I was born in the 239 Larch Avenue, Dumont New Jersey master bedroom. I lived here for the first ten years of my life. The basement is where visiting family would gather on holidays. A folding table would be set up along with folding lawn chairs to allow seating for everyone. The thing I remember most vividly were three paint by number clown paintings that I believe were done by my oldest brother. I suspect I may have done a paint by numbers painting in my youth as well. I remember the small of the oil paints that came in tiny little plastic cups. I remember stirring the paint with a tooth pick. I however cant recall what I might have painted. It certainly never stood framed in the house. Chances are I painted outside the lines or mixed up the numbers.
I remember seeing a picture of myself as a baby getting a bath in the basement sink. I don’t know where that photo went. I remember being really impressed with a biology project of my older brother. He dissected a frog and glued all the bones together to make it look like the skeleton was jumping. He also once did a detailed drawing of a knight on a horse covered in armor which impressed me.
In the back half of the main room of the basement I arranged the furniture and hung a large black sheet to create the bridge of the star ship enterprise. Friends came over and I sat in the cushioned chair as the captain of the enterprise while friends sat at folding card tables and acted as the crew working the bridge controls. Cutouts of Klingon star ships would be moved o the black sheet as we were under attack.
My mom was great about bringing the family together. After she was gone, the families drifted apart. Photos exist of extended family seated around the basement. I remember sitting on the couch and being told by my grandmother that a doctor had left one of his surgical tools inside her when he sewed her up. She was prone to telling tall tales. In one Christmas photo, I can spot a Major Mason astronaut that I had been given. He had a helmet with a sliding visor. I could bend his arms and legs but they tended to spring back until I broke the inner wire armatures. I used to suspend him in the duct work, so he could explore the home’s inner passages. The string broke and he fell down an air shaft. He might still be there today.