Waiting for Jerry the Ice Cream Man

Back in the day, our refrigerator's freezer was the size that fit two ice trays and a pound of chop meat. Then that small cool space froze over and there was never room for ice cream except at your birthday!

It was the same way up and down the block on Gless Avenue in Belleville, N.J. Anybody who got rid of their ice box and got an electric refrigerator had about the same amount of freezer space.

This is Jersey. It's hot in the summer in New Jersey. We were hot. We sweated and drank tap water from the garden hose to cool off. We ran around in the sun, got sun burn, it peeled, and we went back out in the sun.

In the summer, it was hot. We played in the heat. We kids kept cool by running around outside and making our own breezes. We played hide-and-seek and learned to count to 100 by fives. At our peak on that one dead end block we had up to 28 kids. (We're talking baby boom, here.)

continue reading

Anthony's Still Married to a Christmas Nut

For long-time fans who are familiar with Anthony's essay Married To A Christmas Nut, first published in 1977, you may want to read the follow-up, Still Married To A Christmas Nut, to that first Christmas in that tiny apartment in Belleville, N.J.

Christmas Cowboy!

Read all about it here at NJ Voices.

The original essay, Married To A Christmas Nut is inclued in A FATHER'S PLACE: An Eclectic Collection, and No Christmas is included in Sister Dressed Me Funny, which, by the way, you may still order in time for gift exchanges on Dec. 25.

**********************************
Blog copyright © 2009 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
Support this web site, shop at Amazon through this link, thanks
**********************************
Check out Anthony Buccino's latest poetry and essay collections as ebooks and on Kindle.

LINKS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Dog hair everywhere

"Here's something about dog hair, it's like pollen. You don't ever see it moving on a breeze until it gangs up on you and forces an explosion in your nose.

Sometimes you can move a piece of furniture and find yourself asking your dog, "Is there another dog in here? One that's been vaporized except for his fur?"

Don't expect your dog to answer you unless you say one of the magic words such as cookie, treat, knot chewy, walk or ride in the car. And of course, no matter how smart your dog is, he won't be answering your question. All he wants is another biscuit.

There are ways to deal with dog hair here, there and everywhere..."

Continue reading

****************
Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

What to do with those old VHS tapes

"Our VCR sits like a red-headed stepchild next to our desktop DVR box and DVD player. It's been more than a year since we switched the red, yellow and white wires feeding into the TV to the FiOS box. While the change hasn't been a rose garden, the old faithful tape player has gathered dust bunnies.

Behind the cellar door, we've got seven boxes of time-shift viewing VHS tapes that if they were converted to DVD, they would fill less than one box. That would free up more room for our latest adventure, whatever that may be once we have more room for it.... "

Continue reading

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.