Winter in Penrose

After Christmas - Judy, was the snow so bright? We are all looking down a bit - my coat was a Christmas present - I loved the hood - thought it was so dramatic. The cellar, corral, milking barn, and garage that was built onto the shop lean-to are in the background. (Never could figure out how Mother or Dad could maneuver into that garage.)

Well Who (Whom?) Do We Have Here?

Czech Ancestors?

Here is another unlabed picture. The photo was actually made into a post card which was never used for mailing. Does anyone know where this might have come from or who it might be?

Dad's work on the Heart Mountain Reclamation Project

Dad worked on constructing the forms for the ditches that ran throughout the Heart Mountain Reclamation Project. His immediate boss was a man by the last name of Knowlton, whom Dad referred to as "Old Man Knowlton". This was the year that a regular paycheck came in, and we had a big-time Christmas - the freestanding Philco radio-phonograph, records to play, the Schwinn bike? (or was that an earlier Christmas?), etc. After Sunday School one Sunday, we went out to the project to see where Dad had beenw orking. Spaces looked so vast - now there are irrigated farms. You can't help but notice that the wind is blowing. When the homesteaders first planted crops, the wind blew so hard that sometimes it blew the seed away, and they had to replant.
In the top picture, Louise is wearing the beautiful turquoise and brown plaid suit that she made. Mother is in the "ditch", and from back to front, Dwight, Dad, Judy, and Louise. In the next picture, I'm not sure if Dwight was posing, or I just took the opportunity to take his picture from the back. If you can enlarge the bottom picture, you will see Dad, Mother, and Steve in the ditch. Where is Ann? In the car? Still recovering? Was this one of those days that Mother had made a sheet cake in the old black cake pan, and we picnicked? I do remember stopping somewhere where there was a hill that Steve ran down, and covered himself in cactus stickers that it took Mom all evening to pull out. He was covered with mercurochrome.

A Day at the Manti Temple

Beaded Purse

This little purse was my most prized possession when I was a little girl. I remember playing with it a lot. I was heartbroken when the one strand of beads came off; I don't remember if Mother had me put it away at that time. I was told that Aunt Rose had sent it, but I don't recall that I ever knew that it had been Grandmother Louise's. So the letter from Aunt Rose telling about that brought tears to the surface when Ann read it to me. It is another remarkable connectiobn to a sweet grandmother.

Tidbits from Letters

The summer of 1959 was a most interesting one on the farm. While Mother was in Laramie finishing her degree, Dad, Judy, Steve and me were home trying to keep things going. The letters that went back and forth are full of little tidbits that seem like a fun thing to share. The quotes are in order of when the letters were written between Dad and Mother, and Mother often included the three of us kids in hers. Here are just some snippets.
June 9, 1959
Dear Family,
What a joke: come clear down to Laramie to read pottery!
The trip down was without mishap tho I began to wonder a couple of times. Climbing a long rather steep grade on the Me. Bow road and again climbing a rise on Highway 30 the car began to jerk as if a tire were so flat it was ready to fall off. By that route it is 395 miles, and I was here about 4 o'clock. . . .
This doesn't bear much resemblance to any other rural week I've attended; only 13 hours in class plus about 2 hrs a day of outside reading. I can't say it's my choice but it certainly has correspondence beat for easy.
I never did really answer Stephen about going to the Dr., but if he's having trouble, he'd better see what he can do.
June 10, 1959
I'll probably see Dwight and Velna this week end. They expect to come up here Fri - Dwight to go to Cheyenne that P.M. and stay here Fri. night then I'll go to Ft. C. Sat. a.m. Maybe so -
Friday, June 12
Dear Minnie,
We had a big day Sun. Also I got stuck with the Gospel Doctrine class and came through the ordeal fairly well without any preparation. Our Sun. nite program also was fairly successful so thats over with.
This week has gone fairly fast. If the others do as well maybe we'll survive, the girls have been cleaning house, and Steve and I have been building fence and milking cows, got our milk check yesterday 25% surplus. Fred is already to quit, our check was $523. It should have been ordinarily about $625.
Dear Russell,
How are you surviving this operation? Time really is moving right along; Today was Mon., tomorrow-Tues, next is Wed., almost the end of the week and that makes half of this job done.
I've been wondering at odd moments how things were behaving for you at home, and I hope it's at least good enough. Probably will be too good. Then I'll have to find another boarding place when I get thru here.
Sunday Afternoon June 28
Dear Minnie,
Thanks for the papa's day letter, it sounds like you are being taken care of by the Blacks in pretty good fashion. We have had almost unbearably hot weather up until the middle of last week. The last three days have been quite cool. We even got desperate and built a fire in the kitchen stove this noon to keep from freezing while we ate dinner.
Well, the ordeal is half over. It seems to be going quite fast at times, but as Steve said the other day it sure has been a long June. We have kept busy goodness knows. I've had quite a session with your old friend the garden tractor, but we have the garden under pretty good control, the corn is excellent, tomatoes, you wouldn't know them, but those goofy kids must have planted the potatoes too deep, or as I tell them, they didn't put the eyes up, because just a few of them came. Tuesday Evening June 30
Dear Family,
It no longer is at the half way mark, but there are only 2 weeks and 3 days left. I think we're doing pretty good. Along with Pop's letter today I got a letter from Liz and all my correspondence lessons. She had been to the dentist and had another tooth pulled and is going to get 2 wisdom teeth pulled. Then she has 26 cavities to be filled!
Dwight came over from Cheyenne last night and stayed here. He is sure fired up about his job. I think he will really enjoy it, he'll be in contact with so many kinds of people.
Wed. Evening (postmarked July 9)
Dear Russell, and Judy, and Ann, and Steve,
Know what? One week and one day after tomorrow and we'll have the job whipped! Then we'll be ready for another one (T.V. set?) I hope it will prove worthwhile to everyone. I know I've surely got a lot of good out of the deal. . . . And Judy, there's about a dozen flour sacks in the closet you could have for dish towels, if you get them hemmed and washed. . . .
With love to you all -
Mother
Yippee! No more
Correspondence
Courses!

Lovell Sugar Factory

What thoughts does this inspire?

Tilda Wasden and the Manti Temple

Aunt Cindy sent this to me when she sent my wedding dress and it is a treasured gift. Our Grandma did work at the Manti Temple. Note the signature on her admittance to the dedication. It was the place where she married James Wasden. And then in 1939, our parents and three oldest siblings were sealed together in that temple. I am hoping the Louise, Dwight and Elizabeth will supply the story of that experience.

Ann by the Pigpen; Nice Hat!

Spoons

I always thought that silverware was important because when Dad would get out the roll of silverware from his mother, we thought they were very special. When we married, he gave us each a sample, so that we would own something that came from the grandmother that we had never met. So, when I inherited the six silver teaspoons from Grandma and Grandpa Wasden, I just rolled them up in the Pacific cloth and tucked them away. I don't know their history - anybody? The top picture shows three of those spoons. The next picture is a mystery - two rather ornate spoons with cabins on the handle much like the cabins on the Log Cabin Syrup spoon that is shown next. (When son Tony worked at Fredericks & Nelson at the mall in Olympia, he came home one day very excited because he had seen a similar spoon ((the Log Cabin Syrup spoon)) at a kiosk at an antique show that was at the mall, and it was selling for $25.) The bottom picture is of one of the peacock spoons that Mother prized, as well as the Log Cabin Syrup spoon. After Mother died, and Dad asked Judy, Ann, and me to divide most of her things, we gave a peacock spoon and a Log Cabin Spoon to each of you - 6 of each.

I'm coming to the conclusion that silver spoons come in sets of six. By the way, there is a reason for the saying about being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. The healing powers of silver are well known, and if you could feed your child with a silver spoon, the likelihood was that he/she would be healthier. I was struck, when at Kirtland, Ohio going through the historical sites of the Church, to see in a cradle a baby bottle with the sucking aparatus made of lead - and people wondered why infant mortality was so high! It is interesting that Mother had very few things that belong to her parents, but these six spoons were obviously important to her.

Wedding of Megan Blood and Alan Seawright

Judy has requested that I post photos of Megan and Alan's wedding.  More are posted on the Summer Mornings D&V Blood family blog, linked on the right.  My motto has become "today's events are tomorrow's history."  Very profound.

Letter from Grandma Wasden

I loved this letter - written in 1960, Grandma is still worried about Mother staying out of mischief. Once a parent, always a parent. I have several letters that Grandma wrote to Mother and Dad, as well as letters that went back and forth between Mother in Laramie, while she was finishing her degree, and the rest of us in Penrose. If you are interested in copies of any of these, please let me know, and I will make copies and mail them to you, one day.

Dad's Missionary Call

This is a neat little piece of Dad's history. I remember when he was called to serve a Stake Mission - he struggled so hard with how he would do it, could he do it, etc. He tried hard to do his best with a calling that was very difficult for him.

Comic Book Cover

I realize we had this conversation a few postings ago, but it is way too hot to work outside. I just ran across this as I was looking for something else and thought it might stir some memories for someone. The copyright on this is 1949/1950.

On a Summer's Day (or Two)

Candid shots were my aim. I went around all summer long trying to catch my younger sisters and brother in a variety of shots that would tell a story. And they do, to a certain extent. (I didn't have a flash, so faces are dark, but you can tell who everyone is.) This must be the summer after Ann was so ill, because she is so skinny! That pile of lumber sat in front of the shop for a long time. What was it ever used for? And the picture of Judy tieing Steve's shoes on the road to the east of the shop - look how unfinished the lean-to that Dad had built onto the shop was. I remember that it was too cold to do anything in it in the winter time. There was a box of Dad's old books stored in the lean-to - Horatio Alger, and some others that ended up in the house. I used to go read on a summer's day, often keeping company with a mouse or two.

Back to Judy and Steve. She was ever the "big" sister to Ann and Steve. They were the rapscalions. Right? Since there was five years' difference between Judy and me, she was techically the first child of the second family - giving her leadership attributes, etc., etc., etc.

Back to Grandpa Wasden's birthday, 1951

I could have cropped this so that you couldn't see cousin Newel Sorensen running across the background. I felt very grown up in this store-boughten dress. Is this a pose, or what? (Elizabeth Blood [Gage]. (I always took such lousy pictures - thought this one was more like the person I imagined in the mirror.)

Sunday Funnies - Ann and Steve intent on their reading

Often, after Sunday School, we would stop at the drug store in Powell that would be open, and purchase a copy of the Denver Post. Besides the comics section, there would be a rotragavure section, which had some of the most wonderful photos. (not color!) After lunch (then called Dinner) and the dishes, we would all settle down and read the paper (an approved Sunday activity?), then Mother and Daddy would take a nap, and we could be at our Sunday leisure to read, color in coloring books, play with paper dolls, or whatever we wanted to - no work. One of my earliest memories is of Mother sitting in the hammock with me in the yard at the little brown house where some of us were born, and reading Prince Valient to me. Money was very scarce then, but there must have been an occasional newspaper.

Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning

"Loving teachers kindly greet us as we meet in Sunday School, where they labor hard to teach us......." I do not have a year for this picture of Mother's Sunday School class, but it has to be in the late 50s. She taught this class faithly for many years consecutively. I believe it was 7. Have fun identifying who is who. When you enlarge it be sure to pull picture over from the left to get everybody..

Grandma Wasden's Brother John

So, who was John Christenson, some of you may ask. When I posted the picture I was so sure everyone would jump in with stories about him, but since we are all a little puzzled, and grandchildren are, perhaps, really wondering how he fits in, I went to the book "Kindred Saints", which is written about John's son Alvin and his wife, Kathryne - their parents, grandparents, etc. John Christenson is the full brother (as opposed to half brother) of Tilda Christena Christenson Wasden. The book talks about how he registered as a Democrat (obviously an important factor to some in our family). He worked with Grandpa Wasden (James) in Yellowstone, and really seemed to struggle with health problems all his life. He was a store owner, an insurance salesman, and a salesman for Utah Woolen Mills, as well as some other companies, and, according to the book, was a hard worker as he provided for his family. The book talks about how close John's family was to his wife's family, (Sophia Peterson-Stor) and how little they knew about John's mother, Christena, although John and his wife did name one of their children Minnie, after Minnie Taylor, Grandma Wasden's sister. One other thing that is very important to point out is how the gospel played such a major role in John's life. As I remember our Grandmother Tilda and the importance the gospel was in her life, it seems to tell us how precious the gospel was in their home as they grew up. That is nice to know. Our Aunt Sofe had supplied some of the information on John that is included in the "Kindred Saints" book. Let me know if you want to know more and I will read on.

More Unnamed Relatives - Maybe

This picture was in an envelope from Aunt Eva. Somehow I suspect Betty Sullivan could help identify these people. Any ideas???

Christmas Cards from Home

Aunt Rose had sent Mother and Dad an envelope with several treasures in it. Among them were these cards that had been sent to Aunt Rose. She thought Mother and Dad would like to have them back. It has been fun when, over the years, both Steve and Elizabeth have gone in the same direction. What a nice keepsake.

Another Portrait of Grandmother Louise

If this one has already been posted, please forgive the duplication. The note on the picture says Louise was 20 years old when this was taken.

Mother, Cindy and Elna

Mystery Picture

We (I) don't know who this is. Could it be Grandmother and Grandfather (great/great???) Hawkins, could it be from the Scripture family? Could it be Grandmother and Grandfather (great) Blood. The picture was in an envelope from Aunt Eva with a somewhat confusing note that "This is a picture of your (Dad/Russell) grandmother Blood and Grandfather Blood. There is a note from Mother (Minnie) that says could it be Grand father and Grandmother Hawkins? The picture was taken in Park Rapids, Minnesota. Please help if anyone knows who this might be.

Letter From Aunt Rose

This letter is priceless. It gives the history of several treasures that are out there among us. Who has what? Pictures please. I do have the battenburg lace tablecloth and the battenburg lace collar that Grandmother Louise made, and will get them posted.

Bohemian Embroidery

This lovely piece of embroidery has been around for a long time. Like so many other family memorbilia, it had residence in the big cedar chest. The handwork was done by Grandma Louise as stated in the letter from Aunt Rose (posted above). It is beautiful and it is without a single loose thread.

A Companion to the Previous Post

If you click on the image, hopefully you can see the details on this document. If it doesn't work, please let me know how to fix it. This is a copy that Mother or Dad had requested in the mid 1960's. The document I have is a bad copy of the original, but hopefully this will give everyone a copy of it for your own.

Hmmm Where Did This Come From

Last night at the reception for Dwight's granddaughter, he and I were talking about the amazing amount of historical treasures we have been able to share through the blog. As I was looking through a few things this morning (I am really supposed to be outside planting the flower beds and tomato plants), I found an absolute treasure and wanted to share it.

Down by the River Side

In the days when we didn't have any better sense, Louise, Judy, and I (Elizabeth) went for a hike down by the Shoshone River. We all wore the woven wool scarves that Mother made sure were in place anytime we left the house in winter time. Looks a little chilly! Don't ask me why the pose was to get nearer to the snow and ice.