My Brother & I, Summer 1958

My Brother & I, Summer 1958, originally uploaded by confections.

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.

Summer Ragamuffins, 1956

Summer Ragamuffins, 1956, originally uploaded by confections.

Here is a portrait of my cousin Sandy, me, and my brothers Gary and John, taken during the summer of 1956 at my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Pete's farm in Muncie, Indiana.

Sadly, my beautiful cousin died of a brain tumor at age twenty, nine years after this picture was taken. She was like the big sister I never had in my life and she was taken much too early.

Cape Cod, Summer of 1969

Cape Cod, Summer of 1969, originally uploaded by confections.

I wasn't at Woodstock that summer, but I was on Cape Cod--first for a family visit with my aunt and uncle, and then to work a summer job between my freshman and sophomore years in college.

Here I am with two of my brothers, one of my sisters, and a cousin who is now gone, off to spend the day at Hardings Beach in Chatham. Halcyon days....

Cottage in Little Italy, San Diego, California

Cottage in Little Italy, San Diego, California, originally uploaded by confections.

I parked in front of this sweet cottage in the heart of Little Italy in San Diego the other day. It was a Friday afternoon, people were gathering for dinner at the many enticing restaurants. I indulged in some pistachio gelato at Cafe Zucchero and had a passagiato through the neighborhood. A little bit of Roma right in my own hometown....

My Brother at the Muncie, Indiana, Municipal Pool, Mid-1960's

My Brother at the Muncie, Indiana, Municipal Pool, Mid-1960's, originally uploaded by confections.

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....

On Lake Temagami, Ontario, Canada, circa 1956

On Lake Temagami, Ontario, Canada, circa 1956, originally uploaded by confections.

Another in the Canadian vacation series. I am seated on the bench with my mother and my Indian doll; my towheaded brother is looking away from the camera, and my oldest brother (on the left) is sporting a very spiffy fair-isle sweater. I only have vague memories of these Canadian vacations, but it is lovely to have the photos.

My Brother & I at Lake Temagami, Canada

My Brother & I at Lake Temagami, Canada, originally uploaded by confections.

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.

Vintage Pony Ride

Vintage Pony Ride, originally uploaded by confections.

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.

Couple at an Amusement Park (Vernacular Photo)

Couple at an Amusement Park (Vernacular Photo), originally uploaded by confections.

I found this photo at one of my favorite antique haunts and happily added it to my growing collection of vernacular photos.

It reminds me of the "good old days" and stories that my mother and grandmother told me about visiting our local amusement park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Kennywood Park, which was recently sold to a Spanish company, but that's another story....).

I especially love that hat on the woman's knee; it is so emblematic of a warm summer afternoon with its wide brim and riot of silk flowers. It inspires me to embellish one of mine with wild abandon!

Handmade Straw Hat

Handmade Straw Hat, originally uploaded by confections.

A dozen years ago my sister and I took a straw hat class with Diana Cavagnaro of Designer Millinery in a loft in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, California. This is the mad-hatter style hat I designed on an ancient wooden hat block.

The class was excellent and I enjoyed the process of sewing the braid with raffia to create the hat, and steaming it into shape. It's a little snug for my head, but I display it proudly on its hat stand. I may decorate it with one of my needlefelted flowers and wear it to tea with my girlfriends next time.

Sunflower Joy

Sunflower, originally uploaded by confections.

The Dog Days of Summer are here, although it has been quite comfortable here in Southern California lately. Nothing says summer to me in such a playful way as a riotous sunflower bloom.

This one was part of a thickly planted patch in a local neighborhood that I spied while driving by. I could not resist stopping and documenting its beauty. If you look closely you can see a few bees enjoying its nectar.

During the last summer of my Dad's life (1991), he grew a spectacular sunflower in his garden in Pennsylvania which was easily twice the diameter of the center of this bloom (perhaps 12 inches to this one's 6). We had given him the seeds in the spring and he nurtured his prize with his secret fertilizer--gray water from the kitchen dishpan.

A few days after his untimely accidental death that September, we harvested the sunflower and kept the seeds. My sister fashioned a wire-wrapped charm bracelet for me that included one of the seeds.

My father reveled in nature and it is poignant to me that this last triumph in his garden yielded hollow seed-shells. That sunflower would not be replicated--an irony not lost on his children and family, who still feel his loss, but are uplifted and reminded of him when a sunflower shows its joyous face.