The Party's OVER

In keeping with this Saturday's Sepia Saturday prompt I give you my take on the revelers.

The party is over and the women have excused themselves to the kitchen where they make in depth small talk (they do it, seriously, it's in depth) over the cold cuts...

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while the men...well, the men haven't quite stopped partying. They can tell it to the judge in the morning.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

Ahhh, SWEET WILDERNESS...Sour Stomach, but Sweet Wilderness

Nothing like having breakfast outside on a camping trip...unless you get food poisoning. You're a long way from medical attention out in the woods. You better make sure to NOT put mayo on anything before you leave home.

As to what's going on here? I'd say these folks are not paying attention to the family member writhing next to the tent. Did he eat something gone bad? Is the woman in the foreground smelling the bread thinking, "Oh geez, this is gone bad. Wonder if anyone has noticed."
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 This is my submission this week for Sepia Saturday. Just hang the sign on my door "Gone Camping!"

And no idea why the second photo is green. The original isn't. The one uploaded isn't. But then this page has been a nightmare to create. 
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

How to FRAME YOUR SUBJECT: Photography 101

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

METEOR BOB

Meteor Bob was part of the early space program. It was very low budget. Bob would wander around in his backyard with a badminton racket perusing the sky for any incoming meteorites. For each meteorite he hit back into orbit he would be paid $50,000.

Bob died a very poor man.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

Mrs. S. WICKET

Always available for Sunday afternoon games, Mrs. Stickey Wicket was always the first person invited to croquet parties. She never understood why.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

A MAN and His Car

Living in California we are pretty much raised to think a car is an extension of our body. We also seem to think it's a constitutional right to have a car. No place is this more obvious than Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area during commute time. Pure hell. Car after car going by with a single occupant.

It used to be, I believe, that cars were a statement about a man's manhood. For woman it wasn't the engine—or so the dealers thought—but the color of the outside and interior of the car and whether it had a mirror the ladies could look at to do their makeup. Seriously, they were idiots. Though I find nearly all ads for cars pretty stupid and repetitive (don't get me started on the luxury models that we're supposed to put under the Christmas tree each year), at least there is an attempt to go beyond the clichés of the past with the male/female stereotypes. Now we're supposed to be reckless, off-road, and extremely hot looking. I'm just glad I ended up in publishing and not advertising. I would have been shown the door in no time at all.

This week's Sepia Saturday photo is of a fellow standing in front of a car. I immediately went to the big BIG box of photos I was given for Christmas. Surely in the hundreds of shots in that glorious box there must be at least one of a guy with a car. I stopped after finding the following three.

I do know who this fellow was. His name was Ben and he was a Naval officer.

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On the back of this one it says "Taken June 18, 8th grade graduation." Diggin' the car and the flattop.

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NO idea who this fun fellow is.

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I love my car. I love driving my car. I have always loved driving. I do like to drive fast, but I don't anymore. The fastest I've ever driven was on the Autobahn. I thought I was doing pretty good until I saw the flashing headlights way way way behind me approaching at a tremendous speed. No sooner had I seen them and pulled into the slower lane than a Porsche blur shot by. I pretty much stayed in the slow lane the rest of the time which was still moving very fast.

As I recall I have only one photo of myself standing next to a car. It was a bright red Audi in Germany. I loved that car too. It's long gone, but like with most cars, the memory remains.
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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

The EYES Are the Windows to This Girls Soul

If you saw the previous post you will recognize this little girl. You will also recognize that no matter where she goes trouble follows.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

When DISASTER HITS THE BEDROOM!

When I saw this week's Sepia Saturday image I knew exactly what photo I wanted to post. Disaster? You want to see a disaster? I've got a disaster for you. The problem became, "Where did I put that shot?" Some photos are nicely filed away if they are to be part of a series, others not so lucky. This one took awhile, which meant I got to sort, which meant I got to peruse, which meant I got to say, "Oh, I'd forgotten about this one."

There are only two legitimate reasons for what appears in this photo. Two! No more than two!

1. This is Hurricane Hannah who had nightly swirling toys in her bedroom. When you turn on the lights everything settles around her. Turn off the lights and it's all swirling again. Hannah lives in Kansas so this is pretty normal stuff.

2. This is Magnetic Mabel. Mabel's mom has given up asking her to clean her room. In fact her mom has asked her to stay in her room because whenever Mabel leaves her room this stuff follows her...and then everything else metal in the house follows her. Neighborhood kids think it's cool when Mabel comes out the door with the Mixmaster and toaster oven—with her dad's toast inside—tagging along behind her.

I'm sure you can come up with your own reasons as to why this little girl is cornered by her toys.

It's a disaster I tell you! A complete disaster!

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

Buyer BEWARE and Then Some

This is just a little note to tell people to think twice about buying any of my books from third party sellers. First they jack them up to ridiculous prices and secondly they don't actually have the books; this is on both eBay and Amazon. They are scamming you to pay for something they never acquired themselves and then charging insane prices for the book and the shipping. Please think twice about buying from them. This is sort of a crooked thing Amazon is aware of and allows to happen. Just buy the book direct if you want one. They're nice books and I don't want people to have bad experiences trying to get them. I have pride in them and these sellers just make me want to take a shower to wash off the disgust.

And now back to my regular programming.

This is a photo my friend Bert gave me. Cute little fella with a very tiny wagon. I mean a really tiny wagon. Not much would fit in that wagon except maybe some gumdrops or a tiny bear. You have to use your imagination with a wagon that small.

There's no information about the little fella or the photographer.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 9 available at Amazon.

If it HADN'T BEEN FOR THE FIRE...

I don't know when I'd have ever found this photo.

I live in the area in California that was recently ravaged by fires. I did not lose my home, but I know some of those that did. It was two weeks of monitoring news nonstop waiting to find where the evacuation lines had been redrawn. Hospitals were closed, phone lines were down, cell phone coverage was spotty, and trying to contact doctors for my ailing father was impossible for days. Panic began to set in as I tried to gather family documents and photos for the possible evacuation and at the same time wondered where to go for the medical care my father so desperately needed.

I remember taking a shoebox out of a closet and looking inside to find photos I didn't remember. There was no time to ponder the contents, just get them in the car, and move on to the next box and files. Over the next few weeks I kept thinking about this box and the photo of my grandmother that was on the top of the pile. I think the box had probably been put in the closet over thirty years ago.

Finally, with some calm returning to life, about a week ago I decided to look through the box. I was dumbfounded by some of what I found. This woman is my great-grandmother and I never knew I had this photo. In fact, I didn't think I had any photos of this woman. She died giving birth to her second daughter, my grandmother's sister. My grandmother was too young to remember her mother and I'd always assumed there were no pictures of her. I've looked online hoping through genealogy searches that I'd find some distant relative that might have a photo of her. Nope, nothing. I've never even found her obituary. She just seemed to be an elusive spirit I would never see. So it was a great and pleasant shock to find not one but three photos of her from childhood to near when she died.

So, if it hadn't been for the fire I might not have found my great-grandmother for many more years. Her life was not filled with joy and it was cut short causing my grandmother even more grief in her life. But now a hole in my heart is a little smaller knowing Sara will no longer be forgotten.

This is my first time back with Sepia Saturday in months. My life as a twenty-four hour a day caregiver has forced me to put most things on the back burner. I will try my best to make the rounds in the coming days and look forward to reading the other Sepia posts. 

This photo is not within the theme, but it is for me a grand photo taken with a camera even more important than the one in the Sepia theme photo.

And though I found something joyful because of the fires, I will never forget the thousands left homeless who lost everything. The scar on the land will eventually disappear, but the emotional scars will be here for decades.

A BICYCLE in Summer

As a kid summer wouldn't have been the same without a bicycle. Summer meant freedom from school. Each morning meant freedom to have an adventure.

A ride up the road to the pear orchards to where the new houses were being built, pilfering wayward nails from the building site, back home to work on the tree house.

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Or maybe it was a ride into town to check out what was new at the toy store and a stop at the deli for a sandwich.

Maybe just a ride up to the school grounds to see if anyone was hanging around the basketball courts.

Riding with friends. No helmets. No handbrakes. Just bandaids on our knees covering up the scratches that had just been sprayed with Bactine. Apparently Bactine is still made, but I haven't seen any in decades. I'd like to smell it again. It's one of those smells from childhood that I sort of miss.

This is my submission for Sepia Saturday and a wish that all fellow Sepians remember the good times a bicycle gave them.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

DR. BAKERS MEDICINES Door to Door

I'll let the photos and the Iowa newspaper clippings tell the story. All I know is this man's name was Jim Saunders and he was a salesman for Dr. Bakers products. If you do a google search you'll find a lot of Dr. Bakers so it's hard to discern if the ones in the news clippings below are all about salesmen for the same company.

This is my selection for Sepia Saturday. Though not in sync with this week's prompt, I'm willing to bet there were plenty of sales reps nearby hoping to entice some of the fair attendees to sample their wares.

Either way, enjoy medicine the way it used to be. No insurance required. No cures guaranteed.

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Algona Courier, Sep. 27,1895

Quad City Times, Oct.11, 1879

Des Moines Register, May 22, 1887

Opinion Tribune, Dec. 10, 1896

Sioux Valley News, Feb. 6. 1902

Sioux Valley News, Sep. 7, 1905

Greene Recorder, April 1, 1908

Greene Recorder, Mar. 22, 1922

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

COME ON IN...

it's hot outside! I'm not kidding. It was 111.4 today. Time to find a puddle or a pond to sit in. Just sit. Do nothing. Just sit. Wait for the evening when it drops down to...85. Yup, it's going to be good sleeping tonight.

But it's a dry heat.

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Just getting into the swim with this week's Sepia Saturday. Someone hand me a cold one. A block of ice would do.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

The FIREMEN and the DOG

Looking at this week's Sepia Saturday prompt had me scratching my head until I went to an estate sale today. The sale had started yesterday so I didn't have much hope that anything interesting—in my mind—would be there on the second day. I smiled when I found a frame in the garage in a box of junk that contained four interesting photos. This was the one that most caught my eye and I knew immediately I had my contribution for this week.

When I looked at this week's prompt my first thought was a lantern and smoke. Seriously, the dog was the second thing I noticed. I'm easily distracted by my own thoughts. Where there's smoke there's fire. So I give you firemen from long ago with their fire house dog. Think of him as a dalmatian with really big dark spots.

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I have no idea where this shot was taken. There are a lot of towns named Hastings so I'm clueless as to where this might have been taken. 

As to the wild beast in the darkness behind them. Looks like some sort of weird insect monster. Nah, just the fire wagon waiting for the horses to be attached and the race to the next fire.

Now, I want to apologize to my fellow Sepians for something that happened several weeks ago. I visited all the sites for those who had posted for Sepia Saturday 371. I left messages and went on my way. Later that night I discovered only two of my messages actually posted. I've had this happen many times and it's frustrating. Often I have gone back and tried to remember what I'd said so I could comment again. This time I didn't. I have no idea why this happens and I hate that I end up looking like a deadbeat who doesn't participate. I'm sorry. Hopefully this time I'll get through without incident. I'm wondering if anyone else has this happen. 

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

Once upon a time there was A BOXER NAMED MARCUS VASQUEZ

This is a repost from several years ago that most won't have seen. In keeping with the man with the box for Sepia Saturday I give you boxer Marcus Vasquez. All I ever found about him is below.
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You'd think that starting with "Once upon a time..." I'd have a fairytale to tell. No, just an old picture of a lightweight boxer named Marcus Vasquez wearing an apron. Seriously, I have no idea what is going on or how this photo eventually ended up in my hands.

"To a Swell Kid Marcus Vasquez.

From your manager Ben Marcus"

Marcus Vasquez appears to have fought his first professional bout on Dec. 21, 1948 against Cadilla Clemmons at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He won the fight. From then on he fought around Southern California, up to San Jose on March 22, 1949, over to Arizona for several fights, even down to Chihuahua, Mexico on Feb. 8, 1950; he lost that fight to Al Lopez.

According to the online information I've found, Marcus had 17 wins, 19 losses, and 7 draws with a total of 197 rounds fought. The last fight listed was on July 7, 1952 to Maxie Docusen in San Antonio, Texas. Marcus lost and is listed as TKO.

So, was this the end of Marcus Vasquez as a fighter? I cannot find any other information about him.

As to the fellow on the left, his manager, Ben Marcus, I cannot find anything about him other than he worked in the Los Angeles area.

I don't know, but my mind spins when I look at this shot with the inscription and I'm sucked into the world of Raymond Chandler and this little scrap of paper is evidence in a murder. I can't say truthfully anything one way or the other. It is what it is and it will forever be a mystery unless some person with knowledge of the world of boxing in Los Angeles in the late '40s to early '50s steps forward to fill in the missing pieces to the story.

For now, I'm riding in my old Buick on a warm summer night along Sunset, hoping I can run a few red lights without getting caught as I try to make my way to a mysterious meeting in Los Feliz. It began with this photo stuffed inside my morning paper with a note that read, "9:40, Jerry's, Los Feliz. Come alone."

UPDATE: I found this image for sale online at a boxing memorabilia site. This shows that Marcus was in an undercard fight on September 9, 1949 at the Hollywood Legion Stadium.

I looked up "undercard" and found the following:

The undercard, or preliminary matches (sometimes preliminary card), consists of preliminary bouts that occur before the headline or "main event" of a particular boxing, professional wrestling, horse racing, auto racing, or other sports event. (In auto racing, however, the term "support race" occurs more commonly.) Typically, promoters intend the undercard to provide fans with an opportunity to see up-and-coming fighters or fighters not so well known and popular as their counterparts in the main event. The undercard also ensures that if the main event ends quickly fans will still feel that they received sufficient value for the price of their admission. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Marcus, I fear, is lost to history other than this post.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

To SIT BENEATH A TREE and Read

With this week's Sepia Saturday as a prompt I'm reminded of one of my favorite photos from my book Tattered and Lost: The Quiet Art of Reading. I have no information about this woman who long ago chose to sit at the base of this tree and read, but I understand the lure.

In the summer I like to sit in the shade, hear a light breeze rustling the leaves, and enjoy reading outside. Of course I usually fall asleep.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

This Is WHAT COLLECTING IS ALL ABOUT

Take a little time to read this wonderful article at the NY Times about an old photo album. It's exactly what a collector of vintage photos dreams of.

They've ADDED ONE!

Remember those cards where each year there seemed to be a new kid in the family Christmas shot? And then you got the joy of watching them grow up even though you never actually met them?

Click on image to see it larger.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

An American Dream is the latest book in my series of vernacular photography books. The American dream of owning a home through vintage vernacular photographs. The focus is on the people who lived within the homes as well as the varied architecture from the late 1800s to the 1960s.