February 18, 2019: Favorite Photo






The challenge this week is a favorite photo, I love this one of my grandparents and their children.  Grandma wrote on it “the first 5”, there were 5 more to come. The girl in white is my mother Clara.  We are fortunate to have photos of her childhood.  They are sorely lacking in my Dad’s family.  Nothing till he was a teenager….  Except a first communion or confirmation photo.
Both my parents were raised during the Depression, and it is a wonder that photographing their family was a priority.  My mom took bread spread with lard, sometimes sprinkled with sugar to school in her lunch pail.   Both were raised on farms, so they did have enough to eat.  Mom wore flour sack dresses, they all pitched in and worked around the home and the farm, and they weathered the hard times better than many.

A reminder for those not used to older pictures.  Exposure time for photographs was much longer than it is now, so that is why they usually look so solemn.  It is easier to hold a straight face than a smile.  Plus, it was a serious thing, getting yourself or your family photographed.  Smiles didn’t enter the picture, so to speak, until advances in technology allowed for quicker exposure times. 
                                                                                                                                                                               
This is my grandparent’s wedding photo, April 1915.  Isn’t she beautiful?  They were attended by her sister Rose and his friend.  They look very happy and in love, don’t they?   I will show this photo later, with another story about my grandparents on both sides…


This is Grandpa Gus and his “fast pony.”  Grandma said he liked fast horses and had the fastest horse in Carleton.   Note the bib overalls.  Grandpa is seen in many photographs wearing such attire.  Grandma always wore a dress.  I don’t think she ever put a pair of trousers on.


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