Three More Backyard Pictures

Here are more "backyard" pictures from long, long ago. This is my brother, Bud, when he was a little guy maybe 10, 11 - somehwere around there. He has his earflaps up on his cap and his hands in his pockets so must not have put on his gloves. Off in the background, you can see the row of cottages along the Illinois River. Most of them were summer cottages and there were many of them between Peoria and Chillicothe.

Here is my sister, Joanne "Jo" posting at a different time of year. She must have been in her late teens when this was taken.

Here I sit on a box wearing my dad's shirt, rolled up jeans, a headscarf and my ever present mocassins which I wear to this day. Minnetonka mocs - I started wearing them when I was about 13 years old and they cost $2.98. Today they are around $30 a pair, but they still have the little beaded thunderbird on them. I may have posted about them before, but about 12 years ago I discovered duct tape and that makes them last much longer. I always wear holes in the bottom (I like the ones without soles) and duct tape cures that for some time. Gosh, maybe I should have put this on Funoldhag for Fashion Friday!! (Click to enlarge)

In Our Backyard

Probably taken in late winter or early spring on a nice day, Charlie, my dad, and Bing, our weird old dog, sat on a bench for a snapshot. As I looked at this, I could see all the familiar things in the backyard. I put the picture in one of my photo editing programs and zeroed in on the background.To the left is a wooden frame with a big barrel on the corner of the top. That is the shower that Dad built. He filled the barrel with water and the sun heated it and we were able to take showers. Of course, the sides were covered with canvas! It looks like he has some benches and the big old Adirondak chairs stored there for the winter. Further back and in the center is our old coal shed. The house had two coal burning stoves - the one in the kitchen was for heat and for cooking, also. That's another way of life, for sure. In the summer, Mom used a kerosene stove since it would have been intolerable to have the big stove going. I also see a ladder leaning against a tree and have no idea what that was for. Then there is the little building to the right of the coal shed - yes, the outhouse. Dad always referred to it as "Aunt Mary's". It was sweltering in the summer and had lots of "mud dawbers" which were like wasps. In the winter it was freezing cold. I do and always will think that growing up like that makes you kind of tough - and, although I would never want to go back to living like that - it didn't hurt me a bit.

The quality of the old pictures amazes me - they enlarge very nicely. Hope you enjoyed this little piece of the past. (Click to enlarge)

A Family Portrait

This is my husband's paternal grandparents and their family. His grandfather is sitting on the ground with the dog and his grandmother is the lady to the left. Ray always referred to them as "Grandpa and Grandma Barney" which was a nickname of sorts. On the left would be his uncle, Art, another uncle, "Cotton", and I am not sure of the little girl. She may have been Ruby. The next two I am not sure of. There were three more boys that I know of - Harold, Charlie and Harry, Ray's father. One of them is not there unless he is the little boy standing by Ethel, another aunt. If that were the case, I think the dark haired fellow would be Ray's dad and the one in the suspenders would be Charlie. The shadow in the foreground? Have no idea who would be taking the group shot.

This may have been taken the same day. What a great old car! I am thinking Charlie is at the wheel but don't know who the passengers are. The shadow may be that of the same photographer. (Click to enlarge)

More Vintage Ads

You just have to use the right soup to keep your hubby interested and awake. Except, I doubt if you can find Heinz soup anymore. What a sorry situation.

Women do the darnedest things, don't they? The old ads really were kind of sextist.

I wonder what happened to Mum--------and Arrid. They haven't been around for years. And you never hear the term " B O" anymore. Enjoy the silly old ads. (Click to enlarge)

A Hard Working Man

Here is a picture of my dad, Charlie, as he works on one of the summer cottages that he took care of to pay for the rent ($10.00 per month) on the old house that we lived in. Our house was owned by a family from Peoria that owned a summer cottage along the river. His brother and mother also had cottages and they were all in a cluster. For years and years, Dad took care of the yards and did handyman work for them. It also gave him a wonderful place to have his duck blind during hunting season and a place to keep the old double bowed row boat. The Lynches, the people who owned the cottages, were very lucky people to have someone as conscientious as Dad to take care of their property. He was a very hard working man.

Dad worked at Pabst Brewery in Peoria Heights. I found this stub of his vacation check from May, 1959. Hard to believe that was the pay for a man who by that time had somewhere around 25 years to his credit. $2.61 an hour does not leave a lot of money for luxury items. Of course, the price of groceries, energy, etc., were so much cheaper then than now that it did balance out, but my parents never did get very far ahead and never managed to own a home. They did have a television about the time I was pregnant for our daughter. Back then, tv was "snowy" and stations were not plentiful--Peoria had one station and Chicago stations could be picked up with the big antennae. They enjoyed their television. Mom and Dad did not have an easy life, but they were comfortable and content together. What more can you ask.

Julia's Autograph Book

Here is Julia, my husband's grandmother, in one of those charming old cabinet photographs, which is what I think they are called.

In Ray's mother's things was a worn and tattered old, old autograph book that belonged to Julia. It was at one time red velvet but all the fuzzy red is worn away almost entirely.

If you enlarge the pictures, you can easily read the verses written in this lovely old gem. This one was written in 1906, over one hundred years ago, by Ray's Aunt Leatha, his mom's sister, who was just a little girl at the time. She wrote a very common little verse. I wonder if people still have autograph books like that anymore.This one was written in 1898 (can't quite tell for sure) and the wording is so formal and solemn. People were so much more formal back in that time.

One more page written very formally. The penmanship back then was outstanding. I will scan some more pages soon and post a few more. There is one written by Ray's mom, too, when she was very small. (Click to enlarge)

Rome Grade School, District 29

What a long, long time ago! I know I have posted this on my other blog, but this absolutely has to be here with all the other old photos. This was taken when the one-room school was remodeled into a two room school by extending the stage, putting in a partition and hiring another teacher to join Miss Placher. Opal Claypool taught fifth through eighth grades on the stage portion. I was a fifth grader at the time. Miss Claypool was a wonderful teacher - as was Evelyn Placher Gerstner. My little brother, Bud, is fifth from the right in the first row and Joanne, my little sister, is the second little girl in the second row. I am the seventh girl from the left and am standing in the crook of Sally's arm that is on a brace. Sally had polio and her arm was paralyzed. When we were eighth graders, she went to Shriner's Hospital in Chicago for surgery and, although she could not use her arm, she was able to do away with the brace. Sally married, had children, and unless you knew it, chances are you would not notice her arm.

This picture was most likely the fall of 1939. Looks like enrollment was up at Rome School. Bud is the little boy in the light clothing in the first row and right behind him is Jo. I am fourth from the right in the last row. Looks like my hair had grown longer. I would have been in sixth grade in this picture. The following year, they added a brick two room addition on the front of the old school and Evelyn taught 1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th in one room and I believe there was a new teacher that year, Miss Alvord, that taught, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th. So I was back with Evelyn for the last two years in elementary school. She was one great teacher. (Click to enlarge)