More memories...

More memories ... from my mom's collection of photos...

My brother Scott in a photo dated (by the lab) February 1959.  It looks like he's standing in the field that was east of our house, but at the east side of it (near US 130).  These hollies were all dug out and removed within a year or two of this photo; later my brother Mark had his house in that field.  This is the fourth photo I've found like this, where either Scott or myself was standing next to a holly tree.  I'm guessing my dad took these photos, and likely for inclusion in the catalogs and brochures he was printing for his mail order business.  A professional photographer he was not. :)

This is me, in a photo dated (by the lab) February 1959.  I remember that wire basket, though I haven't thought about it in probably over 50 years.  My parents sold small bags of oak leaf mold in paper bags at their retail nursery.  We'd fill those bags by opening them into this wire basket, shovel in the leaf mold, then close the bags with gummed tape that we had to wet before applying it.  Looks like those bags held about half a six year old kid! :)

Here's my brother Scott (left) and me (right).  The photo is dated (by the lab) March 1955; I'd have been two and a half, Scott just over a year old.  He sure looks like he's enjoying his bouncy horse!  That photo was taken in our living room, looking to the northwest.  The picture windows, sans its later “picture frame” surround, is visible at left.  Between us in the photo you can see what appears to be an unfinished wall – later there would be a small closet there, where we kept our games, playing cards, etc.  That overstuffed chair I remember very well.  For some reason, the memory that immediately comes up is my dad sitting in that chair, me on his shoulders, brushing his hair while he groaned in delight.  We kids loved that...

This photo is also dated (by the lab) March 1955, but Scott (foreground) and I (background) are dressed differently than the previous photo – it must have been on a different day, same roll of film.  The setting of this photo is just to the right of that in the last photo.  You can see the same chair at left in the photo.  This one clearly shows the nook (where that table is) that was later filled with bookshelves.  Oh, I remember those bookshelves so very well – once I was able to read, I devoured everything on them, several hundred volumes in all.  That little “window” was a serving window that led to the kitchen (which you're seeing through it).  I remember that table well, and it's been in several other photos I've posted.  The baseboard has not yet been installed here, and several other parts of the house would have been unfinished at that point (especially the “new” bathroom).

This is me on the little-used front porch of our home.  It's dated (by the lab) April 1955, when I was two and a half.  It looks like I had a cigarette (!) in my mouth, which is at least possible as my mom was still smoking at that point (she quit in 1964 when the Surgeon General announced that cigarettes caused health problems).  If you squint a little, you can see my brother Scott behind me, through the open door.  It must be my mom behind Scott, though I can't make out her face.  That wooden crate on the right would be valuable today; crates like that were common on our farm in my youth, as were bushel baskets.  I saw an old-fashioned bushel basket, just like the ones we had so many of (for apples and peaches) in an IFA (farm store) here not long ago – being sold as an antique, with an asking price of $259.  If only we'd known!

I love this photo of my brother Scott!  I can't quite make out what that box says, but I'm guessing it's some sort of model.  The photo is dated (by the lab) December 1958, when Scott was five.  Most likely this is just after Christmas, and the model was a gift.  I can make out a boat on a trailer in front of his arm, and it looks like he's holding another part in his right hand.  Such a look of concentration on his face!  Behind him is an old-fashioned rotary phone, sitting on a small cabinet that I remember (mainly I remember those drawer pulls!).  That's the local phone book underneath the phone.  My younger friends have probably never seen a phone like that, made out of heavy, thick Bakelite plastic and practically indestructible.  Those things had old-fashioned carbon particle microphones that you had to loosen up (by banging the mouthpiece against the table!) every so often, or the person on the other side of the call wouldn't be able to understand you. :)  I remember that old formica round dining table that Scott was sitting at; it had an aluminum extrusion that wrapped around its edge, with two joints in it.  Those joints were sharp, and I always tried to sit away from them.  The table is in our home's kitchen bay, and the camera is pointing just north of east.  Through the window behind Scott you can see the field east of our house, and rows of trees in it.  Those were hollies that we grew to a saleable size.  In the distance you can see utility poles; they were along US 130 that bordered our farm on the eastern side.  Across that highway, though not clearly visible here, was a large apple orchard belonging to a family named Sadley.  That land was (much) later gifted to the Catholic church (the Sadleys were Catholic) for the purpose of building a nunnery.  The church decided to sell it instead, which really upset the family.  Mr. Sadley had died at that point, but his widow renounced the church; I was told she never attended church again, nor received any priest.  One of their sons, Joe, was a school friend of mine; he also renounced the church.  Isn't it amazing what memories a photo like this can call up?

More memories...

More memories ... from my mom's collection of photos...

We'll get the really embarrassing photo out of the way first.  Left-to-right, this is my brother Mark, my sister Holly, me, and my brother Scott.  This was taken in the kitchen of our parent's home on the farm in Robbinsville, New Jersey.  My mom wrote “Mark Holly Tom Scott late ‘80s” on the back; the photo is otherwise undated.  The photographer was facing north, looking out the kitchen's bay windows.  A painting by my mom hangs on the wall.  The octagonal table we're sitting at was in our family's cabin in Maine, then moved to New Jersey, then to Virginia, and now it's on the way back to Maine (if it's not there already).  I don't have any memory of this gathering of the family, but it must have been during the period when I was running Epoch Technologies (a company that sold practice management software to optometrists and ophthalmologists) – Mark was our best salesperson, and my mom helped with the sales process.  Mark was making an awesome career change, from auto body repair expert to software salesman – quite a change!  My mom knew we were struggling, and just wanted to help (which she did, very much).  Check out those giant round glasses on Holly!  I sure hope they were plastic lenses, otherwise they must have weighed a couple pounds. :)

This undated photo is of my brother Scott, with my dad napping on the couch behind him.  My dad loved naps, any time of day or night.  It's taken in our living room, looking west out the picture window, and obviously at night.  Several things to note here.  First, there's a freaking bird cage left of the picture window.  While I can certainly imagine my mom keeping a bird, I have no memory of this at all.  I wonder what kind of bird (or birds) it was?  I do remember that rocker and hassock.  I'm guessing Scott is about two in the photo, which would place this in late '55 or early '56.  The picture window is missing the “picture frame” surround that was installed later.  It's hard to make out, but you can also see that the bookshelves that would later be installed in the nook (to the right of the couch in the photo) have not been installed yet.  There's also a great view of that rug that I simply have no memory of.  I must have played on that rug a lot – funny that I don't remember it at all.

This is my uncle Donald MacLaughlin, my mom's older brother.  The few memories I have of him are of a much younger man.  The time stamp on the photo dates it to February 16, 1997, and I have no reason to doubt it.  On the back, in my mom's handwriting, it says “Don & Marian MacLaughlin”.  I don't recall ever meeting Marian, but I could be wrong about that.  I don't recognize the place where the photo was taken.

This undated photo has on the back, in my mom's handwriting: “Donald MacLaughlin Son of my brother Donald”.  The original is a badly processed print with a color balance far worse than what you see at left after my corrections.  This lad is my cousin, if I've worked out the relationship correctly.  I don't remember ever meeting him, and unfortunately I have no idea where he might be today.

A slightly different walk in the country...

A slightly different walk in the country...  With Cabo and Mako.  The puppies, on just their second long walk on leashes, were much better.  They're learning to avoid my big boots, and generally they're not pulling all that hard.  They're not learning to stay on one side of me, so I'm still getting leashes wrapped around my legs sometimes.  Oh, well.

It was a very pleasant morning, around 60°F, and fairly clear.  There's still some smoke in the air from far away forest fires, but the air is much clearer than it was last week.  The sunflowers are in their prime, all along the walk.  An alfalfa field about a third of the way along our walk is a week or so from cutting, and is vibrantly healthy; the plants are about 18" tall.  As we walked by this field, I spied a bit of unexpected color about 75' from the road.  I stared at it for a while, couldn't figure out what it was, so I walked out there to find out.  The puppies were hopping over the alfalfa, very cute. :)  When I got close, I saw that we had a child's pool float – quite an unexpected thing in the middle of an alfalfa field that's over a half mile from the closest house with kids!  I picked it up and hung it on a gate post (as you see in the photo above, with the field I found it in in the background).  On the way back home, I grabbed it and hung it on a post near our driveway entrance.  Hopefully the owner will see it and take it home.

On the way back into the house, I stopped to snap the photo at left.  It shows the sad condition of our beautiful copper whirligig.  Actually, the whirligig itself is just fine – but the thick copper post that held it is bent very sadly.  Last Wednesday, while Debbie and I were on a trip to Ogden, one car rear-ended another right next to our driveway, and the car in front ran down an embankment and right into our poor whirligig!  Thankfully nobody was hurt in the accident.  I'm a little surprised that nobody left their name and phone number with us, so that we could call and make a claim for reparations.  Now I have a repair job to make...

More memories...

More memories ... from my mom's photo collection...

I would not have recognized this photo of my maternal grandfather; only my mom's “Dad” handwritten on the back identifies it for me. The photo I have is a bad copy of a badly damaged original.  I'm guessing that the original photo dates to the mid-'60s, after he had bad symptoms of emphysema; I only saw him a few times after that.  I don't know where the photo was taken.

Here's one of my dad that I'd never seen before.  It's dated (by the lab) February 1952, a few months after my parents were married.  On the front, in my mom's handwriting (in pencil): “my wonderful husband Tom”.  On the back, also in my mom's handwriting (in fountain pen): “Tom & Lassie”.  I've heard stories about Lassie, our first dog, but I have no memories of her.  Our family home had not even been started at this point.  I'm not certain of the photo's location, but I think it was taken from the entrance to my paternal grandfather's shop, looking westward and capturing the northern side of their home from that perspective.  My dad looks so young in this photo!

This photo is dated (by the lab) July 1964, and on the back, in my mom's handwriting, it says “Tom Tommy Holly”.  Left-to-right the people are me, my dad, and my sister Holly.  I was 11; Holly 9.  It took me a while to figure out where this photo was taken.  The key clue is the driveway visible just above my dad's right elbow.  That's the driveway that led from my paternal grandparent's home east to the front of the farm and US 130.  To the left of me in the photo is the southwest corner of their home, where my grandfather's office was.  I should have recognized the white shutters immediately, but I didn't.  My great-grandmother's wing is just out of the photo's left.  The right side is all out of focus, I'm guessing because someone's thumb was in the lens (easy to do with those old cameras).  In that out-of-focus section there appears to be some sort of structure, but I think that's an illusion, as there was nothing there (especially that high).

 My brother Mark, in a photo dated (by the lab) June 1965, when he'd have been about four.  He's sitting on the marvelous swing we had outside our back yard, off to one side of where we usually parked our cars.  It hung from a large limb of a beech tree, around 15' off the ground.  I remember my dad and our farm helper “Chalky” putting that swing up.  Chalky knew how to tie a rock onto the end of some twine (an old sailor's trick), and the two of them threw that thing up several dozen times before they got it in the right place for the first rope.  The second rope took them even longer! :)  I was pretty young when they put that up, probably in '57 or '58.  By the time Mark got to use it, those ropes were nearly a decade old – and still holding.  It's probably a good thing they were so thick!  This was taken when I was almost 13, and Mark's general appearance here is how most of my memories of him are.  Just a few years after this, I left home to join the U.S. Navy, and I saw him only infrequently until the late '80s.

Finally, here's a photo that's a bit of a mystery to me, as I don't recognize any of the people in it.  Adding to the mystery is the fact that the photo is undated.  On the back, in my mom's handwriting:

Grampops wedding day
Harry Johnson
Taxi driver Highlands
30's 40's

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Mable Johnson, so I'm presuming that Harry Johnson was her father (and my mother's grandfather, and my great-grandfather).  If so, I don't recall ever meeting him – and I'm not sure he was alive when I was born.  Highlands is a town in northern New Jersey.  I have no idea where that photo was taken, nor when.

A walk in the country...

A walk in the country ... with our two puppies.  Yesterday afternoon I took a walk on the back road near our home, for the first time in about five months.  While I was caring for Debbie, my mom, and two teensy puppies, I ran out of time for such things.  These days it's possible to find the time, and with a little prodding from our breeder (who told us the puppies needed more exercise), I'm starting those daily walks back up.  I expect to be out again this morning.

The photos below are from yesterday's walk.  The rose hips are on the wild roses growing near our driveway entrance; their sunlit bright red is startling.  In the last photo, little Cabo has discovered the delights of a leaking irrigation riser.  If you look closely, you can see the jet of water spraying out from under the left side of the rubber stopper.  Cabo got her head soaked trying to figure that out, but she finally learned how to capture the stream by tilting her head so that it struck the roof of her mouth.  She got a good drink that way.  Mako never figured it out, and didn't seem at all excited by getting wet! :)

More memories...

More memories ... from my mom's photo collection...

This photo isn't dated and has no note on the back.  It looks like me, around 7 or 8 years old, which would put it in '59 or '60.  The location looks like Acadia National Park (in Maine), though it could certainly be somewhere else as well.  I've got binoculars in a leather case slung around my neck; I remember these well.  They were certainly not the world's greatest binoculars, but we sure made good use of them!  Behind my right arm it looks like the detritus of a picnic, and that's exactly the sort of spot that my dad would have loved to hike to in order to eat and relax, perched at a good viewpoint from which to observe nature.

This photo is dated (by the lab) December 1955, and on the back in my mom's handwriting (fountain pen, again!) it says: “3 Gorgeous Kids”.  I think my mom might have been a bit biased in this judgment. :)  Left-to-right it's my sister Holly, my brother Scott, and me.  At the upper right in the photo you can just make out a wrought-iron strap hinge.  I remember these hinges, but I can't remember where they were in our house.  The knotty pine paneling means it was in our living room or a bedroom, but I can't think of any of those rooms that had a knotty pine door.

Here's another photo of Irene and Sliver Sturgeon, undated.  On the back, in my mom's handwriting: “Sliver + Irene Sturgeon, Lincoln, Maine”.  There's an out-of-focus kid in the background that I don't believe is from our family.  Behind the kid is my maternal grandfather, Donald MacLaughlin, with a characteristic cigarette dangling from his lips.  He smoked between three and five packs a day for many years; the consequent emphysema is what finally killed him in 1968.  I remember my mom receiving the phone call (I'm not sure from whom) to tell her that her father had died.  Her grief was piteous, and to me (at the age of 15) not entirely comprehensible.  It is much more so today.

My parents would probably be arrested these days for hosting a party like this: three little boys, swimming in the nude in full public view!  This photo is dated June 1955 (by the lab).  In the back, in my mom's handwriting: “Jonathan, Tom + Scott”  That's my brother Scott sitting, my cousin Jonathan making a face, and me standing on the right.  I'd have been about two and a half, Scott about one and a half.  Jonathan is older than I am by a year or so.  we're in the back yard of our home, going by the fence and the swing set I've seen now in many photos, but still don't remember.  It appears the photo was taken facing roughly to the east.  Seeing that inflatable pool reminds me of just how new mass-manufactured plastic items were back then.  Today precision molded, high-tech plastics are all around us, and our artifacts are increasingly made of them.  That was not so in the '50s – while there were plastic artifacts, they were far from ubiquitous and often still marveled at.  Also, the older alternatives were still easy to find.  For instance, we owned a car (a '48 Dodge) that had a steering wheel made of wood.  That wasn't because of the appearance of wood (this was not a luxury automobile :) – it was because a wooden steering wheel, at the time it was designed, was an inexpensive way to get the characteristics one wants from a steering wheel.  Today you'd only see a wooden steering wheel as an expensive add-on to a luxury car, as plastic is so much cheaper (and, in many ways, superior).  I still remember my dad marveling at the plastic bags he bought for retailing oak leaf mold.  They were primitive bags by today's standards, made from thick non-linear polyethylene.  He paid more for those plastic bags than he would have for the old-fashioned burlap bags (man is that different today!).  He liked the plastic bags because they were airtight, which meant that leaf mold bagged for retail would retain its moisture (and weight!), even after months in storage.

The lab dates this photo as December 1958, and I'm sure it was from Christmas Day.  There's the cardboard locomotive my dad put together in our basement late on Christmas Eve.  He's inside, smiling, apparently having forgotten the trauma of assembling it.  My sister Holly is in there with him, and that's me on the pedal tractor in the foreground.  I can only be grinning because I have no idea how much work the real tractor will bring me in later years! :)  The photo is taken in our living room, facing east.  You can make out our front door behind the locomotive, and the edge of our flying squirrel cage to the left.  On the holly table there's a box labeled “Totem Pole Kit” – I have no memory of that or of any resulting totem pole.  I wonder what my family's totem would have been?  Surely some species of loon!

Finally, here's another snap of Scott's off-Christmas birthday party in 1955.  The lab dates this as December 1955, but in my mom's handwriting (fountain pen, again): “Scott’s July “birthday” because he always missed the excitement in Dec.”  That's a reference to the fact that Scott was born on Christmas Day, so the celebration of his birthday – a celebration all about him – was subsumed by the general celebration of Christmas.  This shot is a little wider than the previous ones we've seen of this party.  My brother Scott, birthday lad, is behind the cake on the table with his head turned looking left.  I'm on the ground holding that roll-around toy.  My cousin Jonathan is to the left of me.  I don't recognize any of the other kids.  At left in the photo is a roll-around cart that I remember, with (at least) three more cakes on it.  My mom must have been afraid of running out!  Or perhaps some other moms brought cakes as well.  Sitting on the back porch, his right hand on the back of his head, is my uncle Donald (my dad's brother, and adoptive father of Jonathan).  In later years it was a rare thing indeed for him to visit our home, so it's slightly jarring to see him in this photo.  I don't recognize the other man in the photo.  To the left of the back door you can see a few things hanging on the wall.  The white vertically-oriented object is a thermometer – an old-fashioned glass capillary and colored alcohol type, with a white-painted metal backing and a printed scale.  That was a north-facing wall, and my dad placed it there because it was a cool, sheltered place that was easy to get to.  The main use he had for that thermometer was knowing how cold it got at night.  In the summer, the afternoon sun would strike it, and the reading was crazy high – but that didn't matter for his purposes.  Below it you can see an old-fashioned wooden hand brush that had very stiff bristles – that we used for cleaning the mud from our boots.  The alternative was to suffer the wrath of mom.  :)  I don't remember what the vertical object next to the brush was...