More Vineyard Photos from the 1950's

Here we are on a daytrip to Nantucket. I guess the day's dress code was blue sweaters for the boys and head scarves for the girls.

The clay cliffs of Gay Head (when we were allowed to climb them).

The girls are ready for the beach, just waiting for their driver.

The Vineyard in the 50's (i.e. Martha's)

Having gotten a new scanner last week, I've been busy digitizing old photographs and sending them to the subjects in them.

One group I've been working on is a set of black and white and a set of early Kodacolor snapshots taken in and around Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard.

We shared a house up there in the summers of the 1950's with a family of close friends. It was a great old cottage in the campground surrounding the Methodist Tabernacle. (We'd sneak off to the Catholic Church on Sundays!).

Each set of parents had a bedroom, my brother and I shared a bedroom, and my sister shared a room with the 2 girls in the other family.

Lots of swimming in Nantucket Sound or Tashmoo beaches, mucky clamdigging, fishing off the docks of Edgartown or Menemsha, salt water taffy from Heberts, conch shells, rainy day games and Flying Horses, and lobsters and clams after the waves of South Beach. Looking back, life was uncomplicated and every day was another adventure. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are from those summer weeks on the Vineyard. Haven't been there since 1965 when I spent a week on the Shenandoah during its first summer in the water. Can't wait to scan those photos!

My Fav 2009 Christmas Present

This mug is so special. It's a gift from my niece who has a thing for taking great photos and a talent doing great layout. A year ago, she spent a semester studying overseas and was in photo paradise. She put some favorites on a mug for her old uncle. Thanks, Laura!

Persimmon Time

This morning when I pulled up the shade and looked out the window at the rain, there "they" were. THE BIRDS, that is. On the very day the persimmons' ripeness is optimal, all variety of birds descend on the persimmon tree. There were robins, blue jays, sparrows, and all sorts of other little birds flitting in and out of the branches. All were feverishly pecking away on the ripe orange orbs weighing down the branches.

The tree has way too many fruits for me to use, so I don't mind feeding the birds. But, if I expected to have any persimmons at all for my Christmas Persimmon Puddin' I had better get out there in the rain and stake my claim.

This is some of what I was able to get.

The Littlest Turkey

Here is the 12 lb. turkey that came out of the oven Thursday afternoon. Yum Yum.

Topper Looks for "Truffles"

Topper's great fun this time of the year is searching for fallen walnuts with the gusto of French swine looking for truffles. Arf! Oink! Arf!

Autumn Comes to Healdsburg

It's the week before Thanksgiving and the leaves are finally turning.



This Crape Myrtle just off the south porch is one of the more colorful trees each year.


It's a little fuzzy because I shot this photo through the kitchen screen door.