More Old photos

Looks like this first photo was taken in 1970, making me 10 years old. It was the first trip to the zoo that I can remember. Don't you just love the "cat eye" glasses? I think they were my first pair of glasses too. It looks like the bear is also posing for the camera. These photos were taken with an old Kodak Eastman "Instamatic" camera that had a spot on top to place a square flash that would turn and "flash" four times from each cube. The film size was 126.

(Here's what the old camera looked like)

This next photo I think was taken in Nampa, Idaho at Aunt Donna Patterson's house. I'm on the far left with my cousin's and Jim.

L to R...(back) Jan, Christine, Jim, David; (front) Carolann, & Brian Patterson.

Below...Don't I look like a "bathing beauty" from Hawaii? My incredible mother stayed up all night helping to decorate my bike for the 4th of July parade held in Warren. Check out the palm or coconut tree on the back of the bike. It took quite a bit of ingenuity to build that and secure it to the bike. The support was an old plastic toy "snow slinger" that was a hollow handle that sort of looked like a cone on the end. You would push it into the snow and the swing it and the "ball" would go flying to hit the opponent. Mom was always quite ingenious at making decorations. I'm sure Patsy helped out too. I'm holding the trophy I won for the best decorated bike in the parade. Also notice the pink petunias in Mom's flower bed. She always had beautiful petunias planted there. Some years there were yellow marigolds around the edges. A few years back she could no longer get her petunia's to bloom, so she changed to other flowers. We learned that there was a "tobacco moth" that had invaded the area that you had to spray for every 2 weeks to keep them blooming...to much work!

The bike was also special, as it was my first bike. I remember one Saturday when I was either 8 or 9 years old, my Dad took me for a ride over to Sunset Sporting Goods, located in Sunset where I picked out this bike. It was a "Banana Bike", the hottest bike around for the time. They were called this because of the Banana shaped seat. They were also called "Stingray" bikes. I believe my model was actually called the "Stingray", and I think it was made by "Western Flyer". I was so proud of my bike and I thought I had the greatest Dad in the whole world to buy me my own bike. Previously I had learned to ride on a boys bike and it was so difficult to climb on and reach the pedals with the high bar. The stingray had was was called a "sissy bar".

Here's a photo of what the bike looked like from a vintage bike web search, though this isn't the real thing, because the originals have a larger wheel on the rear and a smaller one in the front.

Below the 1969 photo is blurry, but it tells so much of a story and brings back so many memories. Mom and I are taking a nap on the big leather couch that my Grandmother called a "Davenport". I'm not sure if it make out into a bed, because I never saw it like that if it did. I do remember taking many naps on the couch though as a little girl when I stayed at my Grandmothers house. My grandma had this Chenille type robe that hung on a nail in the front hall closet that was all "soft and snugly" and she would cover me with this to take my naps. This is Grandma Mae Melle Wayment's home, the only grandmother I knew, since my other Grandmother (Ellen Bennet Thurgood) died when I was just a few month's old. Also notice the floral patterned linoleum. The window above our heads usually had some red Geranium plants where the two windows slid together during the winter time. Grandma survived the depression when they were first married and was always very thrifty, so she would bring in her plants and keep them alive to plant outside for the next year. The patchwork pillow was another trade mark. She kept scraps of material and old clothes that were cut up to make other items.

I also remember some braided rag rugs made from old fabric. Long, thin, strips were braided and then the braids were sewed together in a spiral oval pattern to make a rug, similar to the one at our feet.

(Here's a picture of what a braided rag rug looks like, but obviously this one is not probably made with scraps of fabric.)

You can see a glimpse of an armed wooden chair that is in the front left of the photo. The wood was well worn even in this photo. The chair sat by the other window facing a wooden stand where the black telephone sat. Here Grandma would sit once a week for a special phone call to her sister who lived in Huntsville. They also sent weekly letters to each other. They remained very close up until the time they died. I'll write more about then and their relationship at another time. The wooden stand was a project that my Dad (Edward) had made in high school and had rounded corners and a shelf where the phone book sat underneath and cut up squares of the back side of used papers to be used for notes. The workmanship was really quite nice. My sister Patsy now has this in her home. Maybe she will email me a photo of it and I'll include it in another post.

Taking a nap with my head laying on my mother's lap was such a safe and comforting place to be! The other night when I was visiting her in the care center I had the most overwhelming feeling to just crawl into the bed with her just to be close and have her hold me like I was a little girl again. We actually talked about me staying there for the night, but then knew neither one of us would get very good sleep. I still love her kisses goodbye every time I see her, and I'm looking forward to having her back home soon.