A MYSTERIOUS THREESOME under lockdown

Hello fellow lockdown-ers. Not a real word, but I'm entitled to make up any word I want while locked in my house.

I doubt anyone will find this post for a long time because, for all intents and purposes, this site has been dead. Nothing going on. I've thought about it, but I just couldn't commit. I haven't even been going to flea markets, estate sales, or antique stores for several years. I knew I shouldn't spend the money so why tempt myself.

However, recently on the way home from Costco I did make a brief stop at a small warehouse/estate sale. I scoured the premises in search of photos and found a few winners which I scored for less than two bucks. When I walked up with a bunch of photobooth shots that were rubber banded together the seller said, "Oh, I don't want to count those. How about a dollar for the lot?" Fine will me. Fifteen shots for a buck. Now that's a bargain.

Now a normal person would look at this photo and see a happy couple having their picture taken by a friend. I, of course, am not normal. I see problems. The smiling wife. The worried husband. The other woman coming between them as a dark shadow. Who thinks there was something going on?

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

The UNKNOWN Couple

Found this a few weeks ago in a dollar bin. It's very damaged so I ran a filter to "fix" it enough to view because I want you all to decide if it's a man or a woman on the right. Both have rouge on their cheeks thanks to someone thinking that was necessary. And actually, without the fix of the shot the details aren't as easy to see.

So two guys hanging around or a guy and a gal? I'm thinking they headed west to seek their fortune and found Northern California to their liking. How they ended up in a dollar bin is a whole other story.

Click on image to see it larger.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

CREEPY or Not Creepy?

I'll let you decide. I know when I bought it I thought it odd, but then I showed it to a friend and she found it very creepy. These days with what's going on in this country with a particular candidate I can say red flags did momentarily fly.

Click on image to see it larger.

I also have to say that his socks and shoes made me think of Gene Kelly so I could easily imagine the two of them breaking into dance.
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 7 available at Amazon.

Did He PLAY THE PIANO?

At some point in the past I featured this fellow, but now I can't find the post. No problem; I have two more photos of him. I'm fascinated by his left hand. Such thin fingers. Did he play the piano? He has the hands for it; or at least a left hand for it. He has the hair for it. Can't you just imagine him striking the keys madly while his hair flies around? Or perhaps his hair didn't move. It is a strange hairdo.



As to what "Deluxe Centralia" means embossed on the card...don't have a clue. Any ideas?
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 7 available at Amazon.

PEEK and BOO

Click on image to see it larger.
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 7 available at Amazon.

CATEGORIES: Cross-dressing

Sometimes I really really really wish I knew what was going on.


Click on image to see it larger.
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Available at Amazon 
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading

CATEGORIES: Cutting the cake

Cutting cakes has been a category I've been fond of for years. The usual shot is of a young bride and groom cutting their wedding cake. I rarely buy those because they all start to look like the "pose for grandma" shots. But anniversary cakes, which is what I imagine this to be, hold my interest because of the age of the couples. And even if this is actually a wedding shot, the story is far more interesting than young love.


Click on image to see it larger.

Cake cutting is actually a category in one of my books, Tattered and Lost: Cakes, Picnics, and Watermelon. The idea behind the category is the sharing of food on special and not so special occasions. This photo, recently purchased for 25 cents, is not in the book.
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Available at Amazon 
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading

Cast members from an ANDY HARDY MOVIE?

These two could easily have been in a Mickey and Judy movie, clearly exhausted from once again putting on a show. He has a Van Cliburn look because of his hair, but I'm betting that either Glenn Miller or, hopefully, Benny Goodman is coming from that radio on the end table.

As to why the lampshades are wrapped in plastic….


Click on image to see it larger.


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Available at Amazon 
Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading

CAUGHT in the doorway

Do their faces say, "Beware! Don't come any closer?" or is this the face they use to say, "Ya'al come on in!" There's no signage to indicate what this place might be, but if you look closely you can see that once you go through these doors there are more doors inside. Worthy of some stories for sure.




Click on images to see them larger.

My submission this week for Sepia Saturday with the theme of standing a doorway. To see a couple of young ladies in a doorway of a candy shop click here.

CREEPING GREEN!

Some people just didn't quite finesse the art of hand tinting photos. Slap the colors on with a roller instead of a fine brush. But it's an original. There isn't another one exactly like it anywhere...and I think we're probably all grateful for that.

Click anywhere in the green to see this larger.

Get an OLD STYLE PHOTO TAKEN

When I first saw this vintage photograph I thought it looked like one of the phony old style photo studio shots available at fairs and some tourist spots these days.

What would these two look like in today's street clothes? Would she be wearing walking shoes with the horrible day-glo color stripes? He'd be wearing a baseball cap, brim forward. They'd both have on fanny packs.

Joyously, they are right where they're supposed to be, back in the early part of the last century.


Click on image to see it larger.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 5

Sometimes I become entranced with an image, longing to know about the people. I feel this way about this woman. I want her to become alive, three dimensional with all her flaws and charms.

What was her passion in life? Was she free with thought and feelings? Was she fulfilled by her life? Would we be able to talk to her as equals though so much time has passed? As a young girl did she ever throw her head back in joy and spin around and around beneath the expansive sky smiling in anticipation of life? I wonder.

Nothing left but dust floating with the currents.

Click on image to see it larger.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 4

The woman to the side of the man.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 3

Who is this man whose stare was captured so long ago? What is the story we're not hearing? The blush on his cheeks belies the reality of the life he lead. As he stared at the photographer what was he thinking?

All of these images that have survived through the years without stories attached, are the subjects nothing more than ghosts? Without his story is he real or just an image of a person, a representation of a life long forgotten?

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 2

In calm repose her youthful arm rests upon his shoulder. The fingers relaxed so as to not move during the exposure. Any movement and the dainty ring would be gone to history. Even more questions would then be asked of this couple from so long ago.

DECONSTRUCTED couple: Part 1

A tintype found in a box at an antique store. Sadly scarred by time. People unknown. Location unknown. Date unknown.

The image to unfold over the next few days.