It’s a rainy day here
in Maine, a perfect day to do a little flea marketing (I am not at all sure
that “flea marketing” is an acceptable verb form, but I’m determined to use it
all the same…).
Most of the time, my marketing is
totally aimless—a mindless wander through the place with stops whenever I see
something that catches my eye—but this time, I actually had something specific
in mind.
Used photo albums.
I’ve got a lot of loose photos, most
of them dating back before the 1950s, and I’ve needed some old albums in which
to store them.
This morning, I found two of them;
brought them home.
The next phase, of
course, was spreading out all those old photos; sorting them by date (as best I
could because, of course, my parents and grandparents never wrote anything helpful on the back—no dates,
no names, no locations…nothing).
So I spent lots of time today trying to identify great aunts and
uncles, cousins, second cousins—even a third cousin; lots of family dogs and
various backyards, hedges and gardens; grand automobiles, including my father’s
white MGB with red leather seats; my parents’ Lark station wagon (one of the
industry’s colossal mistakes) and my grandmother’s 1938 roadster which,
according to family lore, was a screaming bright yellow; she had a legendary
lead foot and sped all over Boston in it.
And I found this
picture of my grandmother herself at some kind of lawn event: cocktail party,
wedding…something like that…
…the sunlight is spilling down over
her face and shoulders; shadows fall over her hands and arms. She’s holding
what looks to be a cordial glass, or a small wine glass or champagne flute…
…she’s wearing a lovely flowered dress; she’s got a delicate chain
around her neck, her dressy watch at her wrist, and the most important
accessory of the time…
…a fabulous hat!
