It's after 7 p.m. on Father's Day and I am going to attempt to write a post. I find it difficult to look through photos from the 70s, but I did go through them, and here is what I found to share:
This is my dad, Donald McDonald. He may look dour here, but he really wasn't. He suffered from a multitude of ailments, from arthritis to renal failure. He was ill a lot when I was young, but he was a wonderful father to his only child.
He was a smart man, intellectually-oriented, but kept his feelings mostly to himself. I attributed that in part to a tough childhood.
He was the oldest of six and when he was 14 their father died. So he became the responsible one, going to work at 15 while he was in high school. He ended up continuing at the company and became an executive there. He worked for the same company for 50 years, something unheard of today. He died when he was just 65.
This is my grandpa, Charles Albert.
He was born in Germany in 1895, and came to the United States when he was 4, along with his mother and three brothers. Their father had immigrated here first, found a job and then sent for his wife and sons.
I can't imagine what my great-grandmother must have gone through, crossing the Atlantic in steerage for days, caring for three little boys. What a soft life I lead in comparison!
Grandpa made friends easily, wherever he went he found someone to chat with. He would talk about anything! He loved animals, and apparently he loved to grow sunflowers!
Grandpa had a great sense of humor and was always full of silly stories when I was little. He used to send me cards and put "Elvis Presley" as the return address. One of his favorite expressions was
"Holy smokes! the church is on fire."Grandpa died when he was 84, nine months after my grandmother died. They had been married for almost 63 years. That's a long time, I'd say.
This year for Father's Day we made dinner for
Ralph. I think he enjoyed it. I hope he did. We went to an antique car show, only to get there and find it had been postponed until July 19. And it wasn't even raining! That was a disappointment. Ralph loves to look at old cars.I hope he had a nice Father's Day anyway.
I bought this mixed planter the other day. I hope the red geranium buds bloom. I'm not sure what the delicate pink flowers are called.
And below you can see that I moved the planter to show off our "sun-dappled, freshly mowed front yard." It's such a novelty to see the sun around here. Wouldn't you know that two hours later the sun had disappeared again?
To see many more photos with a little or a lot of red in them visit Mary T, The Teach, at Work of the Poet.
... in France.
This is the Second Congregational Church in Derby, Ct. It lost its steeple when Hurricane Gloria blew through southern Connecticut in 1985. I thought the old edifice would work well in sepia tones. I like the way the lamp post stands out on a cloudy afternoon. I took this during Derby Day, a street festival, which explains the tents in the foreground.
(Many thanks to Mo at Purrchance to Dream for giving our meme hostess Mary T this pretty badge featuring a photo of his Daphne for use by Sepia Scenes participants)
We went to a street festival Saturday - Derby Day - in the continuing crappy weather. I just refer to it as MURK now. So much rain and gray. Today a bit of sun is peeking through the clouds. Yay!
As we were walking around I heard merry-go-round music. I wondered where they had set up a carousel for just a few hours. Turns out the music was coming from this antique organ. I'm guessing it's a restored original, but I'm not sure. I love the detail on it. I'm cheating because there is not much red here, except for the Stars and Stripes. Well, there is some pink on the organ. That's a form of red! Check out the artistic detail on the organ by clicking.
That's all from here..hope your RT is a good one.
It's after 7 p.m. on Father's Day and I am going to attempt to write a post. I find it difficult to look through photos from the 70s, but I did go through them, and here is what I found to share:
This is my grandpa, Charles Albert.
Welcome to my world. Yesterday the sun actually appeared, and the lilies were blooming so I took a picture of one of my little gnome friends.
This is a sequel to my Barbie post last week. I saved her best friend, Midge, for today. Her red and white dress was a bit mildewy (she's been in that carrying case for more than 40 years) but I did my best to photograph her from her best angle.
Visit our wonderful hostess, Mary T, at Work of the Poet to see many more photos with a little or a lot of red in them. And have a great Ruby Tuesday.
As you can see it was Open House Day here in the Nutmeg State Saturday, so we decided to take in some local history.
Here is a view of the house from the history-filled Elm Street Cemetery across the street. Regular readers might spy Ralph's van parked in the driveway to the left.
American flags placed in front of the house greeted visitors.
I finally got to wander around this old cemetery that I drive past numerous times a day. I learned some stuff about the folks who lived in this area in the olden days.
This is daughter Allegra, our history major, enjoying the tour with me, Ralph, and my mother.
The stone below has an unique shape - looks like a table, doesn't it?
That's all for now. I'm saving some photos for Ralph to use on his blog, if he so chooses.
So I ventured outside and took some garden photos to celebrate.
I feel better now.
I'll call this a pre-sunset, early June evening sky. How's that for descriptive?
I looked through our photo archives Monday but found nothing for Ruby Tuesday sharing.
To see many more photos featuring varying amounts of the color red, visit Mary T, at Work of the Poet.
Sunsets and their reflections. Aren't they beautiful?
Thanks, Tisha, for this fun meme.
Ralph recently looked through a wooden box of old family photos and came across one of my all-time favorites, and I thought I would share.
Last week I posted a photo of a single rhododendron blossom. Today I post the entire rhododendron, which is now in full bloom. Woo hoo!
