents in SW Rochester do not know it is even here. As the song says

“And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart does your memory enshrine
And though you died back in 1916
In some faithful heart are you forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enshrined forever behind the glass pane
Of an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame.”

Private William McBride is a song made popular by  Maken and Clancy  written by 1976 by Scottish Australian folk singer-songwriter Eric Bogle, that tells the story of a World War 1 deceased soldier.

11/13/16

© words and pictures Daniel DeMarle 2016

© Words and Picture Dan DeMarle 2016