I spent the biggest part of yesterday afternoon and this afternoon in the basement....again.... I even mananged to find a few more empty boxes yesterday. This will lead to a fun day of breaking down boxes in the future, but the time is not yet.
I also was working on some shelves down there. I found this cigar box...
and a bigger box that were full of old family photos from Roger's family...from his dad's side. There are photos of his great-grandmother in both photos above. She broke her finger, I don't know which one, but she was going to cut it off and Roger's mom put a stop to it and took her to the dr...she was going to cut it off because she didn't want it to heal and be stiff and crooked.
In the first photo, where she is wearing a long coat, that is a parrot on her arm. Don't you know she had to really be a character..she lived in Montana at some point in her life... Roger remembers her...she used to babysit him....and he remembers loving her so much. And he said it about killed his dad when she died.
Here she is again...Roger does not remember who the man is. That girl on the left is his grandmother, and that is his Great Uncle Jack standing between his grandmother and the man. I did know him...he was a little bitty guy and was a jockey when he was a young. He did not talk about it....but had told Roger's dad that this or that jockey would come in and might find a roll of money in their locker with a note telling them to 'throw the race.' He refused to do it, and he was beaten up pretty bad. He quit and never raced again. He lived in fear for his life for a long, long time...not even sure he ever got completely over it.
I thought this was Roger's dad, but Roger says it is his dad's brother. And I guess I can see it...but was so hoping it was his dad cause his dad was a Quarter Horse jockey in the Terre Haute area.
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I have no idea who this is, and neither does Roger. I just had to show it because of how he is dressed....and holding all those birds. Do you reckon he was dressed like that when hunting, or did he dress up for the photo?
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I would be ashamed to tell you how much stuff I carried up out of the basement. Some Roger took to the garbage cans for me, and other went to the garage to be donated. A LOT of today's donation was books. Some yesterday was books, but not near like today. I even donated a few books that had been favorites of mine. I figured the way they were packed away that I would never go to the trouble of hunting them out to read. Still, I held on to more than I should have. I wish I knew someone personal that would want them.
And guess what else I found? An 'under the bed' storage thing FULL of VCR tapes of The Simply Quilts show that I used to tape when I worked. I thought I had gotten rid of them, but I found out I had not. Now they are gone!
I also have a stack of books started that were once Rachel's that she wants me to keep for her....and a couple cookbooks that she wants. So, a bit is being done, but sure not fast enough for me. I am just thankful I can work on it again.
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I am reading this...The Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman....it and The Far Family got together...they happen to be two of my favorite books.
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We just had a downpour of rain, but it seems to have passed on. It thundered just a little bit...and moved on.
Finding saved favorite books...how fun. I'm sure I'd be tempted to stop what I was doing...and read.
ReplyDeleteI love going through old family photos too!
What wonderful and colorful family stories these are!! It also makes me wonder about and feel sorry for jockeys!
ReplyDeleteThe photographs bring back lots of memories and the stories you shared sure are interesting. Thanks for sharing what book you are reading. Hope you won't have storms/rain during the night.
ReplyDeleteRoger sure had some unusual characters among his ancestors. Old photos are great to have but can be frustrating when you have no idea who is who. I tried to write on the back of the old black&white pics that I have but haven't gotten far. I'm not even sure my kids will be interested.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing great with the clearing out!!!
It is amazing the things we keep and then later decide we really don't want them after all.I have deposed of many boxes full of things like that and should probably get rid of even more.
ReplyDeletethis is just amazing, i love old photos, they don't even have to be someone i know... the bird photo is funny, i to wonder how he dressed to hunt... the lady with the parrot reminds me of my grandmother, they were not the average women for the era they were born in. yikes on the finger.. so happy you are cleaning out the basement. lots of work but fun stuff to show and tell us about.....
ReplyDeleteI just love all the old photos. There is something about looking at life in black and white photos of bygone days, it doesn't even have to be of people you know there's just a Norman Rockwell feel that I get. And I kind of love it!
ReplyDeleteYou have been busy! So nice to stumble upon old family photographs. I found a box once when cleaning my grandfather's home. It was like finding precious treasure for me.
ReplyDeleteI too need to go through my store room and get rid of things that I do not use. Its is funny how we tend to collect and hold on to things just for storing them away. I too enjoy going through old photos and recollecting all those memories.
ReplyDeleteAren’t those the most wonderful photos? Fascinating stories that go with them too. We are in the throws of cleaning here too. So much to do but I have to tell myself, one step at a time :) Another lovely post Rose.
ReplyDeleteI, too, taped all the Simply Quilts show, except that it was my Mother who copied them for me because we couldn't afford cable. It was hard giving those away but I told myself they will show up on Youtube someday.
ReplyDeleteJeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Old photos are a lot of fun to look at. I have many of my dad's family. Also have all the old ones from Mike's family. I have tried to scan as many as possible into the computer. Some day they will all be disposed of by someone so I thought the family might like them on computer instead. I used to tape the Simply Quilts show, too. Loved that series and learned so much from it!
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