Without Mom, we would have been nekkid!...

Mom and Me and my brother in 1946. My mother made the dress she's wearing, and made one for me to match... a little blue sundress. My brother was naked... no no no.. not really, he was shirtless, however. She made occasional clothes for him, but seemed to better enjoy sewing for 'the girls'. I was 2 and a half or so. It's hard to tell by the clothes, as it was always nice out here, so it might have been May... or October! (just a bit of bragging here).



Later (1952), and Mom and Me and Sheila, my sister. These may have been our favorite dresses ever. They were the butterfly dresses, and at some point Mom had beaded a large (and quite beautiful) butterfly on a yellow sweater for each of us. I still have the beaded butterfly somewhere.. at least I've seen it recently. We loved these dresses. Absolutely loved them. Mom made her dress, of course. In one of THE LETTERS (yeah... yeah... I promised, I know) she mentions that she doesn't understand how people with children can afford to dress them if they don't make their own clothes.

My father is not to be left out of this. He was VERY handy, and converted part of our garage to the most wonderful workroom ever. Tools in front of the room, and room enough in the room for a few guys and a round of cards. He could make almost anything. We only had one car until after my sister was born, so Mom used to walk with my brother and me to the market (at least a half mile.. probably a mile, up and down hills). My father rigged these little 'saddlebags' for my stroller. He modified the stroller so the bags could hold quite a lot of groceries and whatever else we might come across on our travels.



and last, but certainly not least... my parents in 1944. The good news? We have so many of these pictures from that time that I can remember them young... and not ill or old all the time. They were a damned fine couple, if I do say so myself...



and, of course, she made the dress....