Musical Memories: The Joker

My theme is Musical Memories:  The Memories that music brings rushing back.

One of the very strongest musical memories I have centers around the song, "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band.

As soon as I hear the first few chords of the song, I can smell strong chlorine and hear the snap of a diving board and the click of pool balls on a table.  If you had the privilege of growing up in Silsbee in the 70's, you probably remember these things, too.

There was a pool on a hill at the North edge of town that the Nelson's ran.  Huge pool.  With a low dive and a high dive.  A kiddie slide in the shallow end and a big slide in the deep end.  There was a small wading pool before the big pool for toddlers.  And a covered pavilion with pool tables and foosball tables.  And a jukebox.  That jukebox is why this song brings back such vivid memories.  The boys that would hang out under the pavilion playing pool would play it over, and over.  

As an adolescent, the pool was a special place for birthday parties complete with cakes from Registers bakery.  The best bakery ever.  I don't even eat birthday cake anymore, because none of them taste like a Register cake.

As a teen, the pool became the place I lived at from 1-6 pm two or three days a week all summer long.  I always got a bag of sour cherry balls and a coke for a treat. We'd lay on the hard plastic 60's style lounges and sun bath with baby oil or pina coloda scented lotion.  We'd flirt and play chicken in the water in pairs. I loved to dive and go to the bottom of the pool and shoot up like a torpedo.  Every year the Nelson's would treat the graduating class to a pool party at night.

So, many, happy perfect memories there.  So sad our kids have nothing like it today.

What was your happiest hangout as a teen?
Are you a Steve Miller Band fan?
Do you adore swimming as much as I do?

Bee Hive Jive

Someone bought the two story house down the road from us not too long ago.  And one day, on my way home ,I saw them moving in bee hives.  I thought that was wonderful, as ever since Hurricane Rita came through, we've have less  and less bees around.  Once was, if you set a canned drink down outside, at least one or two bees were going to hover it.  And if it was a Dr. Pepper, you could count on one crawling up inside if you didn't cover the opening when you weren't sipping.  For quite some time it has been that you could eat or drink most anything outside and never see a honey bee. While that may be convenient, it's not good for nature or gardens.  

As April came round, we began working on the pool to get ready to enjoy it once more.  Just as we had the water crystal clear and was primed and pumped for an approaching warm weekend we discover a couple hundred bees ringing the side of our pool!  This distressed me greatly, as much as I enjoy having the pool and as happy as I was to see bees back.  Would we have to do all our swimming in the late evening and night to avoid them?  

I shouldn't have worried or stressed over it.  Pete looked the situation over and thought it through.  He said, "They aren't coming for water.  They are coming for the thin layer of pollen that is accumulating around the side of the pool at the waters edge.  Armed with a  cloth and a spray bottle of chlorine bleach, Pete would dampen the cloth with the bleach and scrub the vinyl from the waters surface to the top of the pool.  Once again no more than three or five bees hummed near the pool.  Perfect solution for us and the bees.