The Wawona Tree

Yosemite   150062

by the giant sequoia

Here's a group of us gathered around the base of a giant sequoia tree.  The picture was taken in the mid 1950's.  I can see my brother and sister and me  standing in the center of the front row.  That is about all I can say concerning this picture.  I need to do more research on this one.  Enjoy looking at the tree, though.  It's magnificent.

bridge at Japanese gardens

Here we are again in San Francisco.  It is the mid 1950's and we are on our summer road trip along the coastline of California.  On this day we were visiting the Japanese Gardens and having a lot of fun crossing this bridge.  All five of us are climbing on the very steep bridge.  Susan's red scarf is still keeping her ears warm.

my glamor shot

This is the closest to a glamor shot of me that there will ever be.  There is no filter on the lens...just an old hazy picture.  I was twenty five years old at the time.  Note the brass bed that I am sprawled out on.  Oh, my.  I have nothing else to say about this.

my plaid pants

Oh. My. Goodness.  I came across this picture recently.  I am twenty eight years old and I am sitting in the basement of the parsonage on Alabama Avenue.  I am wearing some outrageous early 1970's attire and my hair is set in huge curlers.  High waisted bell bottom plaid pants (my design!).  check  Short sleeve sweater worn over a big pointy collared shirt.  check  Who knows what's on my feet!  (probably stacked heel clogs).  check  Was I wearing white socks??  Please tell me NO!   And I thought I looked really, really good.  So in style for the times.  Okay.....I'm cute.  (was)  (still)

Jean at 27

Here I am, sitting with my oldest son on his first birthday in March of 1975.  We were living in a three room apartment on the first floor of an old row house in York, Pennsylvania at that time.  I made those curtains that are hanging in the window.  I also made the little romper overall that my son is wearing.  He is so cute!  My hair is worn long and straight with a sharp center part, as was the style of the time.  I've got my black turtleneck Danskin on and it is most likely paired with bell bottom hip hugger jeans.  Comfort clothes!  Ah, what days those were.

me at 29

Here I am at the age of twenty nine holding my youngest son.  My older son was three years old.  The year is 1977 and I had my hands full raising the kids.  I loved it.  I was a big fan of scarves and I always wore a cute scarf in my hair.  I needed to pull my hair back in a pony tail just to keep it out of the way and a pretty scarf just seemed to complete the look I was going for at the time--cool, hip chic mom.  Nice jeans, always.  Red t-shirts were my fave.  I think I was a fairly easy going mom.  The only rule I followed was "play hard and when you're done, line those toys up against the wall" (or another way of saying it is "Park your toys now!  You know where they go.")  Over forty years has passed since this picture was taken.  Same straight hair and, hey, another red shirt.  Some things don't change.  Wait...where's my scarf?

apologizing

One thing (of many things) I have learned about me over these many years is that it is very important for me to face the person I have hurt when I apologize.  It is hard.  It can be scary.  Sometimes it is embarrassing.  I certainly don't know what the outcome will be going into the apology and I don't know if the apology will even be accepted.  I just know that this is what I need to do.  I think about it this way.  I need to see the face of the person I have hurt.  I need to stand there and listen to their response.  I need to feel the pain I may have caused by my careless words or actions.  I need to see the pain (or anger) in their face.  I need to stand before them and receive their blessing (or not) and know that I have come before them with sincerity.  There may be easier ways to do this but I know for me that this way is the right way...for me.

why I always "say something" nice

Many years ago I passed up an opportunity to say something nice to an elderly woman as I walked to my car after church with two small kids in tow.  The newborn and toddler were hungry and I needed to go home.  I saw the woman standing up by the front door of the church and I wanted to go back to her and show her the new baby.  But I didn't.  I thought that I would have the time to do that on the following Sunday.  That never happened.  I never saw her again.  I was so upset when I heard she had passed away and I was very upset with myself for not taking the time to do what I knew in my heart I should have done.  I made a promise right then and there that I was not going to let another kind word go unsaid.  I have commented to clerks and tellers about the perfect color of shirt or blouse that they were wearing.  I once told a daddy at WD World (who was minding his toddler daughter while mama was enjoying a roller coaster ride) that he was the perfect daddy and his love for his daughter (and caring for his wife) just glowed from within.  There are a number of times that I have just stopped what I was doing and taken the time to "say something" to someone and it has made all the difference to me and to the person that I am speaking with.  I just HAVE to say something.  That is the promise I made to myself a long time ago.  It is a promise I keep.

another look

Here's one more picture of my sister and I and our elementary school teacher.  The picture was taken last June in Paynesville, Minnesota.  What a wonderful woman and an excellent educator.   p.s.  What's up with my crazy face?  

Dad and me

This picture was taken June 23, 2007.  It was the day before my Dad's ninetieth birthday and our family was celebrating with a picnic at the beach.  Family from all over the country had gathered for the weekend of festivities.  The big reception was coming the next day.  Okay, so now you see where my big forehead comes from.  It's a family thing.  We've all got 'em.

years later

If you go back and look at the picture in the post called FOUR FRIENDS you will see me and Janet standing next to each other on Confirmation Sunday.   Here we are together again fifty four years later.  We have visited each other several times over the years whenever I am in Minnesota.  This picture was taken in August of 2016.  Getting together with friends from the past is so much fun.

the church newsletter

For many years my siblings and I appeared in a picture that was placed on the cover of the church newsletter.  I have saved several of these newsletters from different years and they have been  carefully stored in my collection of family photos.  We were the minister's kids and that is how and why we were pictured in the newsletter.  Hey, happy (holi)day to everyone.

eating with a friend

I don't really know too much about this picture from my photo archive.  My brothers and my sister along with my mother and me are visiting at someone's house and we are about to eat.  My dad is most likely taking the picture.  I can't recall who the woman seated in the center is but I have seen several other pictures in this series where this woman is present and I believe this is her home.  The wallpaper is very distinctive.  I need to do more investigation into the who's and the where's.  I look to be about seven years old in this picture taken in the mid 1950's.

baby Jason

Here is a picture of my oldest son when he was about four months old.  He needed the support of the high backed chair to sit upright.  I just think he is adorable.  (and don't we all need a little support from time to time?)  Go Jason!!

Monkee business

It was 1986 and here we were just waiting for the Monkee reunion tour show to start.  The concert venue was a dinner theater and we were having a good time just eating, laughing and excitedly waiting for the Monkees to gather on stage and sing.  Linda, Barb, Vicki and I had attended their first concert in the Twin Cities area twenty years earlier and now we were together again for another festive evening of entertainment.  What a fun evening!  We had aged a bit...but so had everyone else in the room.  We were all fans just having a good time.  p.s.  Look at my curly perm hairdo!  And, those bangs!  Okay, I guess my hair HAS gone through a few changes over the years.

fishing buddies

Here I am with my brothers and a nice catch of fresh water fish.  I am thinking this picture was taken up at the cabin by Lake Villard.  I appear to be about three years old and my brothers would then be five and seven years old.  That lake was a great place to fish and it was a very good place to teach kids to fish using a drop line or a simple rod and reel while sitting in the old row boat in the shallow, marsh-y end of the lake.  I have fond memories of that place.  I always will.

state park camping

Whitewater, Sibley, Lake Shetek, Itasca.  These are just a few of the names of state parks in Minnesota where my family spent weeks during the summer enjoying the outdoor life of camping.  We got up early, ate breakfast and then we were off for the days adventure.  At least twice a day we went swimming.  That was our favorite past time.  We were able to freely roam the campground and find things to do on our own. The only requirement was to show up at meal time.  I loved the evenings even more than the days.  That's because we spent time in front of the campfire and that meant we were roasting marshmallows and making s'mores.  There was singing and storytelling.  Ghost stories were abundant (and embellished).  What a fun time we had and what a lasting memory was made of life in the outdoors.

baby Jean

I was about a year old in this picture.  The photographer came to my parents house and this picture was taken in the living room.  I was sitting on the piano bench.   A lovely cloth covered the bench and I was given a small rubber ball to hold.  This was my official baby picture and copies of this picture were framed and hung in both of my grandparents homes.  What a cutie.

the Airstream

Here is how I describe the metamorphosis of our summer vacations/road trips.  tent, tent trailer, trailer   Or, Coleman, Higgins, Airstream  That really sums it up perfectly.  We started out as a family in the early 1950's with a tent and all the gear that went with it.  In the mid '50's we moved up to a tent trailer and hit the state parks and other roadside camping venues in comfort...or so we thought.  Then, in 1959 we acquired the top of the line mecca of house trailers--the Airstream (also known as the silver bullet).  How grand is that?!?  With the Airstream came the opportunity to join the Wally Byum Caravan Club (named after the guy who invented the stainless steel aluminum wonder on wheels).   With that, we were now able attend local camping events around the state of Minnesota and also participate in the national rally held every summer somewhere in the USA.  My Dad was president of the Minnesota chapter the very year that the national rally was held in Bemidji.  We got to park our trailer in presidents row.  Now that was special!!  Other traveling opportunities became available following the rally.  Attendees could join a trailer caravan and travel as a group to destinations inside or outside of the US.  One summer we were able to jump on a caravan traveling throughout eastern Canada.  What fun.  Anyway, this is what we did as I was growing up.  Coleman, Higgins, Airstream.  Each experience was different.  Each  experience was great fun.

four friends

Here we are, all four of us, in the Fellowship Hall after services on Confirmation Sunday.  Yes, there are four of us in this picture.  Unfortunately Sheri is lost in the shadows.  Sheri, Linda, Janet and I have been friends since we were babies, basically.  Even though we lived in different communities (suburbs) and we went to rival high schools, we had church in common.  Sunday School, choir, MYF--all of it.  And what a blast we had!!  Now it's Confirmation Sunday and we were just confirmed into church membership.  What a great day to share with friends.  Nice hair, everyone.

a special April morning

Look at me.  I'm wearing my confirmation robe.  It's a beautiful Sunday morning in April of 1962 and I am posing for the camera in the living room of my home on Alabama Avenue. Photographs always record the special times and this is one of them.  It's confirmation day.  This is the first time I have worn a ceremonial robe.  I feel so special.  Hey, look at my new shoes.  I feel pretty.  And special.  And very happy.  And pretty.

confirmation day

On a Sunday morning in April of 1962 I was confirmed into the church.  I was fourteen years old.  I was part of a large confirmation class that met every Saturday morning at the church and after much study, memorization and testing, we were deemed ready for church membership.  This is my special dress that I wore for the first time on that special day.  The cotton dress had puff sleeves and a fitted midriff and it was a beautiful light aqua in color.  High heels, oh yes!  Do you like my corsage?  Carnations.....my favorite.  Being confirmed was one of those right of passage moments for me.  I now belonged to something big.  (It was a good hair day for me, too)

thank a teacher--Miss Heidtke

Do you remember how tall your teachers were when you were back in elementary school?ummm.....they really weren't as tall as you may think they were.  Here I am standing next to my first (and fourth) grade teacher, Miss Heidtke.  I believe she is barely five feet tall.  But, what a presence she had in the classroom.  She taught me how to read!  I loved our reading groups with names like bluebirds, robins and cardinals.  Here is an incident I remember very clearly from the first grade.  I was walking home from school on a warm (by Minnesota standards) Spring afternoon and I stopped to look at all of the melted snow water gushing into a storm drain.  I bent over to get a closer look and my textbook slipped from my hands and fell through the grate into the storm drain.  I couldn't rescue my book and I was so upset that I ran home crying all the way.  I was sobbing as I told my parents what had happened.  The next day my Dad went over to the school and talked to the teacher and made arrangements to pay for the book.  Later in the day my teacher called me to her desk and she, along with my Dad, presented to me another book.  I was still sad and started to cry as I swore I would take very good care of the replacement book.  Miss Heidtke comforted me by saying that perhaps the book floated all the way through the earth and some child in China would find the book  and read it.  That made me feel better.  I mentioned this to Pearl (as she prefers to be called now) a couple of years ago when I visited with her after sixty plus years.  She was delighted to hear the story of the lost textbook and was doubly delighted to be remembered as a caring teacher.  She was a great teacher and always will be remembered that way.  p.s.  In an earlier post I wrote about the time I was caught running around the schoolroom while the teacher was out and being given the punishment of sitting on a little chair out in the hallway for all who passed by to see.  Same teacher, same classroom right across the hall from the principals office, same silly me.  Thank you again and again, Miss (Pearl) Heidtke.  You are one of the best!

the '59 chevy station wagon

I remember this car well.  It's a 1959 Chevy station wagon and it had cat's eyes!  I love the styling of the tail lights.  I believe this is my favorite vintage car.  Here we are dressed up for some Airstream trailer function as we are all wearing our official Wally Byum Caravan Club hats.  I can see Susan, Steven, Keith, Duane, our mom, myself and another couple posing for this picture.  Rock on...and go Chevy!!