Never Had to Have a Chaperon, No Sir....

I don't remember seeing this picture before. I found it in one of the albums, back around the time Mom and Dad got married. No... wait... this was taken at my grandparents home in Oakland, CA, so that would put it... (runs in and thumbs through the letters)... hmm... 1940. My mother and her sister were edging the grass with 'scissors'... and evidently tussling around on the walkway, as sisters will.

My mother was her sister's mother for a while. She and my father kept an eye on Sheila (her sister's name, and MY sister's name). This family had no originality when it came to names. There is a Mary Lynne for whom I am named, apparently. My grandfather, father, brother and nephew all have the same name. My sister and Mom's sister. My sister's middle name is my other grandmother's first name. and on it goes...

Back to the original Sheila. She was 11 months younger than my mother, so they were close in age along with being stuck together in boarding schools. My mother wrote about Sheila's boyfriends while she was still in school (after Mom got married). She used to come and stay with them in their little apartment, which finally drove my mother nuts... so much for sisters!! All it takes is one cute husband and Mom would rather her sister stayed at school!..

Mom, in her apartment patio...



Sheila married a Coast Guard man, which must have made my grandfathers happy (grandfather and step grandfather). There are a bunch of Coast Guard people in this family, even now.

In 1940 my father traded something for a movie camera. He later decided it was too expensive, but there are two separate movies; one before my brother was born (with my very pregnant mother looking just adorable). The second snippet of film was taken about 6 months after my brother was born, and includes my Aunt and her new husband. In fact, almost all of the family at that time was on one clip or another, which I just treasure. My mother said her sister was "100 percent better" and I guess once they were both married they got along better (grin).

With Apologies to Laura Joffe Numeroff...

I took today off. My sister and I take breaks every once in a while, which usually give us time to do things and time to feel guilty... When I talked to my sister this morning, I said, "Maybe I should go and just say Hi to Mom" even though I told her last night I wouldn't be here... that discussion led to the following, based on "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"...

I think I’ll take a day off from Mom

Oh wait... .I’ll just drop by and tell her...



If you stop to visit mother,, just to say hello,
you’ve certainly got to know that she’ll certainly have to go

While on the pot you’ll realize her diaper needs a change
and while you check you’ll soon find out a fact that is quite strange

Her diapes and wipes and motley things are low again it seems
( I think someone is filching them, even as she dreams)

And when she’s dry and all fluffed up, you know you’ve got to go
to re-stock all her sundry things, the ones that are so low

So on this day of total rest, you scramble to the store
To buy her strings and sealing wax and then a great bunch more

When you get back it’s time for lunch, and so downstairs you go
Stopping every 13 feet to smile and say hello.

And while she eats you rearrange just like some mother hen
and sort her outfits just in case they’ve mixed them up again

When you’re done and half your day is gone-heaven knows where
Lunch is over and she is off to sit there in her chair

But just before you kiss and say goodbye (don’t count to 10)
It is that time to go upstairs and help her go again


now, all I need are the pictures...

ANOTHER Buick?

1941... Another Buick. Now, here's the dilemma... Did my father get this Buick in 1940, in which case my mother is pregnant with my brother, or did he get it in 1941, in which case my mother has already HAD my brother...

These are the questions that rule my days..

or not....

I think (my judgement falling into question after the Buick/Pontiac incident) this is the red Buick that was shown in the "My father loved cars" post. My brother is quite young in the red picture, so I think it's a good guess, but I'm not going out on a limb until I hear from bonho...

Are We Having Fun Yet?

My grandparents on my father's side. They were almost 70 when I was born, as my father was older than my mother, and they were 'late' to marry (she was 28... probably considered a spinster!). This was taken at Wrightwood, in 1939. They were having fun in the snow, you can tell by the casual clothing! This is the same grandmother of all the dresses that bonho so loves. She never dressed down... My grandfather's health was never good. He had TB sometime around 1915, and the result was that the effects came around, occasionally, to slow him down.

There are also pictures of Mom and Dad with them... I'm going to have to go scan them, because in looking at them I realized that Dad has this PANTS... you have to see them!



Dad and Mom... Now this isn't the 38 Buick, so it might have been my grandparents car... They stayed for a week, which seems like a long time to stay in the snow in March, but maybe that's just me.

And then, we have my father and his parents... dontcha just love those pants??


oh.....

and not to be ignored...

her HAT!!

delicious!

In Their Wedding Bonnets...

While we're on the subject of weddings and before we get back to the 'such devoted sisters', let me tell you what I found,.

In the book of pictures from the 30's and 40's there are several from their wedding. Only one picture-the formal one, is larger than a postage stamp. Obviously, having larger pictures made was too great a financial task, so Mom put the little ones in the book. I haven't ever been able to see clearly what they were, HOWEVER, I now own a scanner... and, since they were fairly good quality, I can enlarge them!

So, without further ado..

From left to right...

My mother's mother, my mother's sister, and my father's mother.

Pretty maids all in a row at my parent's wedding...

oh...and a bunch of people I don't know!

Oh Happy Day... There WAS a Buick!!

THE 1938 Buick... I'm going out on a limb here, but I think this is it! This picture was taken the day my parents got engaged. I believe this was taken outside my grandparents apartment. They look so cute together.

Can't type more, my stoopid arm is all weird still...

I think that bonho's alien baby thingy is catching!!! eep!

and It's late!

and I'm off to bed.

I scanned a bunch of old pictures tonight, so I have fodder for more posts from the 30's and 40's..

My Favorite Sign...

I found a copy of this today... couldn't resist. Remember? I saw it in the Ellsworth Antique Mall in Ellsworth Kansas...

It makes me smile..

over and over...

Sisters, Sisters.... Such Devoted Sisters

My mother and her sister in 1938, sitting on what might be my father's car. My Mother is on the right. We've discussed my father's love of cars, and I'm reading the letters to see if this is mentioned. My parents were married in 1938, but I can't see if she's wearing her ring or not. (oops... date on back says "not yet") I'm wondering, about the dealer plates, if maybe Mom and her sister were doing a bit of advertising...?

hmm... research (being done via wifi during the Golden Globes) reveals a letter that mentions "Eddie got a new car on Friday. A Buick '38... The color is beige and it's a honey". It's difficult to discern if this is a beige car, but the date on the back is the same time frame as the letter, so I'm thinking either Dad took this picture or someone thought it would be good press to have two pretty girls perched on a car... The times never really do change, do they.... (just the amount of clothing, it would seem). I've since been told this was a Pontiac, not a Buick... I knew that... no.. I did... honest!

As we've discussed, my mother and her sister were very close. They were put into boarding school, Bethel College, Hopkinsville, KY, in 1934. The reason was that their mother was getting a divorce. This was not divulged to the girls until after the divorce, and then by their brother.... Their mother stopped to see them on her way to Reno, but told them nothing. They thought she was sick, and heading to the desert for her health. They found out about their new father after their mother had REMARRIED!... They must have wondered, and the letters are filled with covert questionings. From there they went to Mabel Scott Rancho, in California, as the new husband wasn't really interested in having a couple of girls around.

This made them very close.

And helped my mother appreciate what a great guy she had in my Father...

Next, some snippets of letters about the sisters..

Cry Baby...

I'm such a baby when I get sick...

(schniffle... schniffle)

I think it was the blood donation that set it off. Lowered my immune system or something..

Shit..

I have the mother of all colds.

Being sick is the only time I feel lonely. Not that I want anyone around when I feel like this, but it makes me realize that I have no one to go and get me coffee and the paper... sigh... I made my own coffee today. gag. Somehow it's not the same with cool whip.

I get so cranky! I've slept so much the last two days that I can't imagine being tired, and yet, I go in the bedroom and throw myself on the pile of pillows and comforters, and it feels sooooo good...

So stay away from me, I'm sure I'm contagious ..

and bonho?

lunch will probably be off this Friday, unless you LIKE colds... ??

(schniffle... schniffle... cough!)

OUCH!!!

(sniffle)...

Ok, this is the first time that donating REALLY hurt. I don't know what happened, but my bet is that the little vampir... um... NURSE went through the vein and hit a nerve..

or something..

I almost threw up, it hurt so bad. I cried... and then, even when it got better, tears kept running down my cheeks.. go figure..

The good news is: there was a little lady in the 'cot' next to me. She was quite quiet. You KNOW that doesn't work with me, so I had to talk to her... as I was heading for the cookies when I was finished, she told me (she wasn't quite done yet) it was her first time! She got tears in her eyes because she was so proud of herself! I made her sit next to me and eat cookies (the perks!) and drink water and told her what SOMEONE THERE should have told her when she entered the room..

I said, " Do you know what you did today? You saved someone's life" ! She got all teary again...

She was 70...

and all she wanted was for someone to tell her she was doing a really good thing.

....

but my arm still hurts...

sigh..

Why Phi?

Ok... so not everyone I met on the trip understood the concept. My favorite fella was the police officer in Ellis Kansas. This was the place with the sweet little city campground that was such a joy to find at the end of a long day driving through Kansas. It was his job to collect the fees (a whopping 15$) and make certain we were all good people. He let me stay anyway..

Now there's not a lot going in in Ellis, so he stayed and chatted with me for a long time. We talked about the trip and my writing about it, and I asked him where I might be getting wi=fi. I drove through town when I first arrived, hoping to find somewhere that would allow me to post, but there wasn't even a restaurant in Ellis. A donut shop (which was filled with wonderful old men no matter when I drove by) was not the answer.

Once I explained the concept to the sheriff, he assured me that there wasn't any such thing in Ellis.

I told him that wasn't the question.. I WAS getting wi=fi , but couldn't figure where or how.

He was mightily surprised...

Now, all of this is leading up to the announcement to follow..

I HAVE WI FI!!... in my own little house, in my own little livingroom/bedroom/den/kittyroom/kitchen... anywhere I wish!

I'm so proud...