December 2012

December 27, 2012December 3, 2015

Hanover Skating Rink?

I’m going to stick my neck out here and say this was some kind of special even at Hanover Skating Rink. I’m tentative because I don’t remember all those windows. On the other hand, all of my skating was done on Friday nights when it would have been dark outside and the windows wouldn’t have been apparent.

The sleeve says the photos were taken in 1966 but I couldn’t find a story to go with them.

LANDMARK ALERT!

After I hit the PUBLISH button, I noticed that this is the 1000th post I’ve made to the Cape blog. That’s about 987 more than I thought I’d do. I guess I can take a nap now. I guess it’s appropriate to point out that Amazon link at the top left of the page. Think of me when you shop online. There’s a DONATE button, too, but I hate to ask for bucks. Just do your shopping through the link.

OK, It’s not Hanover.

Some folks (see comments) speculated that the rink might have been the Maryann, but Fred Lynch found a Frony photo that eliminated that. Then, he dug some more and found a “mystery photo” that showed Hanover with a tall rounded ceiling in keeping with its Quonset hut past. Click on the links in his comments to see the photos. (You might have to press Ctrl-F5 to refresh your browser to see them)

Hanover photo gallery

Click on any photo to maker it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. Let me know if I guessed wrong and this ISN’T Hanover.

December 26, 2012December 24, 2022

Christmas Snow in Cape

If news reports are right, there’s gonna be a lot of stale bread in Southeast Missouri in the aftermath of the blizzard warning that predicted as much as 18″ of snow. There was a rush on the stores for staples in the days leading up to the storm.

The Cape area received from 4 to 6 inches, but winds gusting as high as 40 mph piled it up to look much higher in some places. The hard blow caused the wet snow to stick to vertical surfaces. Fortunately, there was very little sleet and ice in the storm.

Video of spinning ornament

Here is a video Brother Mark shot with his iPhone of Mother’s snow-covered lawn ornament spinning in the wind. (You can see the same ornament spinning in an afternoon thunderstorm last summer.)

Mark: I should have bought her a pony

Mother’s cordless phone was getting a little iffy, so I bought her a new one with three remotes for Christmas. Brother Mark called and said, “I wish you had bought her a pony.”

“A pony?”

“Yeah, ’cause if you had bought her a pony, we could be out riding it and having fun…”

“Instead of setting up the phone?”

“Yep.”

Here is an Amazon link to the Panasonic phone I bought her. The range is great: it worked all the way to the far end of the basement. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t reach all the way to the clothesline in the back yard. Sound quality is excellent and she loves the speakerphone.

Of course, I’m not the guy who had to set up something more complicated than a missile defense system. (Gee, do you think I might have planned it that way?)

More snow photos

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. Click here if you want to see what our snows looked like in the 1960s.

December 25, 2012

Go Fly a Kite

These boys were flying a kite on a windy and chilly day in 1965. This was the era of buzz cuts and rolled-up pants legs. Click on the photos to make them larger.

They got the kites in the air

Looks like the the boys are accomplished kite-flyers. The original photo showed three kites, but the film was so flawed I cropped one of them out.

December 25, 2012

Steinhoff Christmas 2000

Since the world didn’t end at midnight on December 31,1999, all of the Steinhoffs were able to converge on Missouri for Christmas 2000. The group shot was taken at Brother Mark’s house in St. Louis on Christmas Eve. The Tulsa branch consisting of David, Diane, Kim and Amy, had to blast out on Christmas Day to beat a snow storm headed our way, so they aren’t in as many photos. The Florida Clan was represented by Ken, Lila, Matt, Sarah and Adam. Mother, front left and looking younger than most of us, is the glue that binds us together.

Since all of our readers will be busy with their own families, this photo gallery is for us. Y’all are welcome to look at it, but there won’t be a final exam later.

Sarah’s a Floridian

Snow was a new experience for Matt’s wife, Sarah. She had lots of catching up to do. We were coming up from Florida in separate cars linked together by CB radios. When we got the first glimpse of the St. Louis Arch, Matt and I tried to convince Sarah that it’s a tradition for first-timers give it a healthy lick, but she wasn’t buying it. We even explained that it was perfectly sanitary: vendors sell alcohol wipes to protect you from germs.

Mother never throws anything away

Mother dug out Mark and David’s graduation robes and Mark’s high school diploma. She found my white lab coat stolen from the Central High School darkroom. It had a neat NRA patch from one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s alphabet soup agencies on one shoulder, but Mother carefully removed it, much to my disappointment.

My prom jacket

Adam looks a lot better in my old prom jacket than I did in 1965.

Photo gallery of the 2000 Steinhoff family Christmas

I hope your families have as much fun in 2012 as we did in 2000. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.