Ice Skating in Gatlinburg

We also went to the  ice skating rink in Gatlinburg. It  was the only one in the area. We rented everything from the rink and spent as much time there as we could. I did try to skate, but I was so busy taking pictures of all the excited participants and trying to stabalize myself on the ice, that I do not have a single picture of myself (or of Boris, who was sitting out to watch others “fall”).  Betty and Janice had skated before but it was the first time for both kids and, of course, it was the first time for me too.We had a lot of fun and we went back a few more times in later years. It certainly was a very memorial special time for all of us!

Betty and Boris Franzus

Our children got to know both Betty and Boris more and more during those several years. They started to go with them to the movies, as both of the Franzuses enjoyed watching children’s movies while Janice and I did not mind skipping them. Those movies gave us a good excuse to watch how they interacted with our children. We learned that Margaret and Steven did not sit very close to them in the theater, as Betty had a unique, loud laugh which would embarrass our children. The four of them went out to see movies regularly for many years. In the late fall of 1976, we went with the Franzuses to Gatlinburg, TN, to see the Fall color. The pictures below were taken there. We do not have many pictures like these, so they are very precious to me and they help me remember the times we shared with our life-time friends, Betty and Boris.

ACS Student Homecoming Float

1976 was the centenary year for the American Chemical Society (ACS). I have already talked about the ACS meeting in New York, held to celebrate the special occasion. Clearly, at ETSU the Chemistry students wanted to celebrate in their own way by having a float for the Homecoming event. I do not remember if they  won anything for their work, but when I see these two pictures now I am surprised that I let the students do their work on the float while hanging out the window. I was their faculty sponsor! Did I not see what they were doing or how dangerous their actions were? How could I not realize the situation at the time? I took the picture without thinking about their dangerous condition. I scare myself when I look back! 

World Trade Center

Another place in New York we went to visit in 1976 was the World Trade Center. There was no way we could have imagined at the time that this monstrous building would be bombed by terrorists in 2001 on September 11th. Our family took the elevator up to the roof top. We wandered around that huge place, and I bought some commercial slides in a store up there because a picture of the entire building was very difficult to get. I am posting here the commercial slides I bought. The last picture below is the only picture of twin towers in my possession.

The Brooklyn Zoo

We went to visit the Brooklyn Zoo one day when we were in New York at Sherman Tang’s place. Both families were there. From the slide pictures I took, it appears that the zoo had more children’s play things than animals. I have a lot more pictures of the children on the playground than ones where we watched the animals! It was clear that the children had a grand time together so it was really not important that they did not see many animals. They did, I am sure, take every ride that was available there in that compound – perhaps more than once!

The Tang Family

We went to visit the Tang Family after we finished our summer vacation on Cape Cod in the summer of 1976. At that point Tang was already working at the Queen’s Public Library and was doing very well. His parents had moved from Taiwan and were living with them in Queens, NY. The grandparents were very involved with their two grandsons. Each day Tang’s father walked them to school and back. His mother cooked the meals. The three generations lived together in harmony under one roof. It was certainly a very good example for all of us. The picture below was taken at the end of summer in NY. All of them were very healthy and happy!

Beach Activities

In 1976, when we visited the Cape, we had some activities on the beach almost every day. When the waves were low, we tried to swim. When the waves were high, we tried to jump over them. When the sun was out and temperature was moderate, we slept on the beach or we walked along the beach. We went to slide on the sand dunes as far as we could. Certainly we played on the beach - many, many games. We tried to catch some clams too when the tide was down. In other words, we did everything you could think of on the beach, including running from the waves during a hurricane! I have collected a large number of pictures. Below, I will display some typical ones , so you get a glimpse of not only the activities included but the people involved during that summer.

To Catch a Turtle

There were a lot of “usual” activities for our kids on the Cape, such as  picking blueberries, catching clams, sliding on the sand dunes, and, certainly, swimming in the bay and the Atlantic Ocean and taking a walk on the beach. Catching a turtle was an unusual activity. We did get turtles this year, so everyone wanted to take a picture with them. Here we were! You can see that everyone was excited about this unusual activity.

Plays

There was one big difference between two of the generations of young people on the Cape: our children and our grandchildren. Our children’s generation always had a play of some kind when they got together on the Cape. It could be a variation of Snow White or some other Princess and Prince story. Oh, yes, it could be very elaborate with many twists and turns! It always involved every child in the house, except for some of the older siblings who refused to be included. Some had some words to recite and some provided narrations or sang. it could be very involved and there was certainly plenty of make-up! Can you guess what kind of play they produced in the summer of 1976 from the following pictures?