WHEN YOU THINK CITRUS, think Austria

This is the way I found it. I will say no more, other than I didn't know they grew citrus in Austria.

Click on the image above to see it larger.

TIME passes

It's been a tough week beginning on Monday with a call from a close friend telling me her husband had just died. Completely unexpected. He died in his sleep. I can still hear the animalistic sorrow and pain in her voice when she said my name over and over again before finally saying "Peter's dead." I still haven't been able to wrap my brain around it. It's all so very very sad.

Other personal stress inducing events have kept me away and made me less than chipper and cheerful. I am getting a grasp on those too.

Today's post is from the little envelope of negs. A sitting Setter.

Just a click away from seeing it larger.

Dogs are timeless. It doesn't matter when this shot was taken. Dogs are always in style just as they are. No fashion mistakes unless foisted upon them by their human caretakers. This dog has a collar and a nice stoop. Perhaps a nice field to run in awaited the sitting Setter (or is it a Spaniel?). Let's hope it was much loved and lived a long life doing dog stuff. Can't begrudge a dog doin' dog stuff. The simple joys of life. Left to their own devices they'll always get it right.

It's shimmy and shake DANCIN' SUNDAY

This little lady was purchased on Thursday at my favorite antique store. She has style, she has grace, she has roof gravel between her toes. There is no information given on the back so she shall forever remain a mystery. The mystery dance pose.

Click on the little lady to see her larger.

Shake it baby...SHAKE IT!

To see today's dancin' lady at my ephemera site, Goldie, click here.

Anybody wish to suggest the appropriate music? I keep hearing over and over in my head "Everybody dance now...bump...bump bump...bump bump...everybody dance now!" and that's just driving me nuts.

...and a DEAD BIRD ON EVERY DRESSER

I just never know what's going to show up when I scan one of the negs in the strange little envelope that so aptly says "Misc. Negatives" on it. I certainly wouldn't have purposely bought a photo of a dead pheasant on a dresser with National Rifle Association Junior Diplomas tacked to the wall. And what the heck is that thing with the tail on the dresser drawer? It looks like a Robin Hood cap crossed with a Daniel Boone hat. Well...somebody was mighty proud of this display.

Click on image to see it larger if it's been a really boring day.

The two other images scanned from this envelope were COME SLIDE WITH ME and Gentlemen...START PEDDLING!

When you buy an envelope of negs you get what you get. I'm sure there are more surprises of equally boring subject matter to be found.

Little STRIPED SOCKS

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a little envelope full of negatives that each time I'd scan one would be a surprise. Well, I also have a very large bag of negs that were purchased at an estate sale along with an album that is falling apart. The album is full of wonderful snapshots taken from most likely the late 1890s until the late 1930s. The bag of negs, I thought, were just mostly shots already in the album. Turns out there are other images not in the album. This image is one of them.

Click on image to see it larger.

Not a wonderful snapshot, but it was fun to see the image appear on the screen as the scan appeared. Of course, nothing is as exciting with a photograph as when a print shows up in a tray of developing fluid as you stand in the darkness inhaling those pungent chemicals. A scanner will never beat the mystery exposed in a developing tray. I miss those days.

Like I said, not a great shot, but I love the little stripped socks. This family lived in a rural area north of where I live, most likely near the ranch where my dad grew up. I'd say this shot is from the 1930s and the mother probably got a good deal on the multicolored socks and the little girls wore them with whatever homemade dress they had on. Coordinates were of no importance to country kids.

Happy EASTER?

APRIL SHOWERS may come your way

I'm in an April Showers kind of mood, both here, and at my ephemera blog where I feature a Langston Hughes poem.

Click on image to see it larger.

April Showers

Life is not a highway strewn with flowers,

Still it holds a goodly share of bliss,

When the sun gives way to April showers,

Here is the point you should never miss.

Though April showers may come your way,

They bring the flowers that bloom in May.

So if it's raining, have no regrets,

Because it isn't raining rain, you know, (It's raining violets,)

And where you see clouds upon the hills,

You soon will see crowds of daffodils,

So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,

Whenever April showers come along.

And where you see clouds upon the hills,

You soon will see crowds of daffodils,

So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,

Whenever April showers come along

--Music by Louis Silvers, lyrics by B. G. De Sylva

Photo Processing MISTAKE

I've got a real find to share today. I know there are people out there who collect photos that are basically errors. Printing errors, camera problems, etc. Well, eat your heart out. I've got two of these real photo postcards, but one was printed upside down!

I'm talking huge value. HUGE!

Click on image to see it larger.