[jdviole2]

When we brought Helena home from the picnic she got out of the car and leaned in the front passenger window to thank my dad and say goodbye to mom and I. When she leaned into the window she put her hand on my arm, as if for support. She told me later that that she did it deliberately so that I wouldn't forget her. She was that way. If she wanted to do or see or have something she didn't let anything get in her way. Not that she was pushy. She just gently manuvered things so that she usually got what she wanted. It is a tribute to her that no one ever got mad at her during her manuverings. Among the many concerts we attended, one of her favorites was Johnny Winter. In case you don't know him he was an albino blues guitarist/singer. Loud, driving, sweaty blues. Usually the concerts we went to were in auditoriums, stadiums, or theaters. This one was held in a party room of a local bowling alley that used to host music shows. They had three party rooms that were connected. Each room had a maximum number of people allowed, to conform to fire regulations. They sold enough tickets to fill all three rooms. Needless to say everyone crowded into the one room where the band was playing. We had seats on barstools in the back of the really small room. Every music group/performer has a typical audience. We certainly didn't fit Johnny Winters core audience. We were fascinated as the people started to come to see that they were almost all "bikers" and their girl friends. Now I never noticed it before but based on this crowd the typical "biker chick" is a really tall woman. With the boots that most of them were wearing they were almost all over 6 foot tall. Most several inches over. Helena was 5 foot 4 inches. She looked like somebodys baby sister in comparison. The show starts and between us and the stage is this entire crowd of giant people. Some were standing on chairs. All were in a party mood. All standing hip to hip pressed tightly together. Helena wanted to see the band and wanted to get closer. I didn't see anyway that was going to happen so I told her we should just stay where we were and enjoy the music. Before I knew what she was up to she hopped off the barstool and began to push her way through all those tall men and taller women. I figured she was a dead woman. Then I saw one of the biker women put her arm around Helena's shoulders and guide her through the crowd to the front by the stage. I didn't see her again until the end of the show. Thats what I meant about her doing whatever it took to get what she wanted. And also what I meant about no one getting mad at her while she did it. We laughed about her "biker gang" experience often. It was one of her favorite memories. So on the the pictures. The first one is Helena at the trial garden you have seen in an earlier post. This was taken on a different visit in 1979. The second picture shows Helena having her first cup of coffee in a motel room on one of our vacations in the early 80's. On trips she didn't function at all well without coffee in the morning. The next picture is Helena at Colorado National Monument. The next picture was a surprise to me. It is another swimsuit shot from the "skinny dip trip". I didn't even remember this one existed. The next shot is another dressed shot from one of the nude shoots. The last picture was taken on Venice Beach in LA. She really wanted to roller skate there after seeing it in so many movies and TV shows. Neither of us had been on skates in years. I fell on my butt the second I tried to stand up. She really laughed about that. I quickly got my "sea legs" though and did very well after that. Helena had a hard time with the skating since she was most used to skating in a rink and not used to a sidewalk with all the sand, rocks, and other junk to block the wheels. She finally ended up on her butt too. That stopped the laughing at me at any rate. This was probably in 1981.