polkadotzi

The school bus driver I fell in love with. Just one of his many talents as he put himself through college.

I have always loved this photo. Look at all the hats. How stylish! Most likely the men had them too, just in their hands!

These cute little twins are sitting here for a professional photographer who came to their house for a "photo shoot."  The story goes that little one on the left would not  stop swinging her feet. So photographer finally gave up and took the photo anyway. See the blur? This past weekend was their 80th birthday, and their kids gave them a big, double celebration up north. Wish we could have been there. Happy Birthday "Aunt Twinnies!"  

My mother is standing in the foreground with her two little twin sisters, in their driveway (not sure where the next younger sister was). I remember so well this intriguing house across the street with the turret. Some old lady sisters lived there as I remember.  The ______  Sisters. I don't remember ever meeting them, but there is a dim recollection of entering their darkened parlor. This photo brings my grandparents' house to mind, and all the fun we had as children when we'd spend a week there very summer.  This photo sure makes it look like my mom is the leader, and in fact she was, being the oldest of four girls.  It makes me think of myself, as I tend to be an "in charge" kind of person, though I don't really like that about myself. I'm glad I have the ability to organize things, but there's great relief when someone else takes over.

It doesn't seem that long ago that our family plus two men climbed into this laden-down VW bug for a trip from the high hills of La Paz, Bolivia, over the Altiplano down into the Yungus Jungle. From snow to sweat, all in a day, over what is known as the world's most dangerous road . Mind you, Spouse is 6'6" tall. Not sure how he made it into the back seat, but I know he did. He loves to tell how his leg was well bruised from my clenching it as we passed over hairpin turns from heights that I could not believe. At one point we were so high in altitude, the little bug, with all its weight of barb wire fencing being carried on the top, simply quit. We got out to look under the hood and eventually to push for awhile, and that is what this photo is about.

I remember my grandfather playing the harmonica. Very dimly, as all my memories are of my grandfather. He died when I was seven. This photo of him playing with his brothers was taken long before I was born. I've seen a movie clip of this exact scene so I can see how they fooled around before they actually played, with people passing by in the background. There was no sound to this old home movie of my grandfather's but I can imagine the sound just fine.