Kaya Mawa Sailor: Things You Don't Usually See

Blue Heron having lunch

I have been interested in photography for a long time. My father took pictures and he had an enlarger to resize his black and whites. My daughter has boxes and albums that my mother had saved plus my fathers.

Lunch is being difficult

My grand parents lived in Los Angeles and the next door neighbor owned a camera store, my cousin's husband owned a camera store too. My other cousin Sonny Boy also was in to cameras and would bring his photos (he lived in San Bernardino, we were in Santa Monica) to show his prints to my father.

Finally

My Mother bought an earlier Polaroid camera at a jewelry store on Third Street in Santa Monica that gave her credit. She loved credit just like she loved the ponies (Hollywood Park).

The Polaroid came with a brown leather carrying case (we still have it) and my father also had a 8 mm film camera that he used to take pictures of visits to Knotts Berry Farm for Mother's Day.

My father and his father, my Grand Father could play several different musical instruments. My Grandfather had a German Band in St. Bernard, Ohio. We still have several of the instruments from the band that are over a hundred years old.

So my Father wanted me to play the trumpet and we had his Father's Silver Cornet and Alto Horn always laying around in the front room. So in Junior High (John Adams) I joined the Junior Band with my new trumpet for a daily class. The band room was attached to the school auditorium. Any kid that grows up in Santa Monica is very lucky. Our Junior High had not only a nice auditorium but a super gym with great wooden floors.

After playing in band at John Adams I moved up to Senior Band in High School and became a member of Samohi's Marching Band. Talk about being a geek. I had three classes in fall.

1. Marching Band

2. Band

3. Orchestra

and after football season was over I only had band and orchestra. Since there are only a few horn seat in orchestra and the two trumpet players were brilliant (one played in a recording studio while still in high school and the other Gary Shields was by super good friend. Gary was the typical NERD and had a Studebaker.

This must be going some where so as I artfully segue into using my Mother's Polaroid during a Marching Band trip to Disneyland. Our Marching Band during non football season would do parades and the orchestra would enter contests. Twice we went to Disneyland and marched down Main Street and gave a concert at the Pavilion next to Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

In Flight

Band members were not strangers with the cheer leaders as we always rode in the same buses during football seasons. So at Disneyland after our concert we all got free rides in the park and then there was Paddle Wheel ride on the water and I had my Mother's Polaroid camera and I was taking pictures of the Cheer Leaders and was getting rewarded with return kisses until I ran out of film. Being a clever lad I kept taking pictures of the cute girls with an empty camera.

Landing

Some where later my Mother got another Polaroid camera and continued to take pictures. she loved to take pictures of the Television and her cats (my mother started the first cat colony). My father was more interested in dogs and I gave him my Sheltie (Sherlock) who loved to chase cats so my Mother fattened the dog up just to slow him down.