Sunday, November 18, 2012

OPENING SEQUENCE IN BLACK AND WHITE


Recently my cousin sent me a few photos taken a long time ago during a visit her family made to my family’s farm.

This was one of them.  That’s me in braids trying to hide in the flowers by our house.

This reminded me of other photos which came into my hands after the death of my parents.  Funny how the world seemed to change from black and white to colors about the same time Dorothy landed in OZ.  I know these photos were taken well after 1939. (I’m not THAT old!) But they have the same eerie quality of a time so totally removed from the fast-paced flashy world of today.

Baby Me dressed in my sunbonnet and yet still squinting in the bright light.  I’m stashed in the high chair which survived all four children before giving up the ghost.

Farm cats had to be tough.  Not only did they have to endure a rugged outdoor life, but there were those sticky kids who didn’t know the difference between hugging and choking.

My mom was a farm wife.  She didn’t have time to take a lot of pictures, but there seemed to be one every year of us in our Easter outfits.  This is me in a dress.  I remember it well.  Mom sewed it and added a store-bought belt to make it extra cool.  It’s one photo of me in a dress where I didn’t have a big bandage on one or both of my knees.  That’s my older brother looking very Indiana Jones in his fedora.

Here I’m wearing a hat and jacket that used to belong to my big brother.  I’m sitting on a Flexible Flyer sled like you’d expect to see in “A Christmas Story.”  It was an evil sled.  I have one of those memories which runs like a movie trailer in my mind. It involves propping that sled at an angle against a stack of wood.  My plan was to turn the sled into a short slippery slide.  It was an okay plan except there was nail that had worked itself loose enough to rip through the seat of my jeans and me.  Hurt so bad I could hardly breathe.  I still have a scar.

Not a very good ending.  Well, here is a sweet photo of Mom and me.

15 comments:

  1. Those are great "old school" photos!

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  2. Fun seeing these Leenie. The last one is beautiful.

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  3. Delightful photos. Somebody had an eye for composition.

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  4. Oh Leenie what a cutie you are. Your Mom and you shot is beautiful.
    I love black and white it has always been my favourite. It seems to make the photos special for some reason.
    There is nothing like old memories that flow from looking at old photos. Funny that is what I wrote about today we must think alike scary:) B

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  5. What wonderful photos to have!! You were such a cutie!! I'm glad you have wonderful memories to go along with those pictures. :)

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  6. Love the old black and white photos from a kinder, gentler time.

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  7. We had those sleds as well- no nails but a lot of wild sliding down hills and into CARS! Sliding down the runoff from the water tower over the cliffs! WHY are we still alive, Leenie!!!Absolutely adore your photos- clearly you were the gem of the family, little imp! Your brother does indeed look pretty snappy in his fedora- your mother must have had pretty cool fashion sense.

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  8. I love all of your pictures.
    I have a vague idea of
    Happiness isn't something you experience: it's something you remember.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  9. oooooh!!! soooo CUTE!! you sure do look happy...the cat though, not too sure about him! haha...nothing like a good old choke-hug!! =)

    you've inspired me to pull out that box of pic's i 'inherited' after both parents passed away...go through them and maybe scan a few.

    have a great day & happy turkey day leenie!

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  10. Leenie, I just saw on another blog that you lost your wonder Maincoon Cat Thomas...I am so sorry. I looked back through the blog but I didn't find where you posted that he went over the Rainbow Bridge. I am so sorry for you...

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

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  11. You charming li'l gal you.

    And you're right: the Flexible Flyer WAS an evil sled. The first time I broke my nose was on one of those buggers. BAM! Straight into a tree.

    Ruined my day, I tell you what!

    Pearl

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  12. Wonderful! I'm missing my parents horribly today, so this post was a sweet one from the past!

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

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