Author Archives: kathy

Sepia Saturday – Back To Me

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Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, sign up to the link, try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and have fun.

When I first looked at the prompt photo, I was so focussed on it being a picture of the back of a statue that I completely missed the people facing forward. That being the case, it reminded me of some photos I have taken of backs.

Oh my gosh! I thought I was a week ahead with this post and instead I’m a week behind. Guess what else I didn’t notice about the prompt photo until just this minute when I went back to edit this again for the 10th time – THE DATE!!! Oh well. I’ve spent time on this, so out it goes!

I have been plagued by plantar fasciitis for several months, but I used to walk regularly. I mostly followed the same route around the neighborhood, which can get pretty boring, so I started looking for something to take a picture of on each walk. Sometimes a theme would emerge and I would take a series of pictures with my phone and post them on Facebook when I got home because I knew my friends wanted to see them! 😉

One day I was almost home and noticed that a house not far from mine had a little statue of a pig in the front yard, but the pig faced the house and not the street. It’s back was to me. So, on my walk the next day, I looked for objects facing away from me and I would end with the pig.

I mostly found seating.

There was another backward facing little animal in another yard, but my photo was blurry. I get nervous that someone will think I am doing something nefarious, so I quickly take a shot and hurry off. And I don’t want to get on someone’s lawn either. This is not a recipe for good photos.

Just as I approached the house with the pig, the owner drove up and parked in the driveway. I really wanted the picture, but I knew I would have to explain myself. I told the woman that I entertain myself while walking by taking photos of things I notice along the way and that I wanted to take a picture of her pig because the day’s theme was things with their back to me. She said, “Oh here you go!” and she turned her back to me so I could take a picture of her back along with her pig. What a good sport!

In case that’s not enough backs for you, I looked for more!

Here is one I took at a stoplight one Easter weekend.

After being out of town for a week, I enjoyed the view from the patio and so did Lola.

Unfortunately, we lost our sweet Lola in May. In August, my son’s dog came to stay with us for a week. He made himself at home next to me on the patio furniture, but Dreamboat (our daughter’s dog who lives with us), was having none of it. He refused to join us and turned his back to us at every opportunity.

The big dog, Matty, lives with us now too. Dreamboat has come to accept his presence, albeit begrudgingly.

Austin has a wonderful new public library and I was fortunate to attend the preview. I spied a friend through a window taking a photo of other people. He was working. I was just playing around. I hoped I didn’t photo bomb his picture. He never said anything.

The rise of a hill gave me this view of the backs of folks in front of me in our local MLK Day parade 2018.

Sometimes a photo from the back is the only view easily available, yet still provides context.

Sometimes I take a photo from from way in the back trying to capture the person at the front… and find that when I crop out all of the extraneous backs, the focus of my photograph is out of focus. I have several photos like this one of Father Greg Boyle at a book signing.

An elder’s back touched by small hands on the day of our pastor’s last service before retirement.

This photo of my great uncle Norman Webber with his nephew Myron on the left and niece Zelma on the right is perfect from the back.

We had a very long, hot summer in 2011 – 90 days of triple digit temperatures. It was hard on the animals too. Almost every day I would find a little place where dirt had been dug out and I finally saw the culprit – a squirrel trying to cool off by putting his tummy in the hole. I took lots of pictures of squirrels trying to beat the heat and finally got this one that says it all. Every summer when the temperature reaches 100, this squirrel in a hole becomes my profile pic.

Squirrel in a Hole

I’ll end with a newspaper clipping with a front and a back view. It pictures participants in the Krazy Day parade in Ottumwa, Iowa in 1959. My mom is the one with the big smile. I think she was adorable. From every angle.

I accidentally traveled backward instead of forward in time when I wrote this. If you’d like to see how others interpreted the prompt, please visit Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday – A Show of Legs

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Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, sign up to the link, try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and have fun.

I had a set of pictures in mind for this prompt, but my desire to participate in a timely manner caused me to change my mind. I’ll do the others when I can give them their due.

Instead, I give you this photo taken before the wedding of my mom and step dad. Even though no one is dancing, I think it matches the prompt pretty well – but sometimes in opposition to the prompt photo. (That’s me on the left.)

My mom, on the right, stands in a similar pose to the woman pictured on the right in the prompt. Mom is leaning a bit more forward and we can’t see her other arm, but I’ll bet she was resting a hand on her sister Wilma for balance. They show the same amount of leg and their heels are of similar height. The line of their skirts even match.

No one is looking directly at the camera in either photo.

There are three people in a row and a chair, but no one is sitting in this chair.

In my picture, there are three hats, three pairs of gloves, and three corsages – unlike the prompt.

But in both pictures, it is all about the legs.

When I first started blogging, I wrote another post about my mother’s legs – and mine. And I see that I used this photo in that post as well: Why did the pigeon-toed girl cross the board?

As a little girl, I always thought I looked more like my Aunt Wilma than my mother. We both had blonde hair and blue eyes. And we were both pigeon-toed. I think it made me feel a special bond with her.

Me with a new watch

 

Aunt Wilma as a girl

That’s it for me today! Put on your dancing shoes and step on over to Sepia Saturday to see what others have done with the prompt.

Sepia Saturday – Signs of the Times

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Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, sign up to the weekly Linky List, try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and have fun. Click here to pay a visit:  Sepia Saturday

This week’s prompt photo features advertisements painted on the side of a building. I have a photo for this!

My grandparents, Charles and Abbie (Webber) Smith owned a truck stop in southeastern Iowa at the junction of highways 63 and 149. This intersection, near the small town of Hedrick, was known locally as the Hedrick Y. A previous post, Charles’ and Abbie’s Place, provides a view of the “Y” and a little more of this family story (including me as a baby).

The photograph below, dated 1950, provides a glimpse of the advertisements painted on the side of the building. My grandmother’s handwriting identifies the date and names.

A closer look reveals the names “Smith & Smith” at the top. The next line is unreadable. And below center is an advertisement for Robin Hood Flour.

My mom and I are in the photo below, most likely taken at Easter 1954. We are standing in front of the same wall, which has been painted over, although the original paint still show through. I guess my grandpa wasn’t concerned with the need for an additional coat of paint. A metal sign has been added to the roof – featuring a Coca-cola bottle and my grandparent’s names, Charles & Abbie. The water pump is visible in both pictures, and it looks like a TV antenna now rises above the chimney. A Conoco sign is visible in the background, indicating that there had been a change from the Sinclair Petroleum franchise.

A Joe Lewis poster had a prominent place on a post inside. Unfortunately the photo is blurry. I searched for a poster like it on the internet, but came up empty.

The picture below was taken during demolition of the building, which had undergone some changes from the previous photo. The roof line is different and the photo shows the opposite side of the building, now minus the attached garage. The second door and a window had also been eliminated.

There is another advertisement for Robin Hood Flour (Milled from ????). Maybe it says “Milled from Washed Wheat,” as shown on the sign at right. Also on the side of the building: “Smith & Smith” and “Gasoline.”

I love that the business was named equally for my grandmother and grandfather. Running the business was certainly a joint effort.

That looks like my grandfather on the roof.

A new building replaced the original and my final photograph of Charles’ and Abbie’s truck stop is of a couple of posters visible inside the new digs. One promotes Marlboro cigarettes for women and I think the other is for Kool cigarettes. A local girl used to come and play with me when I was there and we are enjoying the benefits of life at a truck stop.

The photograph below does not include any signage. There must have been a lot of rain some time during or before August of 1958, as this picture shows some minor flooding on the property. The building is a little house that sat behind the truck stop. My great aunt and uncle lived there for several years.

I included this because water and flooding have been much on our minds. Austin, TX has been under a boil water order for several days now due to flooding to the north and west of us that damaged and destroyed homes and lots of property, overfilled the Highland Lakes in central Texas, and overloaded our water treatment facilities. We have been taxed with doing what we can to conserve water and treat our own water for drinking and cooking.

And this happened.

We had stored some water jugs in the closet years ago, so have been putting them to good use. I got one out and noticed it was leaking. I got out this sun tea jar (advertisement on it, so this actually fits the theme!) and began to transfer the water from the jug to the jar. And then…. Ack!!!

I wondered if drinking scorpion infused tea would give me super powers. I chose not to test it out.

Being under a boil water order and the necessity of conserving water to get out from under it certainly makes a person more mindful. We hope the restrictions will be lifted late tomorrow.