The Dress - Almost Twins?

During the 1970's, as my little brood traveled to Washington during the summer Judy and I had a chance to plan some projects together. We would discover that we often had purchased the same patterns - fabric, etc. (Later, Ann would join the mix - I still have a piece of fabric that we bought separately; she sewed hers first, and since we were in the same Ward, I didn't want to be a copycat, and still have the fabric in my cedar chest.). Anyway, we must have been together when we chose the pattern and fabric for this dress. (You will notice that mine was a little fancier - lace on the sleeves.) I loved this dress so much that I still have it tucked away, and Judy just confessed that hers is intact, too. Maybe it will go into a quilt some day. By the way, this dress was worn during the days of fashion of the mini skirt, so the choice was either a long dress or slacks - or jeans. That was the rule in my house, and it worked very well.
This picture is one that is part of an album - the kind with the magnetic leaves, so the background of the pages is turning brown from the acid in the paper. Unfortunately, I waited too long to remove the pictures, so scanning is the only way to preserve. Our first graders learned ITA (The Initial Teaching Alphabet), where each sound in the English language had a character. We took pictures of our first-grade class in various activities, and then had the children write stories about each picture. I'm sure you can read this one.

Petersens at Bloods 1974

Unfortunately, taken with a midget camera without more than 1 pixel but it's still worth saving.  I think.

Steve and Ann in the Cart Once More

Ann and Steve by the Washtub

This is another very early picture. I thought I was being creative by taking at an angle.  Steve and Ann were a more captive audience than the "older" girls were; hence I took more pictures of them. Don't get dizzy looking at it. I may end up posting pictures already posted before, who knows.

Eliz Near Future Lilac Bush: Another Early Brownie Photo

Isn't this picture worth the $1.98 the Brownie cost me?

Can you see the canvas clothespin bag?

Liz by Potential Lilac Bush

Probably not the first roll of film.  I'm guessing the Baby Brownie came in either 1946 or 1947.  I don't know why I bought it or where I got it, but I remember that I always wanted a camera and I was aware of the fact that no pictures were being taken of us precious children.

Steve B., first roll of Baby Brownie film

Looking back on it, the scraggly lilac bush was the only background in sight other than the clothesline telephone pole.

Judy B.: Maybe the first picture I ever took with my brand new Baby Brownie

More Data on Powell Wyoming branch library

I went to the online card catalogue (is it really a card catalogue?) and discovered that the Powell library no longer has any volumes of Billy Whiskers, nor do they have Snip, Snap, and Snur.  However, I am pleased to tell you they have one copy of the Norwegian Twins, published in 1930, if you wish to check that one out.  I cannot find data on how many books the Powell library has had, historically.  They must have had several hundred to keep Liz entertained in the 1940s.

Liz and gang in Powell

Not many pixels here, but you can see who they are.

Number of Books Per Capita in Powell WY, historically

Facts and Figures: Population of Powell in 1930: 1156  ; 1950 3804; 1960  4740; 2000 5373.  Lovell: 1930, 1686, 1950, 2175; 2000 2281.  Thus Lovell grew by about 500 people in 70 years, or a fraction of a person per year.  Powell grew 5 x more or less.  The point is, the Powell Library didn't need hardly any books in the 1930s and 1940s. Lovell needs only the same number of books now it had 70 years ago, plus maybe 10 or 20.  And maybe some updates.

May be Jack Davidson when we took Mom down to Tanners in Oregon?

Our hearts were young and gay: Ann and Paul times 2

Wonderful Wyoming History

While continuing my search for a photo of the old Powell library, I found this delightful website (used the Bing search).



http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/index.html   


Enoy!!!

P.S. What about Steve's outhouse.

Powell Library

When I looked at "The Powell Tribune" on line this morning, I was interested in one of the main front page stories - that of the Powell Library remodel. The old-fashioned '30s-style library (my uneducated guess as to period of architecture) (across the street from the old high school was certainly one of my favorite places to go in Powell. The first visit I remember was in the second grade, when I was often sent to the library during recess time (by myself) to check out three books at a time. My teacher must have been frustrated with me, because I was sent there often, and then required to read the books to myself in class. The habit stayed with me all through my schooling. Louise read "Jane Eyre" and "Gone With the Wind" when I was in the sixth grade, so I would sneak times to read from her books. (Only high school students could check those books out.) Six grade was a discovery year - I could put an open book on my old-fashioned desk seat, and keep track of the lesson at the same time. Reading under the covers with a flashlight was something I could do when Louise stayed overnight with a friend. In high school, I discovered that there were other books than fiction, and my reading life was greatly expanded. When I taught school in the '70's, I looked up some of the books I had read in high school, and found that only one or two students had checked out books like "Henry Esmond" and others of the old classics - and my name was still on the check-out card. The article in the paper mentioned that books that had not been read recently were removed from the shelves. Wish I had been there to claim some of them. The library was always a haven for me. I'm sure that the library is now very modern, with computers, and other up-to-date technology. It will be interesting to visit when we are next in Powell - a few years from now, probably. Take a minute now to go to the Tribune website.

Dad's Birthday

We do think of our father, Russell Marion Blood, as a cowboy, but in truth, he lived on his aunt Elsie and uncle Dewey Riddle's ranch from the age of 16 until he married our mother. While the ranch was a working ranch, it profited from the rage of the Eastern dudes (and dudenes), from the East, who came to live the make-believe Western life for a short time. Dad always loved his Stetson hats, and one would last forever, being gradually demoted from a "town" hat to the hat he wore to irrigate, drive the tractor, etc., only traded for a straw hat in the middle of summer. The conch (the round piece above) is from his conch belt, which he wore proudly for many years. I think that when it disintegrated, the conchs were distributed to me and my siblings. Do you have yours? The bucking horse was made into a pin, which school teachers and others proudly wore. Later, they were transformed into refrigerator magnets. The picture of Mother and Dad and baby Louise to the right, shows Dad dressed in the well-worn, practical clothes of a ranch hand. We usually celebrated Dad's birthday with a cake and the table set appropriately. He would come in from milking and comment that it must be somebody's birthday because of the way the table was set.