Neighborhood Goofin', 1979 (Age 3)

Here's my sister, Jene, in our driveway in May 1979. Congrats on getting married *this* month (as I write this), August 2023, Jene & Duane!

Here's Jene and I. That's a Plymouth Horizon. In the back is our house (red until around...1989?) with our old back deck before it became two-tiered, and Pine Mountain*, which was, in a general sense, between us and Danbury Airport.

Me in "regular" pose. And, wait for it...

Me in "wacky" pose. That's one of those jackets that had multiple bootleg baseball team logos. *Even* then I remember questioning why as a fan of *one* team, I'd be forced to represent *many* teams. Maybe those jackets were just meant to show you were a "fan of the game."

I can't explain why suddenly we have black and white pictures... maybe another family took these and we got copies? This is my dad pushing me on a swing at Ridgebury School, just through the woods from our house.

Down at the nature trail adjacent to the school. Jene's at far left, me and my dad are in the middle. The gaggle of neighbors consists of Mr. Benson and his two kids on the bridge, and two Quinn kids over in the stream. If we've got dads and kids, maybe Mr. Quinn was the photographer here. Jene and I took my dad to this spot last summer as part of his 80th birthday celebration.

Christmas 1978 (Age 3)

Just a few pics from Xmas '78. Here I am with Santa at my nursery school. (I went to 3-yr old nursery school and 4-yr old nursery school. 4-yr old NS was in NS! Meaning North Salem, NY. Even though we lived in Connecticut.) Pretty cool pants.

At home on Christmas morning. Cookie Monster jammies. And a Disney-heavy gift.

Jene gets gerbils at age 6. I believe they were named Ridgey and Bury after our elementary school, Ridgebury School, which was right through the woods from our house. I'm thinking one of the cats got to Bury, because I remember Ridgey being, like, the main gerbil. Later I got my own gerbil which I named Danny.
 

My 4th Birthday Party, 1979

The dining room in Ridgefield, September 1979. I still have that Spider-Man. And note the picture of me crawling on the sand as a baby. That hung in our hallway for the life of that house--I hadn't realized it had gone up so soon after the moment happened. (Showing you part of the physical photo album, with my mom's handwriting on "Jere's 4th.")

Blowing out the candles as my dad looks on. Hey, why is Stefan blowing too?? WTF.

Left to right: 

Carter (born in the same year Carter was elected! He was a big motorcycle guy and the Internet tells me he was still doing motocross as of a few years ago. 

Ali, who've I've been in touch with somewhat recently--she became the head cheerleader and always kind of felt like a second sister growing up. 

Jessica, who ended up going to a different school I think, never heard from her post-nursery school. 

My sister, Jene, whose own kids I still think of as being the age of the kids in this picture, but who are actually all full-grown adults now. 

And me.

Left to right:

Stefan again. This guy became a professional magician, and my sister keeps in touch with him.

Possibly Timmy, who ended up getting a mohawk in middle school, long before I knew you could get a haircut that wasn't, ya know, the same one you'd always had.

Chris. Went on to be one of the popular crowd in high school, on the football team, etc. I always felt like despite that I wasn't popular, I'd grown up with enough of the popular kids so that they gave me a "break," like, nobody was gonna beat me up, they pretty much left me alone.

The party rages on.......

Group shot in the living room for present-opening. Is that my to-this-day friend Pat in the striped shirt at right? Hmm...
 

Jere's 21st Birthday Family Party, 1996

Check out the New York/New Jersey Knights hat, the Ohio State shirt, and that Levi's one I looooooved over it. And my high-shaved sides along with the long hair in back. Easing toward the mullet-hawk...

Also starring Jene and Amanda (age 1.5), and Spike the cat at age 12. And mom and dad. At the house in Ridgefield.

Mom & More in '89

 

Here's a video from my mom's book signing (The Port of Missing Men by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith) at our hometown bookshop in 1989. This was her third published novel and many family members, neighbors, and friends turned out.

My dad filmed the action on our old giant video camera that you'd pop VHS tapes directly into. He is also the narrator/interviewer/agitator. What you see is unedited. I don't know why he stopped filming (or went back and started taping over) that one intro section.

While watching, I was wondering where I was, until my friend Mike's mom comes in and gives a baseball update! We played for Squash's in Pony League that summer, and it sounds like one of us was twirling a gem in the midst of this book extravaganza.

Books on the Common is still in business at the same location in Ridgefield in 2023! Sadly the longtime owner, Sally Ruggles, formerly Sally Silbernagel, died last summer; she is visible at the beginning and end of the video.

See the video description on the YouTube page for the full list of attendees!

Thanks to my sister, Jene, for holding onto this video all these years!

Here Shall Be...

 ...all the photos, all the videos, all the audio from my life before the Internet, 1975-2005-ish. 

2005 was around the point I started uploading pics and vids to the Internet, which you have followed in real time on my blog A Red Sox Fan From Pinstripe Territory, my YouTube channels (jps8080 and matseighty), and my Twitter (rsfpt).

So here comes all the stuff from before then: My pre-Internet family & friends photo/video album, piece by piece, labeled by year, as I upload it all.

This is gonna take a lonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg time....

Jere in Ridgefield, CT, 1995. Video still by Markus Chan.