Friday, October 16, 2015

ONE and FOUR...

I looked at the Sepia Saturday prompt photo for three days; I stopped by computer several times every day to take another look, but couldn’t find a theme that intrigued me.
Radios? I thought; three pictures on the wall? Clocks, or sailor collars? Boys and girls? Ornate chair backs? Children’s furniture? Stuffed animals, dolls? Blonde children?
A certain slant of light and shadow?

And then it came to me: one adult, four children…


This is the summer of 1949; I am almost three years old.
That’s my aunt Hope sitting down; she’s got me on her knees in the center of the photograph. My brother John (6) is on the right, and my cousins Martha (7) and Sheila (5), investigating something on my right shoulder, to the left.

We’re at my grandparents’ summer house in Jaffrey, New Hampshire; it’s probably the first week in August, when Hope and her children overlapped with my mother and us every summer—they lived in Pennsylvania and we lived in Maine, so it was the only time we saw each other as children.

I can almost feel the sunlight on the side of my face.

Just out of range, behind my brother, is the pile of clean, white sand we used to play in for hours—my grandmother supplied us with measuring cups, spoons, tinware; she collected coffee cans and little pails and scoops for us. When we were older, we built enormous cities (with roads and bridges, houses, etc.) in that sandpile. We pulled small pine seedlings from the woods and stuck them along our roads (landscaping); built twig fences and such!
But at this stage of the game, I liked eating that sand more than playing with it, so was guarded at all times by a Responsible Adult.

Today is my 69th birthday, so this photo was taken sixty-six years ago; it’s hard for me to see myself in that little blonde girl, but if I look very carefully, I can find myself in her eyes, her mouth…


Happy birthday to her…

19 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday!

    I wasn't planning to post this week.I couldn't think of anything to post until I noticed the word "children" highlighted.

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    1. See? Both of us struggled with this one -- but the number of people gave me the hint...

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  2. Wonderful post - you made us all feel the sunshine. Your descrptions are always so delightful. Your Aunt Hope has a real armful of children there.

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    1. Hope was a piano player, too -- played on the old upright; we sang Gilbert & Sullivan, old Camp Songs, hymns (she sometimes played them in ragtime...great fun!).

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  3. Happy Birthday....the picture is charming. You must have happy memories of times with your cousins.

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    1. Still do...we get together every couple of years now. One's in Florida, one's in upstate New York, one is a wanderer. My brother and I are both in New England...but we manage a summer gathering every now and then.

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  4. Happy birthday from me too! A lovely photo to bring back happy childhood memories.

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    1. Oh, LOTS of memories of this place, Jo! I've been back a few times, even though my family sold the place in 1968 or so. It's still magical...

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  5. Funny how it was always summer when we were children.
    Happy birthday:)

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    1. You're right, Lorraine! Best memories are those of summertime, when "the living is easy." And didn't summer last forever (until, suddenly, it was over and we were all back in school)?

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  6. First: Happy birthday!!
    A sand eater?
    I guess it's one way to floss your teeth....
    I dare not imagine the gritty sensation though.
    I'm gritting my teeth just thinking about it.
    :D

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    1. Somebody told me that kids who eat dirt and sand aren't getting enough iron -- is that an old wives' tale? At any rate, I outgrew the habit...can't imagine it now!

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  7. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and how lucky you are to have & hold such happy memories of those times. Great link to the prompt!

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    1. Nice to get all these birthday good wishes! And I DO have lots of happy memories -- I had Redball Jet sneakers...remember those, Gail?

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  8. Funny thing about this post, and deciding oh what to post. I let it speak to me as well. I really like your final selection and reading about the day, down to the sunlight. That's what I enjoy most about Sepia Saturday, how our memories come rolling in and reading about other folk's memories too!

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    1. I agree, Karen! I love the different slants Sepians bring; we come together in a sense of shared experience...

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  9. A belated Happy Birthday! I hope you got something better to eat than a spoonful of sand. We used to build cities too, but probably not in sand, just regular ol' dirt.

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    1. Thank you, Wendy! Yeah -- I got apple/raspberry crisp (better than cake) and some perfectly dreadful cards including one that had pigs on the front with C-clamps all over them; inside read: "If you're happy and you know it, clamp your hams!" Great celebration!

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