Family Pictures

                    Pictures from Oita, Japan                                                                 

    Click image for a larger view.
             Our home in Oita, winter scene.  It seldom snows here, but when
             it did in 2005 it made a nice picture.   Lindal Cedar Home
 
                                                                                
                 ViewofLawn002.jpg                                                                                                                                                                  
 
              We have a nice view of the mountains, especially from our upper
              deck where the living room is located.  I did all the brickwork.
 
 
 
 
 CalvisitingOita2009-8.jpg Cal in Oita, August 30, 2009 picture by bertmcbean
 
Cal visited us in August 2009 on his way to China to teach English.
He loves Japan, and having lived here until the age of 12, he is completely bilingual. While a student at the University of Washington, he spent three
summer vacations here working in a mall at a big department store.
 
 
 
 
 

Living on a mountain side is wonderful. Lots of 
critters like it too, like the wild pigs that tore up my grass. 
 
NavyJacket003-2.jpg Navy Jacket, trimmed picture by bertmcbean   
                 This is the jacket I got for playing baseball on the Yokosuka 
                 Navy base baseball team in 1966. 
 

                 Mitsuko and I at a country music concert in Kumamoto. 2003

     

 

            I was walking past a Honda showroom recently and saw this antique

            Honda S-600 on display.  It's the same car I owned when I first came

            to Japan in 1964.  Mine was red.  What a surprise!

 

 

 

 


 

                                   Pictures from the U.S.A.

             Cal and Mitsuko on top of Diamond Head, Honolulu, Hawaii.  2004

 

 

 

 

My brother, Les, born in 1946.  He has a thriving honey-bee business in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  In December 2009, there was an excellent article about him in the American Bee Journal, the country's biggest and oldest bee trade magazine, "Bee Keeping in Michigan's Yooper Country." You can read it here:

http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=27582&page=1  (Page 1165)

 

 

             At Brian and Kathy's son's little league game, Almont, Mich. 1999

             L-R, Ann (step-mother), Don, Reimi, Julie (friend) Brian and Kathy (my    

             half-sister).

 

 

 

 

                                  Mitsuko getting ready to skydive in

                                  Eugen, Oregon.  She sure looks happy

                                  about jumping out of an airplane at

                                  13,000 feet. She likes bungee jumping, too. 

                                  No extreme sports for me, though.

 

         Some old family pictures:                                             

 

                                          Homer McBean. 1910-1993     

 

 

 

                             My mother & grandmother in front of the house

                             where I lived from 1957 until I left Michigan. My

                             grandmother lived to be nearly 100--just 2 weeks

                             short of the milestone.

 

             I shot this 6-point buck when deer hunting with my Dad at Kenton,

             Michigan in the U.P in 1968.  That is a Lincoln Continental.  Dad

             was big on classy cars; he also had a Ford Thunderbird and a 1957

             Ford convertable.

 

                              

             Judy and Reimi in front of Dad's old building built in about 1949.

             His barber shop was on the left and a restaurant on the right.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

                   Dad in his barber shop, 1949.  At the left, rear, you can see   an old

                    shoe-shine chair.  That was my introduction to the world of work.

                   When I was about 11, I started shining the waiting customers'

                    shoes for 10 cents a shine. Haircuts were one dollar then.  

 

 

                                Judy and I in front of the old house. 1945

 

           This is where my Dad worked for about 25 years.  Romeo, Michigan.

           I also worked there for three summers as a gardener during my

           college years.  I still love gardening today.

            

 

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                      Click image for a larger view. 
           Houseviews007.jpg House view picture by bertmcbean
 
             Summer view.  I enjoy taking care of the grass and doing various
              home improvement projects.  Oil-staining all that cedar is a never-
              ending job.
 
 
              
              Mitsuko and Reimi on M's birthday, 2005. Reimi made the cake.
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
              Reimi with Santa in his wig.  This is my modified Santa outfit. I put
              on the full-course outfit each December when I do a Christmas
              lesson with my students.
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                   
Not content with tearing up my grass, one pig jumped in my com-
poster in our vegetable garden one night.  When I went out with a
flashlight to shoo him away, he got so excited that he ripped apart
the composter trying to get out.
 
 
 
 
SeirikawaDam2008-8-19-1.jpg Black Bass, August 2008 picture by bertmcbean
      I really enjoy bass fishing in the summer time.  There is a nice dam in the 
      mountains about 45 minutes from my house where I can get away from it all--  
      no people, telephone poles, noise, signs, etc.  In the summer of 2008, I caught 
      my biggest bass ever, 19 inches or 48 centimeters, on a rubber frog. 
 
 
 
     
 
         I play tennis 3-4 hours every Saturday & Sunday and 3-5 times during
         the week.  I started at age 55, rather late, but it came
easily to me,
         probably thanks to all those years playing shortstop.
         That beige car in the background is my Toyota 4Runner SUV.
 
 

 
 
 USS_Ajax_AR-6_off_San_Diego1.jpg USS Ajax, AR-6 picture by bertmcbean
              USS Ajax, AR-6 (Repair Ship).  I was stationed on this ship 1964-66.
              Fortunately, the ship spent most of its time in its homeport of Sasebo,
              Japan.  It carried 700 personnel.  The Ajax was scrapped some years
              ago, but the memories remain strong.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 __________________________________________________________________________                 
                                   Click image for a larger view.
 
 
                                           Cal and Reimi in Hawaii. 2009
 
 
 
                 My sister, Judy, born 1943.  Now retired from 30-plus years of 
                 teaching/school librarian, she spends her summers in Michigan
                 and winters in Florida.
 
 
 
                 
  The house where we grew up as it looks today.  Peck, Michigan
 
 
 
 
         With Cal, climbing Diamond Head, Honolulu, Hawaii
 
 
                      
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
Click image for a larger view.
 
 
 
 
               Shirley Eloise McBean.  1914-1988 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                        My father, taken on his 83rd birthday.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                              Dad with Cal and Reimi in Almont, Michigan
                               in 1989.
 
 
 
 
 
                 
 
                              This picture was taken just after I graduated
                               from Navy OCS, New Port, R.I. in 1964.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                               My Dad was the only one to cut my hair until
                               I went away to university. Picture is 1960.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                             
           Post office, Peck, Michigan. This is where my mother worked as post- 
           master for 30-plus years.
 
 
 
 
             This is one of the streams about a mile from my house were I trapped
             muskrats as a young boy.  I checked the traps before and after school.
             We skinned them, then stretched the pelts on a special board.  When
             dry, we sold them for a dollar a pelt, not bad money in those days.
 
 
     
                       
                       
                          
                         
 
 
 
                         
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