Ladies of the Grove

Sepia Saturday #176 My Brush with a Scientist

2013-05-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

It was 1964 and I was browsing through the classified ads looking for a better job than the one I had. I spotted one that sounded interesting - a secretary for a geophysicist at Cal Tech (Californa Institute of Technology in Pasadena).

I went on the interview which was conducted by the scientist himself. He asked if I took shorthand. I said, "sure". Which of course I didn't, but I wanted the job really bad. Cal Tech is just such a beautiful campus and I thought it would be interesting to work there.

So, what do you think? I got the job. Then I had to deal with the fact that I really didn't take shorthand. I had two weeks to figure out what to do. Not enough time to learn shorthand. That takes years and years.

Real Shorthand

So I took a two day course in Speed Writing (a cousin to shorthand). There, I was ready for the job.

Speed Writing

At least I thought I was ready. The first day on the job the good Dr. dictated an 18-page letter just chock full of scientific jargon that I couldn't even spell in Speedwrite. I was sunk. I thought for sure I'd be fired after only one day on the job. But no, he decided to keep me on the payroll. He admitted that he didn't care whether I took shorthand or not, he just liked my mini skirts.

No, that's not the Dr. or me. But it will give you an idea of how we dressed in the 60s. Not near as short as the skirts now. But it turned out that the professor was a real letch. It was my first experience with sexual harassment on the job. Only in those days there was nothing you could do about it. Just grin and bear it, which I did for a whole year.

He once asked me to come to his house to work. What could I say? I was really scared, but I didn't want to lose my job. So I went to his house and met him in a guest house in the rear. He opened the door with an African mask on his face! Talk about panic. But since his wife was in the main house, he behaved like a gentleman.

Here he is, the mad scientist. He's the one on the left, groping the meteorite.

Check out other scientific stories on Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #175 What's A Prisoner to Do??

2013-05-02T11:29:00.001-07:00

I'll bet almost every prisoner smokes. But after they finish that last pack, what do they do with their trash? Here's what they do, or at least some of the prisoners do. They make lovely pieces of art. You can call it prison art or tramp art but whatever you call it, you've got to agree that it's pretty darn creative.

This is a piece that I bought at a Thrift Shop for 50 cents. Can you believe that? Look at the amount of work and hours that went into this cigarette pack heart. I've always loved this and so continued to look for more prison art. I now have a small collection.

I'm not sure what pack this is made of. I'm not a smoker so I don't recognize the brand. Here's a closeup in case any of you want to take a guess.

My next purchase was a little purse. I got this at a swap meet and I think I paid quite a bit more, maybe $10.00.

I love the design of this purse. Especially the way it closes around that square tile and also the addition of the beads. This makes me wonder if it was actually made in prison. I'm not sure if the beads would be available in the prison store. I often wondered if some prisoner made this purse and then gave it to his girlfriend.

Here's a closeup of this one since I also don't know the cigarette brand used:

There's a very informative article about all different types of prison art that may be of interest.

It's amazing how many different types of art prisoners are into. So many amazing pieces are made from matchsticks, toilet paper, cardboard and just about anything else an inmate can get their hands on. But by far my favorite (besides my own pieces) is this wonderful work of art by Michael Harms. He must not be a smoker because his medium of choice is Ivory soap. Here is one of his intricately carved chairs:

I understand that they're trying to ban smoking in British prisons. Is this true? Then what will those inmates do to while away their time. I guess they'll have to start hoarding their soap!

For other stories about vending machines, cigarettes or the dangers of smoking, click here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #174 Newspapers for Kids

2013-04-24T13:22:00.002-07:00

Here's our prompt photo for this week's Sepia Saturday.

When I saw it, I immediately thought of a photograph of my daughter when she was about 10. We had taken a mini vacation to Long Beach, Ca (about 1 hour from our house) just to get away. I had some sort of coupon to stay at this ritzy hotel, so why not live it up?

This was Megan's first time having room service. She seems to be enjoying that waffle so much she got a little whipped cream on her nose. She's pretending to read the newspaper just for the photo. I guess to show how grown up she feels during her hotel experience.

Now Megan is 38 and she doesn't read a newspaper (not that I know of anyway). She gets her information on line just like most 20 and 30 somethings. These "kids" will never know the joy of reading a real newspaper.

But some clever inventor has come up with a way for kids to enjoy and understand a newspaper. This is an app which allows children to hold a smartphone over the newspaper to see a child-friendly version of the text.

Or maybe everyone will just grow up to be dummies like these:

Store window in Bilbao, Spain

For other stories that are black and white and red all over, click here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #173 Toulouse the Chef

2013-04-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

When I saw the photo prompt this week of the boy holding the two geese I never thought I’d be able to find an old family photo to fit this theme. No one in our family hunted.

But what does Toulouse-Latrec have to do with this week's theme?

The photo of the geese reminded me of a cookbook that my sister had in her collection:

Who knew that Lautrec applied his exuberance and meticulous artistic technique to the art of cuisine? He invented recipes and cooked new dishes as beautifully as he painted his Parisienne surroundings.

Toulouse, after cooking and consuming a delicious dinner

He planned his meals carefully and made beautifully decorated menus.

Here’s his recipe for Confits D’Oies Du Languedoc

(For non French speakers, D’Oies means geese and Du Languedoc is a region of France).

Take four geese fattened to the point when they can no longer move about, cut them in four, removing wings and legs but leaving the skin. Set aside the fat livers. Scrape and remove all the fatty tissues and let them melt on a gentle heat in a large copper pan.

Drop in the carcasses, the wings and legs.

Salt the pieces, arrange them in big stoneware jars and pour over them the liquid fat.

You have in this way the preserve which can be kept for several months.

It can be eaten cold when it comes out of the pot, with no further preparation after the goose grease has been melted.

But people prefer to serve it either with peas or with a tomato sauce, or in a cassoulet, or with rice in stock, a second cooking being usually recommended.

Mmmmm. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

Wouldn’t you give about a million dollars to sit down to one of Toulouse’s dinners and take home one of his beautifully decorated menus? The menu itself would probably be worth a million dollars!

Take a gander at some other goose stories by clicking here: Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #172 Windy in Patagonia

2013-04-12T11:07:00.001-07:00

This week's Sepia Saturday theme is hiking. I've never been much into hiking or mountain climbing, but my daughter sure is. In 2007 she and her then boyfriend, Martin decided to go to Patagonia.

I was a little worried about her. Why couldn't she go to Paris or Rome or some normal tourist place? No, she had to be extreme. She jumped out of a plane, swam with the dolphins and hiked all over New Zealand, traveled alone all around India.

They went on a hike to the Torres del Paine mountains seen above. It does look beautiful and I can understand why people would want to go there. But not this person. I'd rather sit in my armchair and just look at the photos.

You'll see why when you view this Youtube post of Megan (with hiking poles) and Martin on their "little hike", I thought OMG that looks so dangerous. You'd never catch me there. She did manage to make it back in one piece. Will a mother ever stop worrying?

Take a hike over to Sepia Saturday to see other climbing adventures.

Sepia Saturday #171 California's Version of a Castle!!

2013-04-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

California is a fairly new state. Wiping out first the native American population and later the Mexicans, California didn't have enough time to build castles as this one in Wales:

So instead of these old, beautiful relics, we have instead new castles fashioned after the lovely historic ones.

I give you for an example a castle we stumbled upon yesterday on our way back from an Indian casino (ironic, isn't it, that the native Americans who are left are now all thriving from the gambling casinos? What great revenge!) We wanted to take a break from the tedium of taxes and celebrate that we had finally sent ours off to the accountant. How best to celebrate? Go and lose a bunch of money at a gambling casino!

On the way back from the casino what should we behold than this sign along the side of the road:

I thought this would make a great post for this week's castle theme. Don't you love this sign with the attractive reflector light on top.

We drove down the gravel road with lemon trees bordering each side only to come across another hastily made sign. This one was all done up with glittery lettering and seems to be a favorite spot for birds to perch:

Our anticipation of seeing a real Cupid's Castle was building to a crescendo pitch. "Oh I think I can see it off in the distance. It kind of looks like a castle."

Then we got to the gate and entryway and sure enough, each rock column was topped with a cupid. This must be the place.

We kept driving and finally arrived. Here it is - Cupid's Castle:

That little shed in the foreground kind of spoils the effect. But you can clearly see by the turret that this is a bonafide castle. Maybe not quite as gorgeous as Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland, but for California, it's pretty darn authentic.

Climb the steps and just beyond the welcoming lions (what, they ran out of cupids?), there's the entry to the castle.

Cupid's Castle has seen better days. It seemed very desolate and I doubt if anyone has stayed here in years. If you click here for their website you'd think it was a different place: and it's worth it just to see the owner, Connie win the 2009 Irish Stew Cookoff!! Cupid's Castle.

We left this fairyland and found our way back to reality - especially when looking in our wallets. What happened to all our money??

Jump over the moat and click here for more castle stories, Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #170 Storefront Photos

2013-03-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I like to photograph storefronts and store windows, especially ones with really interesting mannequins or unique items or any that are just really arty. Like this one:

But I wanted to include in this post some vintage photos of storefronts that I had in my collection of photographs.

The first one most resembles the prompt photo of the two men standing in front of a coffee shop. These men aren't interested in coffee. They appear to be employees of the T. F. Fuller Grocery Store.

I couldn't find any information on this store. There are no clues about location and I can't read any of the signs in the window. So I'm at a loss to tell you anything about it.

I bought this photo at a local antique shop. It came with an assortment of items from a dress designer including some of her illustrations. This must have been a store that carried some of her designs. I love that they sell felt scraps for 50 cents. It's an interesting store with the fancy tiles. But as with the other photo there are no clues about where it might have been.

This guy really makes me sad. His suit doesn't fit well, he looks like he'd like to have one of those potatoes in the basket. I wonder if he worked at this store or was just passing by. Then why have his picture taken? Also, this looks like a photograph of a photo. Again, a puzzle. Who would have taken a photo of this particular photo? Maybe a family member?

Here's another storefront with lots of signs. No coffee or tea, though. The closest that comes to the theme is what appears to be an ad for a cooking class. Maybe you could learn to make coffee cake!

See other stories about men, coffee, storefronts, etc. by clicking here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #169 Shoot the Photographer

2013-03-21T12:13:00.003-07:00

The prompt photo for this week's Sepia Saturday is of several photographers shooting in Washington, D.C.

You can see the Washington Monument in the background, lots of cherry trees and a painter. The photographers seem to be shooting in all directions and some unknown photographer shot them shooting.

And that's what I like to do. I started in Guatemala with this photo of a very primitive photographer shooting a family on the banks of Lake Amatitlan. There was a festival going on and this family wanted a remembrance of the day. When the photographer was finished, he dipped the negative in a pail of solution and Voila!. "Here's your photo". This was in the early 60s. I had a Pentax SLR camera with real film. Unfortunately not a very steady hand, so the photo is fuzzy. But I still like it.

It's easy to take a photo of a photographer shooting a celebrity. Here's someone photographing Shepherd Fairy (he's the artist that became famous for the Obama "Hope" poster and was eventually sued for copyright infringement). This was taken at one of his gallery shows in Santa Monica and it was packed. People were lined up for blocks to see his art. I guess he wasn't suffering from the lawsuit, it only made his art more collectible and him more photogenic. He is cute, isn't he?

This photographer was photographing a friend riding through the tunnel on the moving walkway under the the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

I'm not sure that this photo will be appropriate for this prompt because I failed to include the photographer in the shot. This family was being photographed in Spain on the occasion of the little boy's confirmation. Cute outfit, isn't it.

Here's another family being photographed by my friend, Connie at a museum in Washington (I don't remember which one, but it sure fits with this theme). What a handsome family.

And for the final "shoot the photographer" shot, here's one I took yesterday on a visit to Palm Springs.

Talk about shooting celebrities!! You can't get more famous than this woman. I wonder what she would think of this silliness.

To see more stories and photographer photos click here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #168 My Most Unforgettable Character

2013-03-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Remember the articles in the old Reader's Digest Magazines "My Most Unforgettable Character". Well today I'm going to introduce you to mine. He's my brother-in-law, Joao.

Here he is looking very Marcello Mastrioni-ish

Joao was married to my ex-husband's sister. I met him in the 1960s when he was working for the U.S. State Department. His job was to squire around important Brazilians who were visiting the U.S. Since he spoke perfect English and knew the country pretty well, this was the perfect job for him. Everytime he came to Los Angeles, he would visit my husband and I. This is before he married Elba, my sister-in-law.

But since he was from Brasil, he was always being lured back. The U.S. was just too big for him. He eventually moved back to Rio and became a journalist (and married Elba). He used to send me really funny letters and photos from his travels.

Here he is interviewing General Westmoreland (that's Joao pushing the microphone forward while he's rolling his eyes). This was taken sometime in the 60s. It was a little before our involvement in the Vietnam war. I'm sure he was being interviewed about the US involvement there, which was being denied at the time. Thus Joao's added comment.

Here he is on a plane interviewing Robert McNamara. It was probably about the same subject - is the U.S. involved or not?

I visited Rio and stayed with him and Elba in 1970. Janice Joplin was in town and Joao interviewed her. We met her and her young Brazilian boyfriend at a carnival party that she had just been kicked out of because no one knew who she was. They thought she was just some disgusting hippie and at that time in Brasil, hippies were persona non grata. She was not happy.

(This was from an article I found on google)
In an interview to TRIP, photographer Ricky and singer Serguei, two of her Brazilian hosts, reveal the glory and embarrassment of one of the greatest singers of all time, whose stay in Brazil went almost unnoticed. She made an obscure performance at a Copacabana hellhole, was kicked out of a hotel and almost arrested at the beach, incidents that caused her to declare to Rolling Stone magazine, after her return: "If you have long hair they'll toss you out and never let you back in again. Cops rape people, set dogs on guys' balls. The best were some nights when I sang with friends at a whorehouse ".

I could go on and on about my most unforgettable character, but I'm trying to keep this short. Joao is still in Rio and still having an interesting life. I'm so fortunate to have had him in my life.
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For other stories about meetings with important people click on Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #167 My Own Pond

2013-03-08T11:07:00.002-08:00

The theme for this Saturday is all about ponds or lakes or bodies of water. I looked through all my old photos and only came up with one that fit the theme:

Here they are, two gentlemen taking it easy on their boat with the pond to the left. I have no idea who they are or where the pond is since the photo wasn't marked. But they sure look happy and relaxed. And this is what ponds are for. They're supposed to be relaxing. Which reminded me of a pond in my neighborhood.

It's a wetlands habitat right in the heart of Fallbrook, Calif. where I live. About two miles from my house. So I take my dog for walks there three or four times a week.

Now I'd like to take you for a walk there. This is where you enter

Los Jilgueros Preserve was a gift to Fallbrook by the family of Pamela Van Der Linden (side note: she was the mother-in-law of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz!) in 1990. The preserve encompasses 46 acres. The trail is just a 1.5 mile loop, with a pond at the far end. The preserve also includes some projects by the Native Plant and Wildflower Team.

As you walk along the path there are various points of interest like old rusty farm equipment

You cross a bridge

Then walk a little ways and through the trees and a pretty pond is revealed

Stay there long enough and you'll see lots of ducks. Sometimes I see egrets there, but unfortunately not for this photo session. But it's fun to watch the ducks fly in for a landing and then swim and dive trying to find their dinner.

On the walk back you'll think you're in Disneyland because here is what I call The Mickey Mouse Graveyard.

The walk takes only about 30 minutes, then you're at the parking lot. It's a little bit of exercise and a nice relaxing time at the pond. Not too many people in Fallbrook know about it even though it's right in the middle of the village. So it's very secluded and quiet. Hope you've enjoyed the walk and the view of the pond.

Walk, dive or swim to other pond stories by clicking here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #165 The More the Merrier

2013-02-19T14:36:00.001-08:00

This is our latest prompt photo for Sepia Saturday. Wow, what a tiny little family this is. Mother, Father and only one child. It made me think of some photos in our archives, of families with a few more members.

Now this is what I'd call a normal size family. Mother, Father and 5 children. How perfect.

This family was probably trying for a dozen, but only got 10. What a tired mother and father. And the children don't look too happy either. Except for the boy second row, left. I'll bet he went on to lots of success. Although, it's been scientifically proven that the oldest child in a family usually has the highest IQ. The oldest boy has a suit on and looks like he could have a high IQ, but his happy brother looks a lot more self assured.

This family believes in "cheaper by the dozen". And I think having this many children killed off the mother. She's not anywhere in sight. And the father looks as if he's reaching for his gun and saying, "I'm coming Elizabeth!"

Polls have been done asking people how many children they'd like to have. The average seems to be 2.5. Don't ask me how you get 1/2 of a child. And an article I read said that the trend currently is for larger families - of say 3 children. Huh? You call that large?

When I see families of the size of the one above, I always wonder how they possibly could feed that many kids. Especially if you don't have much money. It seems as if KFC and Kraft Foods have the answer:

And if they can't afford these super sized items, they might try this, the perfect solution for large families.

No problem. Whether 2.5 or 11 kids, they're not going to go hungry.

Check out other family photos whether big or small here: Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday #164 Turtle Vs. Duck

2013-02-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

Our prompt photo this week shows a soldier and his pet turtle. When I was growing up, I didn't have a pet turtle. But my sister, Barbara did. She had one of those little turtles that you win at the county fair.

She loved her turtle...and I was jealous. Why didn't I have a pet turtle? But that was soon remedied. I didn't actually get a pet turtle, but I did get a pet.

Remember when I wrote about our babysitter Ann? The one that I was a flower girl in her wedding? I was about 5 at the time. I got to wear a beautiful long dress with a big sash. It was my shining moment (until I asked the bride where the bathroom was right in the middle of the ceremony!). Barbara was jealous that I got to wear the pretty dress, so my mother had to make one for her too (can you tell there was a bit of sibling rivalry between us?).

Here we are on the big day ready to go to the church:

After the wedding Ann presented me with a gift (she probably purchased it before the wedding, before I asked about the bathroom!). And now I had my pet. It wasn't a turtle, it was a duck, it was none other than Donald Duck.

You can see Donald situated among some other favored toys. But Donald was my new pet. He was my favorite. And guess what? I still have him. He's about 66 years old now. But I still love him. He was my first pet after all.

Now I have a pet dog named Tootie. Tootie and Donald are a little jealous of each other, as most pets are. But they manage to coexist.

Here is 66 year old Donald:

He's aged pretty well. A few scratches of the paint, but still bright-eyed and happy.

He loves to drink from Tooties water dish:

and read books

He and Tootie like to look wistfully out the window

and explore the yard together

even take rides in the car

After a long day, Donald likes to be tucked in and ready for a good night's sleep. He is 66 after all.

Barbara's turtle died at a very early age. But I still have Donald. Who's the winner of this sibling rivalry?

Check out other turtle/soldier/pipe stories here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #163 Snow Job

2013-02-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

On another Thursday afternoon (Tony's previous post), a meeting of the Southern California Chapter of Sepia Saturday bloggers met for their first annual awards ceremony.

The distinguished panel consisted of Sepians Nancy Javier, Barbara Finwall and Helen McHargue.

Our gala event was held at Magee's Tavern and Pub in Fallbook, California.

Our award winners were all shamelessly Sepians. Thus, the Snow Job.

Here you see Nancy awarding "Best Blog" to Barbara of Banar Designs, Barbara awards
"Even Better Blog" to Nancy of Ladies of the Grove and Nancy awards "Supreme Blog" to Helen of Guacamole Gulch. We decided that the quality of our blogs deserved our own respect and admiration.

As we drank our Bass Ale, we toasted Alan and Tony and thanked them for initiating Sepia Saturday awards and giving us an excuse to wile away a Thursday afternoon drinking and laughing.

We hope this will spur on more regional visits of other Sepians and look forward to their awards ceremonies.

For more snow stories see Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #162 Ai Weiwei and bicycles

2013-01-30T14:10:00.003-08:00

Our theme for Sepia Saturday this week is bicycles. I've once again dipped into my box of Chinese photos and come up with these two photos that fit nicely.

This is a bicycle parking lot in Shanghai, China taken on our trip there in 1985.

It seemed as though everyone rode a bike then. (Maybe one of the bikers in this photo is a messenger.) You didn't see many cars on the roads - mostly buses and taxis, but no personal cars. What Chinese could afford a car in those days?

Fast forward to 2012 and what do we see in China?

A massive U.S. style traffic jam. The bicycles have certainly been replaced by smog producing cars. That's real progress!!

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist/sculptor has added his two cents to the problem of too much progress. Here are two of his installations:

If you're not familiar with Weiwei, you might be interested in this trailer. The documentary about him is currently showing in theaters worldwide (but probably not in China!). He's currently under house arrest there because he's thought of being a dissident!

Bike on down the road for more Sepia Saturday stories.

Sepia Saturday #160 They're Good for Your Sex Life

2013-01-24T13:41:00.001-08:00

This is our prompt photo for this week's Sepia Saturday. I've decided to focus on the oysters which are sold in the above pictured establishment.

I'm not sure what this glutton is eating - maybe a drumstick in one hand and an oyster on his fork. Maybe it's just a leaf of lettuce. But this is the type of gluttony you think of when thinking of oysters, so that's what I'm going to think it is.

I've never been one to love oysters. I think I've only had raw oysters twice in my life. I loved the lemon and the sauce, but the oysters - not so much. As Jonathan Swift said "He was a bold man that first eat an oyster."

There are a few interesting factoids about oysters. Did you know that our government in 1865 displaced the native Americans of Yaquina Bay, Oregon so that the non-native settlers could have better access to the oyster beds? There we go again!

This and other oyster facts are documented in The Oysterman a film produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Check it out if you want to know everything there is to know about the west coast oyster.

People started eating canned oysters during WWII because of meat rationing.

Thousands of gallons of frozen oysters were purchased by the U.S. military in WWII. I'm surprised there are any oysters left!

Now about the myth that oysters are an aphrodisiac. No good scientific study has ever proved this. But oysters are full of zinc and zinc supposedly controls progesterone levels. High progesterone levels equal a positive effect on the libido. So...who knows for sure.

It seems every culture has some kind of food that is thought to be an aphrodisiac. On our trip to China, we were often told, "Eat your sea cucumbers, they're good for your sex life". Or "eat those ducks feet, they're good for your sex life." It seemed that just about everything we were served was good for your sex life. I snapped this photo of a shop window in China. It's true, just about anything in China is good for your sex life!

But the only good thing about oysters:

Take a shopping expedition for other retail stories by clicking Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday #160 Oven Man

2013-01-18T14:01:00.003-08:00

The photo Alan selected for this week's Sepia Saturday was a difficult one for me. I couldn't find any photos of men standing near a truck. But curiously enough, I found a photo of a man standing next to an oven. Who doesn't have one of these in their box of pics?

So I'm trying to figure out what this is all about. Is he a salesman and he's thinking if he puts his wares out on the street he'll have a better chance of a sale? I don't think I've ever purchased an oven on the street! Or maybe he just bought this oven and he's so proud of it, he wants his picture taken with it so someone like me will end up with a silly picture of a man and oven some day.

I'm also wondering what they sell at Surprise Dairy. "Surprise. Your milk is sour." or "Surprise, your cream is curdled."

To go along with this post, I've included the following Elton John offering which is apropos:

See what others have posted about men and trucks or...by clicking here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #159 Was My Mom Nuts???

2013-01-12T10:36:00.001-08:00

When I saw the prompt for this week of a woman sitting on the beach, I thought of some photos in our old album which led me to believe that my mother was kind of nuts. Or else she was just very trusting. Or she just knew my dad too well. Anyway, what leads me to these questions, is why on earth would my mother hire the girl below to be our babysitter?

This is Ann. She was probably about 17 or 18 at the time and lived down the street from us in Chicago. She was the babysitter for my sister, brother and I. At the time I didn't think anything about having a gorgeous babysitter like this. Did my mother? Wasn't she afraid that my dad might be only too happy to give her a ride home when her duties were finished, even though she only lived about a block away? And maybe never return?

Did my mother ever see this picture of Ann?

This girl was flexible? She had a gorgeous body and was beautiful. I remember at the time thinking she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. She looked a lot like Ava Gardner. And not only was she pretty, she was a great babysitter. She was fun, patient, kind, never tiring. We loved Ann.

But was my mother afraid that my father might love Ann, too. Probably not. My dad was an engineer after all. He was kind of oblivious to things around him. And he really loved and admired my mom.

Here they are looking happy. He would never stray.

And my mom was attractive. So, of course, he would never look at another woman.
Or would he?

I found this other photo of my mom and dad (the two on the left at back) at a party. He's suspiciously eyeing that blond sitting in front. mmmmm. Well, maybe he was just your normal kind of guy. He could look, couldn't he? Especially when she's wearing that dress with her shoulder all exposed.

As far as I know, he only looked. My mother was never jealous (not that I know of anyway).

We lost our babysitter, Ann. She got married to Lou and moved away. We were all sad to see her go. It was a lovely wedding.

And I was honored and fortunate to be one of the two flower girls.

That's me on the right. I'll forever be kidded about my performance at the wedding. It was a very long catholic high mass wedding. At one point in the ceremony I went up to Ann (she was my babysitter, afterall) and tugged on her dress and told her I had to go to the bathroom. She very quietly and patiently guided me back to my place and said "not now, a little later".

I went to Ann and Lou's 50th wedding anniversary. They had moved from Chicago to California (just like our family had). The story of my wedding "faux pas" was told again and again to my embarrasment.

I get a Christmas card from Ann every year. She and Lou are still married and she still has that wonderful personality that we loved her for when she was our babysitter. My mom is gone now. I wish she were here so I could ask how on earth she could have hired such a gorgeous girl to be our babysitter. Was she ever worried about our dad being tempted?

There are lots of other beach related stories you might enjoy. Click here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #157 Santa, the Dutch Version

2012-12-20T16:29:00.002-08:00

Here he comes, the Dutch version of Santa, called Sinterklaas and his helpers The Zwarte Pieten. (Peter, I hope you don't get mad that I'm divulging the story of your Santa.) But I think it's so interesting. I first heard this story in a book by David Sedaris and I've included a recording of this at the end of this post for those of you who might be interested. But I'll have to warn you that it's really long - about 20 minutes.

Legend has it that Sinterklaas originally came from Turkey as St. Nicolaus, the Bishop of Mira, an honorable man who was kind to children. He lives in Spain, but comes by boat in mid-November and is welcomed by 400,000 spectators along the canals.

He then trades his boat for a white horse and the parade continues. He's accompanied by his band of helpers, the Zwarte Pieten.

Children lay out their shoes before bedtime, along with water (or wine) and a carrot for the horse. The very good kids are usually rewarded with chocolate and marzipan while the naughty anxiously wait to see if they've been given coal, again. In the past, Sinterklaas hit the children with a branch if they had been bad. But I guess this tradition has been thankfully updated.

I hope you have time to listen to this. It's pretty funny.

And if you have time after this, check out other Christmas and Santa stories here: Sepia Saturday. Happy Holidays everyone.

Sepia Saturday #155 Overalls

2012-12-07T14:04:00.001-08:00

Our theme for this week's Sepia Saturday is Oshkosh Overalls as depicted on a giant mural on the side of a building. They're advertised as "The big overall for all big jobs".

I wondered if I had any photos of men in overalls and bygosh, I did. In fact I have one of a man who must have seen this mural and was trying to mimic the model. Doesn't he look just as tough, like he could do all of your big jobs?

I don't know who he is. But he looks proud standing there between (probably) his mother and father.

When I looked through my many classroom photos I didn't think I'd find any overalls because in all of the photos the kids dressed up for the class picture. But then I found this one from Farmersburg, Ind. (as stated on the back of the photo). These boys were not afraid to be pictured in their overalls. They're pretty proud of their future occupation.

Then I found this photo of a little guy with overalls. He's too cute.

His mother must have written this note which I'll try to translate:

"Was going to take a picture of all three of them and this was all I got. Camera wouldn't take the
fat business (?) ha ha. But will try again sometime."

I have no idea what that might mean. Do you think it says "fat business"? I'm not sure.
But isn't he just the perfect model for Oshkosh overalls?

Here's another cute picture. It's not a photo but two illustrations that someone pasted into their scrapbook. Just another cute kid in overalls.

For more overall wonderful photos and stories, click here: Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday #154 Down to the sea in boats

2012-11-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

Our prompt photo for Sepia Saturday this week shows two men in a rowboat. I immediately thought of some photos I had in my stash that related to boats.

First we have a family on a cruise. It looks like they might be going from Berlin to Bremen according to the life saver (or else that's the name of the ship). I like how they documented their trip, even got the captain in on the shot. Poor captains. I wonder if they ever get tired of having to to be in everyone's photo.

Here's a real fun loving group. They look like a prosperous bunch, maybe on a yacht. I'm thinking the handsome man in the foreground is not too happy. He was hoping to pair up with the cute girl in the center and instead got stuck with a not too attractive lady with very sad eyes. He wants off that boat fast.

This group isn't as prosperous as the ones above. They just have a rowboat. I wonder if it even left the shore or if they got in just for the photo. Too bad Handsome Man in the previous photo couldn't have gotten off his yacht and jumped into the boat between those two cute eligible females. He would have had much more fun. I also wonder about that ghostly shadow on the right of the photo. It's kind of eerie, isn't it?

Now here's what I call a Prince of a sailor. Do you think he has any idea at all about his craft? He looks so young. Way before he met Wallace Simpson. If only he had stayed on the boat, history might have been quite different!

Just like the Prince, my ex-husband felt the sea calling. For some reason (not having any prior experience with boating) he got his captain's license and then proceeded to build a 64' catamaran, The Discovery (that's him on the right in the white shirt, waving). He sailed it down the coast from San Diego to Acapulco and used it to ferry tourists around to various sites. His undoing came when he decided to set out for Cancun. On the way there, he and his crew met with a terrible storm off the coast of Salvador. The Discovery was battered, bruised and almost sunk. The crew was rescued by the Salvadorian Navy. That was the end of the Discovery. I can't help but compare this story to Helen's post about her Grandfather Hector building a coffin and later turning it into a boat. My ex pretty much did the same thing, only he did it in reverse - he built a boat that almost became his coffin.

Farewell Discovery.

For other stories about boats, bridges or dogs, click here: SEApia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #153 Look A-likes

2012-11-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

Here's our prompt photo for this week. When I saw it, I figured, hey this will be easy. The challenge gave me the opportunity to visit my stash of photos and that's always fun. I found so many photos of sisters and friends. But I found three photos of women who look so much alike. These are the ones that I'll feature.

Look Alikes No. 1 - The Secretarial Sisters

I'm not really sure if these two are sisters. They might even be mother and daughter or just friends. They're more dressed alike than look alike. With their puffy sleeve blouses and their crisp black bowties, you'd almost think they were dressed for a halloween party. Maybe the lady at left with the top knot is holding the invitation to the party. They both look very excited, don't they? "Hey, sis, let's go to the party dressed as secretaries. What do you say?"

Look Alikes No. 2 - Help ! Our hair is caught on the fan - sisters

They do look like they are stuck to that fan. Is the fan part of the background or is it attached to them? It's kind of hard to tell. "Ouch, keep smiling but this really hurts." But these two definitely look like sisters. They're going to star in the opera - Cossi Fan Tutte. They look like opera singers with their very fancy dresses. Or maybe they're on their way up that grand staircase to a debutante's ball. Good luck going up that staircase! Especially when you've both got a fan stuck to your heads.

Look Alikes No. 3 - Now this is what I call Look Alike sisters

Could they be any more alike? These are the Staley sisters (according to a note on the back of the photo). Not enough information to figure out who they are or where they came from. I love their outfits with the matching lace jabots (for you men, that's the ruffly thing at the opening of their respective dresses), the buttoned up feature on the front of the skirts and then those ties, Oh my, those ties. Could they be in some sort of organization - The elkettes, the moosettes? Whatever they are, they're very striking. You really would see those two coming and going. And I'm sure people really did a double take (so to speak) when they walked by.

I was going to have a contest on which are the most alike looking, but the Staleys would win hands down. So I'll just leave you to enjoy the photos, no need to vote. Unless, of course, you want to.

Check the other sisters and friends stories by clicking here Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #152 The End of Public Libraries?

2012-11-16T14:38:00.002-08:00

Our prompt photo for Sepia Saturday this week pictures school boys studiously perusing the books in their library. I previously posted about the library I remember as a youth, the Pomona library.

Since that post the news has come out that the Pomona Library is in jeopardy of closing due to serious budget cuts. They've managed to get enough funds together to stay open for another year, but the city has just voted down a measure that would have funded the library far into the future. What's wrong with these people? Don't they treasure their library?

It seems that Pomona's is not the only library in the country that has been forced to tighten their belts. Even the Library of Congress is having funding problems and this seems to be part of a national trend. There appears to be unconcern about cutting library services until there is an emergency such as in Brooklyn when there was a threat to close 40 branches. Then the people staged a protest. Their slogan was "We will not be shushed".

The Huffington Post has even created a special section titled "Libraries in Crisis".

Photo from The Huffington Post Libraries in Crisis

Perhaps in the future we will only have Little Free Libraries such as the ones in Helen McHargue's post this week.

Speaking of reading, books and libraries, I did a post not too long ago about my favorite childhood books (all of which I read as library books). Anyway, they were a series called Betsy - Tacy by Maude Hart Lovelace. At the time I wrote that post I only had a few original copies of the books and I made myself a goal of collecting the whole series. Well, I've finally done it. Thanks to Ebay and Amazon I was able to find every single book!

This is the very first of the series:

And this, the final one:

Some of them aren't in the greatest shape, but I love them anyway - every single one.

For other biblio tales click here: Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #151 ERMA and I

2012-11-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

I love this photo of the early telephone operators. I actually worked in an advertising agency where I sometimes had to work one of these complicated machines. It took me a while to master it with all those cords and a board that sometimes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Hello, Honig Cooper and Harrington, how may I direct your call" I would have to say. Quite a mouth full. But I'm not going to write about switchboards, instead I'm posting about another machine that I mastered on my very first job in 1961.

I operated what we affectionately called the batch machine at a bank in Los Angeles. Here's what it looked like (that's not me, no one ever snapped a photo of Nancy, the batch operator).

I got to be really fast on the batch machine. Here's how it worked - I would get this big stack of checks and deposits. The checks were entered, then the deposits. If they balanced, the checks went into certain slots. I had to memorize which slot was which. The deposits went into another slot. After everything was entered, the checks and deposits went to some clearinghouse somewhere. Then they came back to the bank and each check was manually filed and checked against the customer's signature. Sounds kind of archaic, doesn't it? But it was 1961, afterall.

I loved working at the bank on Larchmont Blvd. Isn't it a cute street?

Larchmont Blvd. bordered a really rich neighborhood in Los Angeles called Hancock Park. Lots of our customers were really, really wealthy. People like Nat King Cole banked there.


Nat King Cole's house in Hancock Park

and Dimitri Tiomkin (composer of the theme song from High Noon).

But I digress. Let's get back to the batch machine. It was developed by Bank of America some time between 1950 and 55 to speed up banking.

The early model was called ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting). "The project that resulted in this engineering achievement made the automation of checking accounts practical and reliable, revolutionizing the world of banking system and ushering in the age of data processing machines for businesses."

ERMA's principal users were data clerks (that's me!) who were focused more on the information they processed than the machine processing it (that's for sure!).

In 2001 ERMA received an award recognizing its outstanding contribution toward the standard of living, peace and prosperity (Hey, I was only doing my job!).

If you'd like to read all the nitty gritty about ERMA's development, click here: ERMA.

If you'd like to read about switchboards and other early machines, click here: Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday #149 Woman Removed From Her Property

2012-10-25T13:42:00.001-07:00

Here's our photo prompt for this week's Sepia Saturday. You might wonder what's happening here because it's kind of a strange photograph. I think what's happening is this woman is being told she has to move from her little hovel to make room for a spa along this pretty river.

When I saw this photo it reminded me of another time when rich men wanted to take over property for their own benefit while at the same time removing people who were in their way. I'm thinking of the neighborhood in Los Angeles called Chavez Ravine. In the 1950s this property which was considered a slum was going to be converted to a wonderful housing project.

The people of Chavez Ravine were all evicted. They didn't want to move. These were their homes, their neighbors, their life. Some people moved when they were promised first dibs on the new, fancy housing. Others refused to move and were finally forcefully removed from their homes.

Aurora Archega being removed from her home of 36 years.

The proposed housing project was called Elysian Park Heights and was designed by the world famous architect, Richard Neutra. This is his plan for the new development:

and a closeup view of some of the housing:

But did this wonderful housing development ever get built. NO. Of course not. Once the politicians got involved, everything changed. The development was considered socialistic (this was the 50s afterall!). Instead the property stood vacant until Walter O'Malley (the owner of the Dodgers baseball team) spotted this nice empty piece of property right in the heart of Los Angeles. He wanted it and he got it. The previous tenants of the property got next to nothing.

And this is what O'Malley and the people of Los Angeles got - Dodger Stadium:

They promised to at least build a park on the property, but that never happened.

See other stories about evictions, spas, rivers here: Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday 149 One More Photobomb

2012-10-25T12:21:00.001-07:00

I just had to share this wonderful example of a photobomb (from our theme from last week). You might have already seen it because it's been all over the news, but just in case, here it is.

President Obama was visiting with some school children during one of his many campaign stops this past week and this photo was taken of the event:

He didn't realize that he was being upstaged by the little boy in the back row:

Now that's what I call the perfect photobomb.

For stories that follow this week's theme (which I did in a second post) click here Sepia Saturday.