Wednesday, January 11, 2017

POTPOURRI

Actually, the title of this post should more appropriately be called Miscellaneous but I don't know how to spell it (*smile*).

In my previous post, there is a photo of my Mom and I standing by a sequoia in northern California. Lisa, who has been following my blog longer than I can remember, wondered what the design was on my mother's dress.

Well - just because you caught me in a very rare good mood - I dug into the dusty archives and found another photo of Mom in that same dress. The design on it is a baby seal. It was just an old, makeshift dress but for some reason my mother liked it and wore it all summer.

 Mom and I by the sequoia


 Mom in the seal dress, with her sister Ann (Ann is my cousin Nancy's mother)

While I was digging in the dusty archives, I found a few more photos. Since my cousin Nancy is a faithful reader of this blog (one of the few) I thought she might enjoy seeing these photos.

 My cousin Nancy

Nanc, do you remember this? I don't know how old you were here, but I do recall that your Mom took this photo. I used to have a very similar one of your sister Patty but I can't find it.

 Jon, age eleven

Okay, what the hell was going on with my hair?? I remember that I had put some kind of really greasy stuff on it. The dubious pomade came in a tube.
No, it wasn't toothpaste!!
And it wasn't Brylcreem.
Whatever it was, I must have been crazy to use it. 

Just for the record, I am a natural blond, but that crap on my hair made it look dark.

 Me and some of my cousins

This pic was taken during a summer trip to New Jersey when I was nine years old. We were on the steps of our grandmother's house.
Back row: Nancy and her sister Patty
Front row: Stephanie, Barbara, Cookie, and me.
(Cookie's real name is Elizabeth)

My cousin Stephanie (the youngest in the photo) has recently become a grandmother! 
Holy crap, that makes me feel old.  

Nancy hasn't seen Cookie's family in a very long time (they live in different states) so I'll post a recent photo here. 

  My cousin Cookie & her husband Maynard with their two sons David (left) and Joseph (right). I don't recall the dog's name.

This is probably getting boring but I'm on a roll. Here are some unrelated pics.

 The ice on my window two days ago
(if this doesn't excite you, nothing will)

 My cat Bosco when he was a kitten. He was so scrawny and sick that I didn't think he'd survive.

 This is Bosco now, nearly three years old

 In the first photo of Bosco, he was checking out my antique Russian wolfhound. 

 The photo behind the wolfhound is Prince Victor Albert, Queen Victoria's grandson. It's an original photo - not a print.

 On the same shelf, some English dishes and a small creamer from the 1820's.
The figurine of the man with dog was made in 1791. I paid $25 for it. I happened to find the listing for it in an auction catalogue and the appraisal  was nearly $1,000. I sure as hell hope I don't break it. 

 

12 comments:

  1. I thought you had a hair net on before I read your explanation. You have a nice looking family Jon.

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  2. I can see handsome men are all over your family!!!! I also enjoyed that before and after of Bosco. Wow!!!!!! You have loved him that's for sure. I also enjoy looking at people's collection of things. I have no idea why, but it' neat to see. What ever attracted to you the man with dog figurine?

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    1. and upon further inspection.....I can see a resemblance in you and David. Same features.

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  3. I'm glad I caught you
    in a very rare good mood
    thank you for sharing your photos
    enjoyed the ice on your window, too
    and look at your lil shoes :)

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  4. What lovely pictures of your family, past and present. Love the figurine with the dog and man, let's hope Bosco is careful when walking near there.

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  5. Hey! I love you in a good mood--LOL!
    Potpourri is even harder to spell than miscellaneous in my world. Thank god for spell check, eh? LOL! But it has made me a lot lazier about spelling. Contributed to, I should say. Spellcheck didn't put a gun to my head and force me to be a lazy speller. ;)
    Great old pictures!! I am fascinated by the ice on the window, to be honest. It's quite beautiful. Have a super day. :)

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  6. It's always nice to see your collection of photos. Your moms dress looks comfortable ( easy for travel ) plus the design on the front is cute. I like it too. Perhaps it was dippity do in your hair - remember that stuff ? Lol.

    Must be cold down your way with frost on the windows. Same here - over another foot of heavy snowfall a few days ago during a blizzard. It's -22 Celsius at the moment. It doesn't sound so bad in Fahrenheit. Take care.

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  7. Do you ever watch Antiques Roadshow? People own incredible objets d'art and the ones the show features are usually quite valuable. There was some art deco jewelry featured some time back that was breathtaking. You do have a handsome family. I think that might be a walrus on your mom's dress as it looks like there are tusks. She was so beautiful that she could get away wearing a cute dress like that. Me - I'd be mistaken for the walrus' mother.

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  8. Awwww! :) I'm struck by your amazing resemblance to Nancy ... at 11 y/o that is. (Yes, that's my not-so-subtle way of suggesting a photo of the two of you, ca 2017.)

    Gotta say, your dad looks so happy and carefree in that photo ... which makes me feel a bit sad. Love the cousins' images. And sweet Bosco, of course!

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  9. Great photos, Jon, especially Cookie's family portrait. I'm wearing a black t-shirt and jeans right now --could we be related?

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  10. Hi Jon: Thanks for the pictures. Do you worry that one of the kittahs will decide to check whether gravity is still working and use the statue to find out? You know how they love to push things off an edge. You have very good taste and good luck finding exquisite pieces. I, too, collect the detritus of other people's lives. I think it's because both sides of my family were so poor. There was little to pass on.

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  11. Love this post Jon! You know me and old family photos (smile). And how fascinating that figurine that was made in 1791. I have a lot of figurines, some very old. My Mother used to collect them and I inherited her habit. Pat (the minimalist) wants me to get rid of them. I can't bear to part with them. I told Pat they'll go when I'm dead. But for right now,, looking at them brings me comfort. Your cousin looks very nice. I'm glad she lives nearby to you.
    Ron

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