I've heard of TURTLE CANDY and TURTLE SOUP, but...

I've never heard of a turtle cake. I do wonder how this came about. Did the family have a pet turtle that was being celebrated? Did it come to the party? Is there a photo somewhere of it wearing a party hat and noise maker?

Click on image to see it larger.

I had a friend that had a pet tortoise. He was very large and would often disappear for weeks at a time. He would somehow make it across the road, through a neighbor's yard, and apparently down to the creek. Most likely the creek was his vacation time. The rest of the time he spent walking from one side of my friend's backyard to the other. I was never really sure why they had a tortoise, but I felt sorry for him. Suburbia did not seem to suit him. Eventually they moved away. I'm assuming the tortoise went with them.

I also recall a friend having a tiny turtle that lived in one of those horrible plastic dishes with the plastic palm tree in the middle; a pointless tree if ever there was one. I felt really really sorry for that little creature. The boredom of that plastic dish with the tree that provided no shade must have been unbearable. It didn't last long; how could it? I imagine these wee creatures are still sold today and somewhere a kid has a plastic dish with a plastic tree with a bored out of its mind turtle in the middle.

This photo comes from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos which has been an inspiration for many years.

And if you're in a cake sort of mood (and frankly who isn't?) take a look at the great site called Cake Wrecks. Think of it as the Awkward Family Photo site for cakes. You'll be amazed by how truly ugly some of the cakes are that are made by commercial bakers (Safeway for one). The site also includes the polar opposite with some of the most beautiful cakes you've ever seen. I keep the site bookmarked so when I'm in need of a snarky giggle I know immediately where to go.

This entire post was inspired by this weeks Sepia Saturday post.

Dogs doin' DOG STUFF

Before the holidays I was doing a series of posts about pets. This weeks Sepia Saturday fits right into that category.

I like dogs when they do dog stuff. They’re happy running around sniffing every new smell they can find even if we find what they’ve found to be repugnant. They’re doin' dog stuff.

This little fellow is in a backyard that may seem familiar to people who follow this site. I ran a series of posts showing the dog, kids, a tetherball setup, and some laundry (here, here, and here) last May. They all came from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos. Well, here’s the dog shining again in his own little world. Oh sure, the kids think he’s in their world, but he’s not. Everything he does he does in Dog World. We need to respect Dog World.

Click on any image to see it larger.

And just for the heck of it I'll throw in a rabbit since a girl with a rabbit was the actual Sepia Saturday prompt. I give you Gladys Kallman with a bunny (Gladys is on the left). For reader's of this blog you might remember the Kallman family from last year.

Bunnies live in their own world too, but I've never quite figured it out.

As to the Three Buck Big Box of Photos...you can actually do a Google search of that phrase and you'll see some of the previous shots from the box and a lot of other shots I own not from the box.

And for those who FAVOR BUNS

From the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

Click on either image to see it larger.

To see another photo of Michelle click here.

No dog, no barrel, no tetherball...BUT...

Where's the dog? Where's the barrel? Where's the tetherball? Same backyard. Same view of laundry...but wait! There's new laundry! There's a variety of voyeur laundry! There's even a blanket! What? Too many exclamation points?

Okay, the obvious thing is that a new piece of equipment has been added to the yard and two little kids are happily enjoying it. Now, I don't know if this little girl always dressed up as if going to tea to play in the backyard, but I think she looks très chic with her fetching hat and purse.

Click on image to see it larger or just go outside for a walk.

So we bid farewell to the backyard from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos. It's been boring while it lasted. We'll never know anything else about this backyard...or will we?

Could it be? Is it possible? Is that really the checkerboard wall that Whitey, I mean Kenney, (here and here) stood in front of so many months ago? With the same dog? The plot thickens like a bowl of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom set out on the porch too long.

The FIGHTER, the Tetherball, the VOYEUR LAUNDRY, and the WASHING MACHINE

What? No dog? No barrel? Just a backyard fighting kid with an attitude. I'm guessing moments later he punched the helpless tetherball, freeing it from it's boring life attached to the pole, sending it across the fence into the voyeur laundry.

Just another image from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

The GIRL, the BARREL, the TETHERBALL, the VOYEUR LAUNDRY, and the OUTBOARD MOTOR

Oh, people are coming in droves to see these. Droves I tell you! There's a lot of mumbling online about this collection. You know, that sound you hear in the background in movies? Crowd noises.

I had a teacher in elementary school who claimed to have been an extra in movies and told us they were told to quietly say "celery sticks at midnight" over and over again. I'm not convinced. The only thing I was ever convinced about this guy was that he drove a pink Mustang convertible in 1963.

But back to the collection courtesy of the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

So what is missing from this shot? Send in your answer and try to win* Mr. Lilly's pink Mustang. Yeah, good luck with that.

Click on image to see it larger. But, really, why bother?

*There is no contest. There is no pink Mustang. I'm just pulling your chain and wasting time until I can stop posting this stupid collection. But there really was a Mr. Lilly and there was a pink Mustang.

The DOG, the BARREL, the TETHERBALL, the VOYEUR LAUNDRY, and the OUTBOARD MOTOR

This little pup looks content, happy the humans are gone. It's now his, all his!

Let's call this "A Portrait of a Young Dog With a Barrel." It will now be a perfectly useless searchable phrase. Let's see how long it takes for Google to add it.

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

Just another image from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

The GIRL, the DOG, the BARREL, the TETHERBALL, the VOYEUR LAUNDRY, and the OUTBOARD MOTOR

Today I give you a girl in the backyard with her dog sitting on a barrel next to a tetherball with the voyeur laundry in the background, AND an outboard motor. I think it's fair to say there is a boat on the other side of the fence. I know, I'm being bold making such a guess.

Click on image to see it larger.

Then again, perhaps the people next door simply hang a motor on the fence so they always know where it is...and so do the neighbors.

I seriously doubt that anyone ever will do a search for this title. Not going to happen. It's an original...and pointless.

The BOY, the DOG, the BARREL, the TETHERBALL, and the LAUNDRY

Who remembers Margaret? Margaret and the Three Buck Big Box of Photos?

Well, I decided to take out the "collection" and see what was worth posting. Of course, none of the photos are major works of anything. They're just a bunch of snapshots from an old box bought at the flea market. The fact that Margaret is affiliated with them has just given them more charm.

Want to see previous posts? Just Google "Three Buck Big Box of Photos" and you'll see links to the old photos. I'm not kidding. That phrase has now become a Google search phrase. Weird. Apparently nobody else has ever used that phrase online. Yee haw! I have created something. A useless phrase. I will now put it on my resume as "writer of searchable phrase."

Today I give you a boy in the backyard with his dog sitting on a barrel next to a tetherball with the voyeur laundry in the background. Who didn't have a barrel in their backyard? Oh sure, some of you probably had tetherballs, but a barrel? How cool is that?

Click on image to see it larger.

And now you're thinking (as if I may presume to know what you're thinking), "Yes, but does she have more photos of the dog, the barrel, the tetherball, and the laundry? Could this possibly be a category?"

Indeed it can folks, indeed it can.

MARGARET looks at rockets

Remember Margaret and the Three Buck Big Box of Photos? Nice Margaret who likes to write times/dates/locations on the back of her photos? I decided it was time to go back and see what else Margaret had to offer.

Click on image to see it larger.

I give you Margaret's rocket shots taken in 1962. One US Army rocket and one Atlas rocket. Unfortunately Margaret did not write anything on the back of either image so all we have are the stamped dates. I have no idea where these were taken. Perhaps there was a display down in Southern California at Vandenberg Air Force Base. If she travelled to Florida to Cape Canaveral I don't find any other photos indicating such a trip.

Click on image to see it larger.

In 1962 I wonder how much Margaret paid attention to the race with the Russians into space. Did she stand and look at the rockets and instead think about her hair appointment or focus on watching her grandchildren running around the tarmac?

Click on image to see it larger.

Margaret was probably in her late 60s to early 70s when these shots were taken. I'm betting she rarely, if ever, brought up the rockets in conversation after seeing them. But if she saw a launch on tv she felt a certain patriotism in knowing the US could actually do something so grand.

To read about the Atlas rocket click here.

To see a few past posts about Margaret click here, here, and here.

Do the SCRUNCHIE!

Once again, back to the Three Buck Big Box of Photos and trip through Margaret's world.

Click on image to see it larger.

I will allow the photo and copy on the back to say everything necessary.

April 8, 1955
Friday

The sun was in Johnys eyes
Margie was crying &
Michelle was all scrunched up

Evelyn
boy & girl
& Carnelles girl

And here we have the lovely scrunched Michelle, scrunching as only Michelle can scrunch.

Scrunch on Michelle, scrunch on!

LAUNDRY Voyeur

Was Margaret, or someone she knew, a laundry voyeur? Are there more out there like this? Is it a category? Will I find more?

From the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.

KENNEY On His Birthday With a Puppy

One more shot of Gilbert, I mean Kenney. On the back Margaret wrote "Puppy & Kenney" which also shows it to be Kenney's 11th birthday. And we've still got that weird background with the shirt going on. Checks galore!

What I actually think of when I see this is the dog my grandparents had when I was very small. His name was Skippy and he looked a lot like Kenney's dog. I always thought he was the family dog. It wasn't until about 15 years ago my mother said, when we were discussing Skippy, that he actually belonged to the man down the street. Every day when he'd go to work Skippy would come to my grandparent's house and spend the day. Little guy had full run of the house and yard. Then apparently she'd tell him "Skippy, go home" and out the door he'd go and back to his rightful owner as he returned from work. I was stunned. "What? What? Skippy wasn't ours? He was just visiting?" All those years I thought Skippy was family, but he was just a moocher. I look at old photos of him in his harness sitting on my grandparents porch and I think "Oh Skippy, Skippy, you deceived me."

I'll get over it.

And, though I didn't mention it yesterday, both of these shots of Kenney are from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos that just keeps on giving, along with Margaret.

Beaver's Best Friend, GILBERT

Okay, so this isn't really Gilbert from Leave It to Beaver, but he reminds me of him. So in honor of Barbara Billingsly, Beaver's mom in her smart housedress and pearls, I've renamed this fellow Gilbert. Of course, you can see from the back his name is Kenney. You might also notice the handwriting is Margaret's. If you don't know Margaret you'll need to go back and read some old posts. Margaret thankfully liked to write on the back of her photos.

A very ordinary snapshot of a very ordinary boy which is pretty much what Leave It to Beaver celebrated.

UPDATE: Received a comment telling me that Gilbert is the character I'm thinking about, not Whitey. So I have renamed this. Need to keep my Beaver characters in order. So thanks JB!

Margaret's GREAT-GRANDSON, Catalog Model

According to what's written on the back of this photo, this is Margaret's great-grandson, Robby. Now, it might just be me, but I'm thinking he grew up to model men's wear in Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs. He just has that semi-forced-casual look.

What do you think? Robby, the Male Model?

Margaret CUTTING THE CAKE

For your viewing pleasure I give you Margaret and Jesse cutting the cake on their 33rd wedding anniversary on September 9, 1949. You can see from some quick math on the back that they were wed in 1916. That means that as of today it's been 94 years and 1 day since they wed. Let's hope it was a long and happy marriage, though I doubt they made it to their 94th.

I do so love cutting the cake photos. Celebrations, though the participants do not always appear to be in a celebratory mood. Margaret and Jesse were. Let's hear it for Margaret and Jesse, ordinary people living ordinary lives with special moments.

Her Name is MARGARET

The little lady with the almost obsessive need to write time and date on the back of her photos is named Margaret. A special day for Margaret will be featured tomorrow. For now, here's Margaret aboard the train in Salt Lake City. She reminds me of my grandmother and would have been around the same age when this shot was taken.

And stay tuned for Saturday's post which features the fella behind Margaret. It's oddly special.

Again, a dandy from the Three Buck Big Box of Photos.