Memories

I have a story I want to share with you about a film commercial that I was a part of years ago.  I have yet to find the pictures of that shoot, but in my search for them today, I found some of Paulette and I that were taken in 1989 during the period of our courtship.

 

I believe the pictures that I was searching for are now living in a box in our storage unit.  That storage unit is a ten or fifteen minute drive from here.  That’s a drive that I don’t want to make today so I decided to show you these pictures instead.  After all, these pictures live in a picture envelope that is stuffed in a drawer and are serving no purpose at all to anyone.  So, I wiped the dust off of them, popped them onto my scanner and I offer them up to you now as a glimpse into a period of our family history right about the time we were deciding to become a family.

 

This first shot is of me standing on the deck of the Halcyon sipping a drink as the sun falls over the yardarm.  Not that there ever was a yardarm on the Halcyon, but it’s a nautical phrase and it sounds kind of neat to say.

 

 

This next shot is of me holding up a grouper that Jack Cosgrove and I caught while trolling in the Tampa Bay ship’s channel on the Halcyon.  One of my very first entries in this journal was of that fishing trip with Jack, but the picture I used in that post showed Jack holding the fish.  To be fair, Jack hooked the fish.  By the time I got the boat into neutral and got down from the upper steering station to join Jack on the deck, Jack thought the fish had gotten off the line.  He handed the rod to me and I started reeling it in.  I, too, thought there was no fish on until the fish was reeled in close enough to see the boat.  Suddenly the rod doubled as the fish strained to get away.  Jack and I stood our ground and finally got the fish over the rails and onto the boat.

 

 

This next shot is of me holding up an eight and a half pound lobster that I caught while scuba diving with my pal, Ken Kelly.  We were about twelve miles off of Clearwater Beach diving from my twenty foot Wellcraft named Reel To Reel.  I stumbled across some pictures of the Reel To Reel today and may post one in a later entry for y’all to see.  This lobster took me three full meals to eat.  Lobster is my favorite meal right behind a good steak.  I had a big appetite even back then, so you know that this was a huge lobster.

 

 

The next two pictures are of Paulette and I as we were leaving the marina to attend a Christmas party in Tampa, Florida about a thirty minute drive north from where we kept the Halcyon docked.  It’s hard to believe we were so young.  It’s even harder to accept that we are no longer young like that, LOL!  Oh well, we are still young in our hearts and spirits and that is what matters, I guess.

 

 

 

Although Paulette and I were not married yet when I purchased the Halcyon, we were seriously dating and Paulette was very involved with me in the selection process.  Our lives centered on boating back then and we seized every opportunity we could to enjoy the Halcyon.  There was a little island in Tampa Bay near the shipping channel that had a perfect little cove on the protected side of it.  This little cove was perfect to anchor the Halcyon in.  We would pull up on Friday evening and drop anchor and not leave until mid day on Sunday.  Since the Halcyon had a generator, we had all the comforts of home right there at the island for the whole weekend.  This shot is of Paulette and I on the top deck of the Halcyon with the Island in the background as we motored home.  I’m sitting at the upper steering station and Paulette is right behind me sitting in a deck chair enjoying the breeze, the view and the taste of salt in the air.

 

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look into the past with me.  I do think these photos look a lot better on here than tucked away in that drawer.  I found some pictures of film and video shoots I was on during my search through the family archives so I may show some of them soon.  Unfortunately they were not the shoot I wanted to write about today.  I’ll go to my storage unit in the next week or two and try and find the pictures I originally wanted to use today, as well.

 

In other news, everyone made it through the holiday weekend in one piece here.  We are still experiencing weather in the low to mid nineties and 100% humidity.  Science tells us that cooler weather is on the horizon, but it would be hard to prove to us right now.   As for me, well, I had the day off today and I stayed in the blissful air conditioning all day long.  It was a good day.  I got in a little guitar playing, took a short nap, and threw this post together.  It’s been fun, but I have some serious loafing to accomplish to finish out the day.  See you next time!