Big Head… Big Brain… Smart Kid!!!

by Buzz Nofal | Mar 22, 2010 | Just Stuff

I’ve always known I had a larger than normal head. Never easy to buy a hat since my size is rarely available but, my Dad always found the best in things that had to do with me.

When I was a baby, Dad wold plop me into a stroller and wheel me around downtown Miami. When people would stop to look at me, Dad would say… “Look how big his head is.  That means he has a big brain.  He’s a really smart boy.”

Realizing the massive contribution to mankind my brain would be, my Dad realized he was honor bound to protect it.
So, he had a special leather helmet made for me to wear so if, heaven forbid, I were to fall down, the world would not lose my brain.  I cannot make this stuff up. (more…)

A Face Without Freckles Is Like A Night Without Stars….

by Buzz Nofal | Mar 13, 2010 | Just Stuff

I think one of the most indelible memories we ever have is that of our “first love.” I’ll bet you remember yours and I sure do remember mine. Naomi Gregory…. the name still makes me smile.

I met Naomi when I was 5 or 6 and living at my GrandMa’s house in Miami.  She lived a few doors down from us and my little heart was a goner the first time I saw her.  Red hair, freckles and a blindingly white smile. She asked me if I wanted to play box-ball with her.

I wish I had a picture of the real Naomi but I don’t so, I went looking for one that looked like her and found this one.  It looks surprisingly like “my” Naomi.

We played together just about everyday for that year or so and then I moved  few miles away to live with my Aunt Mary.  It wasn’t all that far but it might as well have been across the country for a 7 year old Buzzard. (more…)

The Buzzard at GrandMa’s House

by Buzz Nofal | Mar 7, 2010 | Just Stuff

Keepin’ Cool!

Sometimes it amazes me what I remember as a kid.  My grandparents owned a house on 32nd Avenue in Miami where I
spent most of my first 6 years. It was a totally cool house.  We had one of the very first air conditioned houses in Miami. Yep, my Dad had a commercial AC unit installed in the living room.  It was huge…. floor to cieling and sounded like a hurricane when it was on.  It was a unit designed to cool a large store so it wold drop the temperature in there like a rock. (more…)

Buzzard Beginnings

by Buzz Nofal | Feb 22, 2010 | Just Stuff

A shot of the actual hurricane that was raging when I was born. Taken just a few miles from the hospital where my Mom was hatching her baby Buzzard.

Yes, I was born during a hurricane in Miami, Florida. Seems like my life was a hurricane for the first 14 years or so.  I can’t understand how I survived but I did. (more…)