"Grandpa's Book", Part 3 Augustana College Band, 1917 It's one thing to say, "My grandfather served in World War 1," but it's something else entirely to really think about it. To sit down and contemplate what that actually means, and what it meant for him at the time. Although I've read over my grandfather's memoirs …
No offense to China, but... I would ask if anybody else is seeing this on their WordPress stats, but I already know you are. For a few months now, the majority of the "views" I've been getting on my blog have been from China. But to my knowledge, I don't have any followers there. I …
It's all well and good to know your "mid-century modern" decor, but... ...when you realize that you yourself are "mid-century", it puts a different light on everything. Here I am in 1958, or possibly early 1959, with my mom, who is wearing a classic 1950s outfit (love the shoes), seated on a 1950s basket chair, …
I might have known .... It's not usually a good sign when Mom comes home with a new cat carrier. She can't have missed my look of disapproval when she started reading the directions. She seemed happy with the size. "This should be lots better," she said. That's because it's really a small dog carrier. …
A Look at Early Studio Photography An unknown lady from "Swedish Roots", standing by a vase. You could say my mind is like a computer that always has programs running in the background. One of those, lately, has been the idea of a blog post about props and backgrounds used in early studio photography. As …
"Hey Panda!" "Guess what I just thought of?" Foster's voice woke me from a sound sleep. "What?" I asked, still drowsy from my nap. "Monday was your 10-year pandaversary!" "My what?" "Your pandaversary!" Foster responded. "Remember four years ago when it was our 6-year cattiversary? It's the anniversary of when Mom got us! We looked …
A Look at Sailor-Inspired Clothing George Anderson, my maternal grandfather, is seen in the center of this photo from 1918. Left: In this close up from the 1919 crew photo of the USS Powhatan, you can see George (circled), as well as a random man with a tie. I use the man with the tie …
Errors in the 1920 Census I've told you I had started thinking there never was a Frank Johnson, the 7-year-old son of John Alfred and Madge. In "Finding Frank (Or Not)", I left you with the thought that maybe Frank was really there, but the census taker only assumed he was Madge and Alfred's son. …
So I had a few photos... Okay, I had a few boxes of photos. Well, maybe more than a few boxes of photos. They'd been organized before, by category, but over the years, they had gotten somewhat mixed up. And on top of that I had all the photos from when I dismantled my childhood …
Everything is connected. . . If this photo of the U.S.S. Powhatan were zoomed in more, I could show you which one of these men was my maternal grandfather, George Anderson. The Powhatan was a troop transport vessel during the first world war. As close as I can figure, the photo was taken in June …
