More from the family photo archives: a living room gathering of my Dad's cousin, my Dad, and my brother, probably taken in 1950 or 1951. The biggest clue: the radio is still prominent (directly behind my Dad), and there is no sign of the television which came very soon after this.
My Mother says the drapes were made of beautiful tobacco-leaf-print barkcloth. The chair that my uncle is sitting in was turquoise and the couch (not seen) was a soft gray-green.
There are lots of storytellers in my family, and when my Dad and his cousin Buddo got together--as they did often during my childhood--they were two of the best.
Here's the backstory on this image: it was probably taken by my Dad in the summer of 1958. We were at our cabin in the Pennsylvania mountains for a summer vacation. I finally had a baby sister (after three brothers) and a new puppy.
One of the first rituals after arriving at the cabin was driving up the mountain road to a crystal clear spring with our Dad and bringing back a huge cooler full of drinking water.
On this particular day I had gotten a new balloon, and just moments before this photo was snapped, our new puppy had burst my balloon--and I burst into tears.
Luckily, I had a lollipop (a Tootsie-Roll pop, nonetheless), which helped me get over my disappointment at the burst balloon. My almost 9-year-old brother is putting on his tough Little League game face.
I remember those fun little girls' playsuits with elasticized waists and ties at the shoulder, icons of the 1950's. I'm seven-and-a-half in this photo, about to enter 3rd grade.
Last night I discovered that I can scan slides with my funky scanner--not at very high resolution (300 dpi for now), but they will be in digital format if I decide to undertake this massive project. I'm researching the additional hardware that I will need to scan them at 4,000 dpi.
This motion shot of my brother jumping off the diving board in the mid-1960's is a bit blurry, but I like it nonetheless. It captures the essence of the sweltering midwest summer and the relief of jumping into that swimming pool.
Who knows what I'll find as I unearth the carousels of time....
Another scanned photo from the family archives: this one is circa the summer of 1956 and was taken near Lake Temagami, Ontario, Canada. My brother is in the background on the porch of the cabin and I am proudly showing off my new doll.
The other night I scanned some old black-and-white photos from the 1950's. This one is is of my brother and me; we are only fourteen months apart and my mother says the two of us were like twins.
My grandmother and mother are in the background as my brother and I romp around at a family gathering circa 1953. I'm not sure of the occasion, but I like the fact that my grandmother, brother and I are all sporting striped clothing. I seem to be jumping rope or just dancing like a maniac; I still do the latter....
As summer in the northern hemisphere dwindles down, I begin savoring its last little bits nostalgically. The Harvest Moon in Pisces yesterday signaled autumn's imminent return.
I took this snapshot of my little brother (riding the pony) and two of my cousins when I was a teenager in the 1960's. We were visiting my aunt and cousins on their farm in Indiana.
The corn was high, the tomatoes ripe, and the aromatic farmhouse kitchen bustled with activity. This image evokes the playfulness of childhood and the languor of August for me.
I hope you have a good harvest this year.
My brother and sister-in-law came for a visit in May and a highlight of their visit was brunch at a table next to this vintage abalone fireplace at the Brockton Villa Restaurant in La Jolla, California.
The historical home that houses the restaurant was built in 1894, although this fireplace with its abalone decoration is dated to the 1920's.
I've included a vintage photo from May 1928 that shows La Jolla Cove and the Brockton Villa as a private home at that time.
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