Catherine Sevenau's Blog: Writings~Rambles~Rhymes, page 34

3.35 Riverside Campground, Big Sur

January 1964 • Bug Sur ~ Written by brother’s wife, Marian Clemens … So the adventure began. The property was a campground and cabin business in Big Sur. Dressed in jeans and warm jackets, we met the realtor that Saturday in December 1963, and he showed us some old cabins in a forest of redwoods, […]

3.34 La Habra High (part 2)

1964-1966 • La Habra High School ~ In my senior year I had a second high school romance with Dave Sheldon. He was a nice guy with a streak of worldliness, but he had a neediness about him that kept me at arm’s length. He wrote in my yearbook, “Cathy, I wanted to find a […]

3.33 La Habra High 1961-1966 (part 1)

1961-1966 • La Habra High School ~ Four years of high school blended together, neither the low nor high point of my life. My first year afforded me little self-assurance; the second tallest girl in my freshman grade, I tripped up and down the long halls between classes praying to be invisible, hoping no one […]

3.32 Riffraff and Hippies

1964 thru 1967 • The Haight, San Francisco ~ Viewing the world through the plate glass windows of Sprouse-Reitz, I seldom ventured out of the store. Dad didn’t want me wandering the streets. When you have no sense of direction and are born in a box as my sister Betty claims I was, I figured […]

3.31 Quit Gawking

1964 • 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco ~ At times my father amazed me. One late June afternoon, a boy not quite my age, maybe fourteen, slender, blonde, and nervous, came in the store. He wanted to buy a bra and needed help. Too embarrassed, especially when I realized this kid wanted it for himself, I […]

3.30 It’s Not Fair!

1964 • 45th Avenue, San Francisco ~ I wasn’t a problem teenager. I didn’t lie, I didn’t cheat, I didn’t steal. Nor did I sass, drink, or smoke, and I didn’t fool around with boys. Not because I thought fooling around with boys was bad, but because if my Dad ever found out, and he would, […]

3.29 The Sunset

1962 • San Francisco ~ At the end of a long day, rather than taking 19th Avenue home after work, Dad occasionally drove home by way of the Panhandle then through Golden Gate Park and past Kezar Stadium. For a few years he had a little black, white-topped convertible Ford. As far as I knew, […]

3.28 A Longer Scorecard

Summer 1960 • San Francisco ~ I was eleven when Dad began courting Tweedledee. When I first met Marie she reminded me of a life-sized, inflatable Tippy Doll, the kind with sand in the bottom that when you knocked it over, it popped right back up. She worked in Margo’s dress shop up the street […]

3.27 Sweeney’s Candy Shop

1960s • San Francisco ~ Tightly wedged between Sprouse-Reitz and Superba Grocery was Sweeney’s candy store. The Sweeneys were a sweet white-haired couple who lived in the flat above their Haight Street store. Actually, now that I think about it, Mr. Sweeney was on the crusty side, a short balding man with thinning hair, wild […]

3.26 1644 Haight Street, 1960

1644 Haight Street, San Francisco ~ From the time I was twelve I spent my summers with my dad and worked for him in his store in the Haight, and when I got older, I worked Christmas and Easter vacations too, saving my earnings for milk shakes, school clothes, and college. As you walked through […]