Movement

I don't know how this proud, and perhaps slightly anxious boy is. This tiny photo, part of a contact sheet of three pictures taken at some kind of carnival/amusement park, was one of the things in a folder full of vintage photos from my grandmother's things. The sign in German (Eilt-sehr! -- Very urgent! so, caution for sure) makes me even more perplexed; this was the grandmother who did not come from a long line of Germans and Austrians (that was the other grandmother).  Her ex-husband, my beloved Papa Paul, was born to a German father and Irish mother -- but everything about the age of the photo wouldn't make sense and I have no reason to think that Paul would have ever gone to Germany as a child (and lots of reasons to think that never could have happened). My grandmother's things are mostly about my dad, her only child -- and he's the most reasonable boy to suspect except for the part about the signs being in German (he definitely didn't travel abroad as a child).

Most of the photos in this particular stack are without any kind of labels on them and I'm limited in the people I can identify.  I can distinguish family members I knew or knew of, and don't know which are photos of friends.  Makes me think about how it is that junk shops/antique stores end up with boxes and boxes of old photos; if the people who end up with them don't know who's in them, then the photos seem worthless.  Given that I'm the sort of person who buys old photos from junk shops and sometimes online, I'm going to hold on to these.  But, it's a good reminder to start labeling so that Dean doesn't end up with cartons of photos that seem worthless.

Meanwhile, I'm delighted and relieved to have him home after his month in Panama.  I am listening to his stories and looking for signs of change; it is the kind of experience, on the bring of turning 17, that dictates all kind of change.  I'm mindful of how hard it can be when you are growing up to know that you are changing -- to reach for and embrace change on the journey to becoming -- and yet to feel constrained in time and in being by your family.  We play a role in our families that depends in part on our being who they think we are, and that can be difficult to deal with when they don't see or acknowledge when we've grown past their vision of us.  I want to honor and see the person he is becoming, even as I acknowledge all the difficulties in that for me (I age less, for one simple matter, when he doesn't grow up).

"Riesenrad" -- that's Ferris Wheel.  Held in place, going around but coming right back. Moments held in time as people move on. I hope it was sunny that day.

Flashback Friday

My grandmother, Lee, second from left, circa 1916?

Said it is only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea,
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believed in me.

Flashback Friday

My great-grandfather, Chicago, circa 1945?

It's hard for me to express what a treasure this photograph is to me. It is new to my collection, sent to me last week by my mother's cousin. I had never seen a photograph of my great-grandfather before -- I certainly never met him, either. To see his face is to see the face of one of his daughters, my grandmother. This came in an envelope with other treasures, all appreciated, but this is the most special.

I had sent, for the first time, a letter and Christmas card to my mother's cousin last month. My mother speaks of him often; they are the last two of their generation in this particular line of the family. He and I share an interest in family history and I know I've found a friend with whom many letters and stories will be shared. He is in his 70s, so I'm particularly grateful to have made this connection now.

Are there people in your family to whom you could reach out? I heartily recommend doing it. I'll be honest and say I had less favorable results a while back when I reached out to extended family on my dad's side; the person I reached was in fact not directly family but the husband of my dad's one surviving cousin and he was an angry man with an agenda (which my dad would have warned me, I know). But you know what they say about one bad apple not spoiling the whole bunch. So I hit one dead end but this time found a wide open path and reclaimed some family. A magnificent way to begin a new year.

Flashback Friday

This happy little new year's baby is Louise Morhoff, and the photo was taken around the turn of the last century. She's from my great-grandmother's photo album. The Morhoff's seem to have been friends; it's not a name I'm familiar with and I don't believe they are related to us. Interestingly, my great-grandmother seems to have been more careful to label the photos of people who weren't family -- makes sense since you know you won't forget your own family members as you look through an album and it's just difficult to imagine that any future family member wouldn't know everything you know about who's who in the family. Anyway, this little winter time baby seemed just right for welcoming the new year.

What are you doing tomorrow? Care to join me and Helen in getting some tasks checked off your to-do list? Pick a project, take "before" photos if so inclined, and post updates during the day as you get your work done -- and let us know about it in the comments section here (I'll include a link in tomorrow's post if you do want to work along with us). We did this once before and although I should be too ashamed to admit it, I've got the same problems to tackle this time (meaning, I didn't keep it up after getting it in shape). However, hope does spring eternal.

Flashback Friday, reaching 'Z'

Could be my grandfather Paul as a baby; 1901?

Definitely my dad, tall boy in back, to the left of Santa (as you look at picture), with his cousin Jerry in front of him. Check out the little boy on the far left, being propped up on a man's knees, with that man otherwise hiding under the table. c. 1936

We had a lovely little Christmas and hope that you did, too. Ken says that before I upload any more photos on my computer, I've got to complete a photo back-up so that he can swap in a new hard drive with mega more RAM since I have maxed this puppy out. (More than 7,000 photos in a year? Who knew?) If you have horrific photo file storage habits like me, you know how painful the back-up process is, because you've got oodles of photos with the same digital names assigned to them, so backing up requires naming hundreds (well, okay, even thousands) of pictures. Boy, am I going to turn over a new leaf in this department!

Meanwhile, ABC-Along 2008 comes to a close. I present 'Y' and 'Z,' and I present my utter amazement that I conquered the entire alphabet. Please don't scroll past the z-form entry until you've really tried to see the z, and then go to the bottom if you need help. I admit that this project has me seeing letters where, perhaps, no one else sees them, but maybe that was the beauty of it.

'Y' is for 'yellow.'

Letter form 'Y.'
'Z' is for 'zinnia.'
Letter form 'Z.'



In case you need to see it through my eyes....

Happy Boxing Day!

Flashback Friday

My dad, Christmas 1931, Chicago

Taking a deep breath. Mentioning that "new year's gifts!" come with just as much love and care as Christmas ones, since I know it will come to that for truly dear and wonderful people on my list. Planning to make a mad dash out this morning, along with the rest of New England, to hit a few stores before the blizzard hits. Wondering how I ever got myself in a hole this deep, but trying not to waste energy on that and instead focusing on what can be accomplished in the next 6 days.

I look at this picture of my dad and think about how much he was adored. There it was, during the Great Depression, and I see a carefully decorated tree and plenty of gifts (a watch! for a 3-year-old! how wonderful). He came from a family that didn't show a lot of affection openly, but these pictures tell a story of a boy well-loved. He certainly is a father dearly missed.

Wish us well with our storm; hope, along with me, that we don't lose power -- there are still tens of thousands of people in the area without power from an ice storm one week ago, so there's already much concern about how more outages can be handled. At least, Dean points out, it's looking good for a white Christmas....

Flashback Friday

I tried to find a family photo from some Thanksgiving past, but couldn't; I guess back then, just like yesterday, everyone was so busy just getting the meal on the table that there wasn't time to take pictures. The child being held in her mother's arms is my paternal grandmother, Ellamae; her mother's name was Ella. This is from a small album that appears to have belonged to Ella, and to later have been somewhat ravaged by Ellamae (she was very particular about photos of herself and I can't imagine who else would have ripped out photos where there are still notes in the margins that say 'Ellamae'). Most of the notes aren't very helpful -- rarely is a year noted or a name mentioned, and the album must have been put together to take care of storing a stack of photos since they are very jumbled; photos of my grandmother as a child next to photos from my dad's childhood. This photo was either labeled 'Just before the storm' or 'On a trip' -- it's hard to tell which title goes with which photo. The pictures were glued down with something akin to wallpaper paste.

Anyway, I chose this one today because it is family, gathered; proud, carefully dressed, an air of celebration. A toast -- to family gatherings past, present, and future.

Flashback Friday

My maternal grandfather, Alfred J. Beck, on the far right, with sister Bernice and brothers Teddy (front) and Otto. Alfred was born in 1891, so I'd guess this photo was taken in about 1900 or so. This proof was written on by the photographer, who'd made notes on the back about corrections that Theresa Beck, Alfred's mother, had wanted made, including particular corrections on Otto which is why there is a pencil line drawn to him.

Meanwhile, I'm falling way behind on everything except hanging out and having fun with Dean. I'll try to catch up next week so if I owe you an email or haven't dropped by to visit lately, please understand that's why.

Flashback Friday

"Summer 1935"

My mom is on the left, her cousin Virginia on the right. My grandmother labeled the back with the date, which is rare enough (that any family photos have any labels) and I'm fortunate to know who these sweeties are. People seem to have a hard time imagining that there will ever come a time that the family members who own the photos won't just automatically know who the subjects are, which is one reason so many old photos wind up in antique stores.

Anyway, at least today I've discovered why my mom always insisted on the pixie haircut for me....

Luckiest girl in the world

Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it -- I'm the luckiest girl in the world! Sandy stopped by, saw my post, snuck away with a copy of my picture, and gave it back to me like this. I had tears in my eyes when I opened her message and found this inside. How did she know that dress was pink? And she does this kind of thing for reals, for money, but she did this as a surprise just for me. I am touched and thrilled and just delighted beyond belief. I cannot imagine better. Now I really am going to have a wonderful day and I hope you do, too!

Lend a helping hand

(This is one of the photos I sent to Alison; can't wait to see what she does with them!)

Do you have a moment to do a small favor? A couple that my sister-in-law knows about, Sarah and Dan, is trying to win their wedding photography and so they need you to go here and vote for them. They are finalists in a "Real Couple" contest based on the story about how they met and got engaged. I don't know them but apparently that's true of a lot of people; they aren't front-runners in this thing which I'm guessing is based more on how many people you can get to go and vote for you than how adorable you are and I thought it would be nice if we could get them a few extra votes. Vote just once, please (the rules!) and thanks in advance for helping out.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing you a lovely, homespun Valentine's Day! This is not a made-up, "Hallmark" holiday as some protest; this is an ancient celebration of love, and of expressing love. How you honor it, celebrate it, is up to you -- no one says you must go out and spend lots of money. I made Dean a little gift that he'll find in his lunch box (photo tomorrow!) and we made cards for each other that we will exchange at dinner time. Dean made cards and bookmarks for his classmates. I am very disappointed that I am required to be at a Board of Trustees' meeting at school tonight; it bothers me that this large group of adults doesn't care that it's an important family holiday but we'll enjoy the first part of our evening together at home, anyway.

Don't you love this photo? Hurray for PhotoShop, since the original was very underexposed. I'm saying this must have been taken during WWI; see the Red Cross caps on 2 of the dolls? And the clothing is clearly not WWII vintage.

Connections

It's another day for cold-weather wear, that's for sure! We had more snow and ice last night, and more's on the way today. These two sweeties have the right idea, although I can't imagine what it must have been like in the days when shoes were just leather -- no insulated, waterproof boots to keep your feet dry.

After my previous post with the child's birthday photo, I did a little research on the history of children's birthday parties. It seems that the basic premise -- a separate party just for children with other children in attendance -- is yet another thing we have to thank the Victorians for. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be able to wave a wand and view today's world without the Victorian Era having ever happened. Sort of like It's a Wonderful Life, you know? -- seeing the world as it would be if you'd never been born, or in this case, if the Victorians had never existed in England. Our culture would be entirely different, and social history a completely different story. It's staggering, really, if you think about it. But I digress. The point of a child's birthday party was both to demonstrate wealth and place in society and to give children opportunities to learn social rules, practice manners, etc. The concept of a birthday party with guests all the same relative age of the child came to pass after the industrial revolution and the popularity of schools -- your classmates became your social group less than the children of your parents' friends. This was the period in which birthday parties really became popular in the U.S., which makes me think my guess is close for dating the party photo. I had a nice email from Alison about the art and science of dating old photos and am looking forward to sharing some more with her.

I like going on those kinds of journeys, making those connections. Seeing something (an old photo), thinking about it, asking questions, doing some research. I spent some time on Monday, too, taking this journey: I was thinking of the song Joy is Like the Rain, which I remember from an album my mom had that was recorded by a group of nuns. I'd hoped their version was available on iTunes and while it wasn't, a harpist who'd recorded it also recorded another song I love but haven't thought about in a long time -- The Ash Grove. So that lead me to purchase a version of that song, but then I was very disappointed that my favorite verse wasn't in it. More research showed that there are indeed variations of the song out there, and the version I know and love is even referred to as "the Girl Scout version." Hmmm. Next, I found the sheet music online that included the lyrics, which has made it possible for me to learn to play it on the piano.

It is hard to make time to live life this way. To give yourself the gift of time of thinking, remembering, researching, learning. I like that playing around on the piano again forces me to use my brain in a very different way than I do in the usual course of a day. It's hard that it means that there are now -- what? -- four baskets of laundry waiting to be folded and more dirty laundry to be washed which will make the back-up for folding even longer. It's even harder that there's nothing really to "show" for the fact that I've learned a simple tune on the piano, and it causes me a moment of awkwardness when Ken comes home and says, "what did you do today?" (although he is generally supportive and I DID do the dishes and clean up the kitchen, after all). But all this leads to the good (great?) that can come from tooling around on the computer for a while -- making connections with people, making mental connections, living life and thinking about the world in a different way. Can you give yourself that gift once in a while?

Another vintage photo

This gem is labeled on the back "Dolores Birthday Party." Isn't it wonderful? My guess is that Dolores is front and center, with the white leggings and dark hair. There's no date, but I'm going to guess early 1900s; I say that because of the giant hair bows on the girls that remind me of the ones in photos of my grandmother -- the two children in sailor suits probably also give a hint at the date, as do the appearance of regular lace-up shoes (third girl from right) as opposed to boots, but I don't know enough to be able to really interpret those clues. Dolores' family must have been well-off to be able to hold a party for 16 children, wouldn't you think? I'm not sure when children's birthday parties came into vogue; more to research!

A few things to share

I realized that my final post from yesterday now reads from the bottom up, which is a little confusing. Sorry about that! The end of day photos and comments are first, and then the last part is what I wrote at the start of the day.

One of many benefits of the clean out was coming across a few things I'd been looking for. One was a box of old photos I'd bought in Chicago -- a town where you still find lots of neighborhood junk/"antique" stores where you can pick up a nice stack of vintage photos for a few dollars. I'll share some over the coming days; for starters, here are a couple of great ones:


Next, I did post my letter form "C" to the ABC-Along:

I'm having trouble finding something out there that begins with the letter "C;" Dean keeps saying 'cardinal!' and I keep explaining how unlikely I will see one when I have my camera and am able to get close enough for a decent shot, but we'll see. I realized today that one unexpected result of my project will be a seasonal record of the year -- with luck by the time I am on "G" or "H" the pictures will start showing signs of spring.

If you're interested in receiving something from my clean up project (a quilting or sewing pattern? cross stitch kit? ribbon? fabric?) leave me a comment and make sure there's a way I can get in touch to get your address. I'm waiting to hear from some of the people who left me comments yesterday and hope to take some things to the post office tomorrow.