stories, photographs, adventures…the next chapter
Lens-Artists Challenge #69: Seeing Double
…let’s double our pleasure and focus on things that come in twos.
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First: A glimpse back at summer…a pair of seagulls hanging out at the beach.
Next: A reminder of what is coming.
Two deck posts united in snow after a heavy wet March snowstorm. Looks like frosting to me.
AND…
Because today happens to be Halloween…I couldn’t resist an additional double from the family archives.
A sibling pair of trick or treaters dressed and ready…let’s go!
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Back Catalogue
My challenge to you is to find an image in your back catalog that still grabs your attention and share it…if you want to re-interpret the image with what you have gained over the years, feel free to do so.
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There is just something about this bright yellow flowering bush that I am drawn to.
Is it because one flourished in the corner of the front yard where I grew up? Or, more specifically, where I lived when I was 4 to 11 years old. Where the vast majority of my happy moments were spent outdoors. That particular forsythia was actually situated in the next door neighbor’s yard…right on the lot line. I always thought it was ours.
Is it because the happiest of my childhood family photos were taken in front of it? On special days when I wore a dress-up dress with my stick straight hair fancied up and curled for the occasion. Which was usually Mother’s Day or Easter or my birthday. My grandparents were often there. Or dear family friends. Gathered around. Smiling.
Whatever the reason…
When I was all grown up, a homeowner and married with 2 children of my own, I mentioned how much I’d like to have a forsythia in the front corner of the front yard.
So on Mother’s Day 1990, I got one. And then another one for the other front corner a year later.
There were many places where happy family photos were taken while my children were growing up. Both indoors and outdoors.
But there was always something extra special about the front corner of the front yard and that bright yellow flowering forsythia…
For a brief few weeks every Spring.
Inspired by:
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #67: Candid
V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #68: Play
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Let’s see what happens when you pick up a small stone – the flatter the better – hold it just right between your thumb and first finger. Flick your hand back and then forward real quick – releasing it across the lake’s surface…
So it skips.
At 6 years old, you already play with rocks that you collect and line up in long rows on the deck railing at home. Separating them by size and shape. Carefully. Methodically. Counting them is also part of the fun.
But here it is different.
You and your family are at the lake.
You watch your daddy and see how he gets those stones to bounce across the water.
It is summer vacation after all.
No phones. No TV. No work. No school.
Hours upon hours to play.
Or maybe you’re only 3 years old. Your grampa is visiting to celebrate his 70th birthday and you want to try out your new doctor kit. He is your Patient of the Day.
First you listen to his heart. He is very quiet while you check it out.
Then he rolls up his sleeve so you can give him a shot. Because after all he might need one. Ooooh.
Ouch!
But you know he is just kidding.
This is just playtime pretend.
Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Hands
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO (OR TWO OR THREE) THAT FEATURES HANDS.
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Little hands on deck helping Grampa make pancakes.
The day before Christmas 2017.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Cars & Trucks
This week’s challenge reminds me of my great grandfather…a proud firefighter in Cincinnati, Ohio during the early 1900s.
Unfortunately I never knew him, as he died before I was born. He suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for many years…which eventually ended his ability to do the work he loved.
This photo showcases a Cincinnati fire truck along with my great grandfather (second from right) and his fellow firefighters.
Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Something New
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF SOMETHING NEW.
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When a kid gets a new bike…if that kid is fortunate enough to get one…it is an exciting day. Exciting enough to document with a photo.
At least it was at our house.
When my daughter was five, she was so done with her Strawberry Shortcake tricycle. She was usually “done with” things like that far sooner than we thought she would be. In her mind, she was always ready for the next thing.
She helped pick out her new purple bike, complete with a bell similar to one I had when I was little. We insisted on a helmet, which she was too young to protest. This was 1987 and children did not commonly wear bicycle helmets yet. She was the first one on the block to be seen with one.
The neighbors commented that we were overprotective. I did not care what the neighbors thought. Protecting her head when she (inevitably) fell off was uppermost in my mind.
It wouldn’t be the first – or last – time she heard me say I don’t care what the other mothers do/say/think.
Regardless, she was one mighty proud five year old with her new “big girl bike.” Training wheels and all.
Her younger brother, on the other hand, graduated from a tricycle to his sister’s hand-me-down purple bike with training wheels. A bit banged up by then – 6 years later – but it still transported him around the driveway. Carefully up and down the street. And he didn’t seem to mind riding it. When you are not the first born, you often don’t get “something new” right away. If at all.
However, when my son outgrew his big sister’s bike, it was time for a new one of his own. Which he helped choose at the same local bicycle shop where we had gotten his sister’s bike before he was born. By then a helmet was standard and seen on the heads of most of the neighborhood children. Thank goodness.
A mighty proud almost seven year old, he did not need those training wheels.
And off he went.
Inspired by Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Candid (human or animal)
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When you’re a six year old big sister, it’s fun to read to your 1 year old little brother. Complete with distinctive voices for all the book’s characters, animals included.
This reading thing is a big deal, especially at six.
And it’s one activity an active little brother will sit still for.
And when your little brother is 2 years old, both of you can hide under the dining room table…for a perfect cozy story time.
Inspired by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Books and Paper
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Books have been an indispensable part of my life – and my life story – since the days of Dick and Jane. The classic first grade learn-how-to-read “Primer” of the 1950s.
After I learned to read, there was no stopping me. A flashlight under the covers at night until I finished a chapter…or two.
Books and stories were often my escape hatch from real life. The Scholastic Book Club in grammar school supplied countless thin paperback story books that multiplied on my shelves at home. Hardcover Nancy Drew mysteries soon followed.
I was fascinated by the biographies of “famous people” at the school library. Of course I believed they were all true depictions of historically significant Americans. However, thinking back, I realize that women and non-white “famous people” were drastically underrepresented. Hopefully that is changing.
As I went through high school, I discovered paperback novels. The thicker the better. In college, I was a member of the Doubleday Book Club for several years – a mail order monthly deal. Later…the actual Book of the Month Club. Vacations always included long stops browsing at local bookstores.
A few books from my childhood survived the drastic downsizing-of-hundreds-of-books that took place 3 years ago when we sold our home. Letting go of books was probably the most difficult “letting go” I ever did.
Despite the massive book purging, I still needed to buy a bookshelf for condo life. There were just too many books I had to keep! They are shelved two deep. In no particular order. After taking the photo for this challenge, I realized I should organize them by subject or author or something. They represent my life stages…all jumbled together.
Scaling down the sheer volume when we moved forced some tough decisions. It is interesting to notice which ones made the cut. They used to be spread out all over the house in different places. Now all in one room…crammed together as if competing for an important spot.
I have read most of them, but there are many I look forward to starting. The anticipation is still exciting.
The only book I have bought since we moved here was Becoming by Michelle Obama.
Otherwise I visit the local library.
Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Traditions
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE ONE OR TWO OR MORE PHOTOS SHOWING A TRADITION YOU HAVE.
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Did you check the bathtub?
Look in the closet!
Behind the couch!
Under the table!
When my two children were growing up (and even when they were grown up and home for a visit), Easter morning meant hunting for Easter baskets.
During the Easter Bunny era, it involved more and more intricate hiding places as they got older. The thrill of the hunt was paramount.
The E.B. had to get extra creative (hence the bathtub)…or else the search was over in ten seconds.
After all, the E.B. filled four baskets with carefully selected jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, candy eggs and small stuffed bunnies. As the years went by…basketball cards, little books, stickers, trinkets & puzzles were added…
…so let’s make it a challenge! (thought the E.B.)
The E.B. was usually successful…and a sweet family tradition was born.
The sister and brother team eventually figured out where to look…every time.
Inspired by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Fashion
I dug into my massive collection of family photos for this challenge…and immediately thought of my grandmother Oma. I remember her closet full of shoes – stacked high on shelves in carefully labeled shoeboxes. Coordinating purses piled nearby. Many with small matching coin purses. Mostly black. She once told me that her favorite color was black – because it matched everything…of course!
As a child I never saw her without makeup on. Hair styled. Stockings (or “hose” as she called them) and heels. Always a dress or skirt.
I used to be a flapper she once told me. It sounded so glamorous…and so cool…and so not the grandmother I knew. Mysterious yet thrilling.
One photo was taken in 1927 at a 4th of July picnic. Twenty year old Oma is in the middle with a girlfriend on either side. (Plus a guy trying shenanigans or photo bombing behind them)
All wearing the latest swimwear (?) fashion.
I admit to being curious about the shirt emblems. Perhaps the CAC stood for Cincinnati Athletic Club…since they all lived in Cincinnati. But I know that women were not allowed as members until over 75 years later (I spent too much time online looking that up…my inner Nancy Drew at work). So were they wearing their boyfriend’s shirts? Or suits? I know there’s a story there.
Apparently for whatever reason, Oma was stylin’ in something completely different.
Somehow I’m not surprised.
Another photo highlighting the fashion of the era is undated, but I would guess mid 1920s as well. My great grandmother and Oma showing off some festive hats…
And not to leave out the men, I found a photo taken in 1923. A group of machine tool salesmen posing after a meeting. I think my great grandfather worked for this company, so he would be the man pointed out in the back row.
It doesn’t appear that men have veered too far from this suit and tie fashion combo in the years since then.
The hats were a nice finishing touch though.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 