KENNETH GOES SHOPPING During His Brown Period

This is Kenneth. It says so on the back of the photo. It also gives his last name which I will not post. However, according to what is written on the back, this was taken on Sept 3, 1967 at 4 PM at 94 Panoramic Way in Berkeley, California. I find the fact that they put the time rather interesting. Why was the time necessary? Alibi?

And then there's the keys in his hand. Was he coming or going? Sure it looks innocuous, but why was this odd photo taken? At first glance it's not odd. It's only when I look at for a bit of time that I begin to wonder why Kenneth was stopped on the walkway with his groceries, if indeed they ARE groceries, for a picture?

"No officer, Kenneth was here with me at 4 PM. See, I've got a photo."

Looking at this photo I'm guessing this was Kenneth's brown period. All brown clothes went nicely with the brown grocery bag. Hey, Kenneth, what's in the bag? Perhaps best to let the police ask that question.

Another shot from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

Trouble ON THE RED CARPET

I don't watch awards shows on tv so I might be late reporting this, but I hear Angelina Jolie had a little trouble last night on the red carpet. Something about her shoes and stockings. I think this photo about sums it up.

Click on image to see it larger.

Seriously, this is from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos. On the back it says "MarJarie Dale Bailey, Evelyn's girl. Jan 1956"

There's a MYSTERY TO BE TOLD

This photo, a prime example of tattered and lost, was purchased for 25 cents. It's torn with tape on the back. Of no monetary value, which doesn't mean this image doesn't hold value.

I have no information about these young girls and this house, but I think a quick bit of imagining could create numerous stories. It's such a wonderfully odd photo. A portrait of a home and the children that lived within. Was it professionally taken or by a family member? The girls seem insignificant next to the size of the structure. They look more like figures placed in position. It all looks a bit haunted and ominous.

This is my contribution to this weeks Sepia Saturday.

Click on image to see it larger at Picasa. Once there click on the magnifying glass.

CLEANING BUDGIE POOP Off a Child's Head

I thought I'd give this post a title that will prove useful to someone down the line. You know, like when someone does a search about how to clean chocolate sauce off a table cloth? Now Budgie Poop is covered.

This one is from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos. Just as pointless as the last few. I have no information about this photo. It is what it is which is a parakeet on a kids head. That about sums it up.

Click on image to see it larger. (And yes, it does work. Once on the Picasa page simply click on the magnifying glass. You'll see the image larger. It works. I just tested it. So not sure why others have not been able to see images larger.)

I have had several budgies since childhood. I adore the little birds. Always cheeky, rambunctious, funny, and often quite smart. I had one that had a vocabulary of over 80 words. He used to like to hang upside down on a plastic chain in front of the medicine cabinet for hours. You could turn off the light and leave and come back hours later and he'd still be there hanging upside down talking to himself in the mirror.

I tried to teach him to say "Birds eat bugs." He already knew how to say "Birds can't talk." If you're not familiar with how a parakeet learns language it will seem pretty strange. They'll work on specific words over and over again. They'll sit with their eyes closed, puffed up, repeating the word as best they can. Fine tuning it. Then for days, once they've mastered it, they'll repeat it all day over and over again. So I'd already been through "BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS" and knew that part of the phrase would be easy. "Bugs" proved to be a barrier. He sat on his perch for days trying to spit out the word "Bugs" to no avail. Sounded more like "bleh bleh bleh." Day after day this was driving him nuts, he was very frustrated and was spitting out "Bleh bleh bleh" with a hint of anger. Then one day after trying to enunciate bugs he yelled out "BIRDS CAN'T TALK!" and went about his daily business. Within a few days he'd mastered "bugs" and indeed proceeded to yell "BUGS BUGS BUGS" for a few weeks. Eventually he'd hang upside down talking to the bird in the mirror saying "Birds can't talk. Birds eat bugs."

Oh and the helpful tip on how to clean budgie poop off a child's head: Let it dry and it will usually fall off. If it's stuck in the hair, use your nails. Seriously, it's not a big clean-up problem. Now as to how healthy it is...I'm not going there. I've had budgie poop in my hair and I'm still here.

Date: January 12, 1964. Location: UP A TREE

Do you know where you were on January 12, 1964? This boy was in this tree. No other information is given. Just the date written in ink on the back. Wouldn't you like to know the story to this one? My mind is all over the place with possibilities, but I'll let you make up your own.

Click on image to see it larger.

The more I look at it the more the tree starts looking like some sort of space alien on early Star Trek. The alien's arms are about to enfold the boy. Or...maybe he's just stuck in the tree waiting for the fire department to get him down.

This is from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

GLENN and ALICE at the Turn of the Century

For this weeks Sepia Saturday I give you a lovely little portrait I purchased at an estate sale. The only information I know is that "Glenn & Alice" is written on the back. On the front the photography studio is Knight in Falls City, Nebraska. I find the backdrop behind them fascinating in its detail.

Click on image to see it larger.

I'd say the photo was taken close to the turn of the century, give or take 5 years before and 10 years after. Sweet children, but oh my the outfit the little boy had to wear. He looks out of proportion with that silly dotted collar at the end of his slender neck and the low wasted top. It's almost as if he's a bobble headed doll. I keep thinking there's a coil under his neck and his little head bobs side to side.

I do so love collecting photos of children. And if you're new to my posts I hope you take a few moments to look at my book Childhood at Blurb. It's a really fun little book full of moments in the lives of unknown children. No text, just engaging photos that I wanted compiled into one volume.

Also, you might want to follow me during the rest of the week at my blog because it is all about old photos, not just on Saturdays. Rarely do I have stories to go with them. Just images that I've found and want to share. I think you'll enjoy going back and looking at a lot of them.

Thank you Alan for hosting this weekly little event. It's always fun to see what others have to share.

The STRANGE CHRISTMAS and FOOTBALL SEASON AGAIN

Well, the Three Buck Big Box of Photos continues to hold surprises. I started looking more closely at images I'd tossed to the side and found this. Okay, now it's just getting weird. I'm beginning to believe that indeed football boy from the other day is indeed the favored boy in the Christmas image. Now I've found this. If these aren't the same kids, well...I don't know what to say other than I believe I've found their doppelgangers.

Click images to see them larger.

At least it's nice to see number 2 son smiling instead of leaning against a wall with a gun at his feet and electrical wires strung in front of him. However, he still seems to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop in that his football is much smaller than son number 1.

As to the little girl? She's perpetually confused.

Man, that family liked some seriously crazy rugs! The rugs sort of pull the whole room together, dude.

The HAPPY FAMILY

Another photo from the henceforth named Three Buck Big Box of Photos. As I said when I first posted about this box, it's not brimming with depth of content. Oh sure, I got a couple cutting the cake shots, the football boy, and a few other minor gems. It's when I dig a little deeper at things that a normal person would toss that I find some interesting dynamics. For instance, take this family...please.

Not a smile in the bunch. Can't help but hear "Don't Worry, Be Happy" in the back of my head as I look at them. I think it's a category. "Bored looking family photo." I think this would be a category easy to find.

Enjoy, because I don't think they did.

And finally, the Happy Family together.

Click on image to feel really happy!

FOOTBALL SEASON is upon us

This little fellow was in the box of photos I purchased last weekend at the flea market. Not a particularly interesting shot until I put it next to one of my all time favorites that I've posted twice in the past at Christmas.

Click on images to see them larger.

I love to find photos and pair them up with another. I did this throughout my latest Blurb book, CHILDHOOD. I find it fascinating the similarities between these two shots. They are not the same boy, but they look similar. One ready to play football in the living room on a very busy rug, the other receiving a football for Christmas while sitting on a very busy rug. Each boy with large eyes staring at the photographer in nearly the same position within the frame.

This is just another aspect of collecting I find fun. Details in one photo that remind me of another. It adds another fun dimension to collecting. I guess you could now say "It's a category. I must collect boys on busy rugs with footballs." Of course I could also start a category of "boy at Christmas with gun at his feet" but I doubt I'll have much luck finding more of those. Then again...you have to be open to what you find.

KARNAK the Magnificent

This photo, and indeed it is a photo, not a real photo post card, was purchased last Friday at an estate sale for 50 cents. I think it's stunning and I wish I knew the history of it. I know it was taken at the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt. Other than that, I know nothing. I'm imagining it is a tourist souvenir, but I can't be sure because nothing is written on the back to indicate its origins. So I'm hoping by posting it on the net someone someday will step forward and say they have one. Perhaps it was part of a series sold to tourists of various images at the temple.

I find it very romantic and mysterious. Has a nice Indiana Jones quality to it. There's an interesting story here if we could find out its history.

This is my submission for this weeks Sepia Saturday. For a change I actually have something sepia. Keep me posted if you ever see another one just like it.

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Here is a photo, taken by Steven Beikirch in 1992, of the same basic image, for a book called Ancient Egypt. You can see the photo in context on the web here.

Photo: © 1992 Steven Belkirch, Ancient Egypt

Look Ma, NO HANDS! And VOTE FOR JIM

This shot is from a box of photos bought at the flea market on Sunday. The guy said, "25 cents a photo or the entire box for 3." I'm not stupid. Well, maybe I am, because there was nothing really great in the box. And he made me take the box too. Faux leather, brown, something sold by Penny's a long time ago for storing photos. They said it was suitable for any decor. Okay, not mine. Basically a piece of junk. It will get tossed. That said, there were some shots of people cutting cakes in the box. A category I do collect. A few other interesting things.

Below is one innocuous shot until you think, "Why do all of them have their hands behind their backs? What's going on?" I think the red dot has something to do with it. You know those red dots that show up on people's foreheads in spy shows when there's a gun targeting them? This is a really big red dot with a really bad shooter with bad aim.

Click on image to see it larger, though heaven knows why.

And is it just me, but when you look at it quickly does the guy with the glasses not remind you of Mel Cooley from the Dick Van Dyke show? I'm figuring the two to his right are Sally and Buddy.

The reality is that these people are "Jake, Lareen Moody Jarrel, Robert Jarrel, and Clara Moody on Claras poarch in Pauls Valley OKLa. Oct 14. 64." That's what it says on the back, or at least what I think it says. I don't think they actually wrote the names in the order of how they're standing. The person who wrote this had the odd habit of writing the dates twice on the back of photos. Several different shots have the date at the top and then following all other copy. They just wanted to make sure people knew the date. The names, not so much.

By the way, I do not believe the one on the left is Laura Petrie/Mary Tyler Moore. Perhaps Mel Cooley's wife.

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Jim Linderman of Dull Tool Dim Bulb has a couple of photography books vying for awards at Blurb. If you get the chance check out Jim's books and think of voting for one of them. You can see The Painted Backdrop and Camera Club Girls, both very interesting books.

The Day the TALL LADY CAME TO VISIT

As I reach deeper into the Big Bag of Negs I find this, two short people with a tall woman. Who actually came to visit that day? I'm guessing the tall woman. I love the perfect model pose in the second one. Girls were taught to stand like this. It wasn't a natural pose. I bet boys didn't know that. I have no idea who these people were. The man actually reminds me of actor Robert Clary who played Corporal Louis LeBeau on Hogan's Heros. If you never knew the history of Clary I recommend you read the following Wikipedia post. He is a survivor of Buchenwald. He apparently has his own site here. And here you can see part one of a documentary he made about his experiences in the prison camp. All seven parts are available on YouTube. Of course, the man in this photo is not Robert Clary, but seeing this man reminded me of him. He, like millions of others, should not be forgotten. On a much lighter note, this weekend was fun with a visit to an estate sale on Friday and the flea market on Sunday. Purchased over 200 photos. Oh sure, some of them are pointless, others are pure heaven. You will see some of them here in the future.

WAIKIKI in 1954

Christine, of the Daily Postcard, inspired me to post these two old slides from 1954. I believe the one of the Royal Hawaiian was one my dad purchased, but I can't be sure. I know he took the one of Diamond Head.

This is the Hawaii I remember. Few crowds, few hotels, and incredibly beautiful skies not blocked out by egotistical monster hotels. And one thing many of you might not be aware of is that down below Diamond Head, at the point, was the Henry J. Kaiser estate. They were very very fond of pink. The house was pink. She dyed her poodles pink. And the fleet of Willy jeeps that roamed the island with their pink and white striped roofs were pink. Pink was very big in Hawaii.

In 1954 my family was passing back through Hawaii from our year long stay on Midway Island. We would return to Hawaii in 1959. Still the most magical time of my life. I can close my eyes and be back there in an instant.

Watermelon eating BEACH GALS

Okay, there's no evidence here of eating watermelon, but I have proof these woman did indeed eat watermelon on this beach. In this earlier post, BEACH PARTY with watermelon, we see them all chomping away on the juicy red fruit.

Click on image to see it larger.

This is from the infamous, in my mind, Big Bag of Negs. And dare I say that I found more photos of them eating watermelon. I've told you, it's a category. I must collect. Perhaps I will eventually corner the market. They'll all be mine. MINE I TELL YOU! ALL MINE!

Let's see, that's people eating watermelon, pigs eating watermelon, people on horses not real, looming shadows (far too commonly collected), did I mention watermelon? I say find a category and specialize. Specialization is where the money is.

Don't believe a word of what I'm saying. For cryin' out loud I know nothing! I mean, I have one photo of a pig eating watermelon and have decided to make it a category!