I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter. It was very cold and rainy where we are. After the family got together I just wasn’t in the mood to write and sat down and read my book club book while the rain came down. I just knew that the writing would come later and today it did.
I have for your reading consideration three groups of spring duos. They were fun to write about, and I hope that you have fun reading about them. Thank you for reading and supporting my small genealogy family pages.
I don’t think you could get this result on our modern digital cameras if we tried. But back when the only way to get a picture was to use a camera with film it was easy to do. Double exposure was achieved when the same file was exposed multiple times without advancing the film. This resulted in multiple images being superimposed within a single film frame.
This photo is a super cute posing of twins Wayne and Wava on the front yard at the Miller farm. They look to be about 2 years old. Which would place this photo about 1948. I love the contrast of their hair. Wava with her curls and Wayne with his straight bright blonde hair. We have a photo of my dad with the same hairstyle with the cutest curls. Her dress has the cutest cap sleeves, but in the normal photo seem to have either contrasting cap sleeves or she’s wearing a short sleeved sweater. But in the double exposure you can clearly see that’s they are made out of the same fabric as the rest of the dress. Wayne’s just rocking the overall shorts. They seem to be posing so nicely, but you just know they are ready to move on from posing to playing.
I think I was 8 when I got a hand me down camera. It was hard to remember if I’d taken a photo or advanced the film. The first several batches of film that I had developed, had MANY double exposure photographs. But over the years those have become my favorite photos. Lately life is happening so quickly that it seems I have a bunch of double exposures.
Picket fences symbolize the American lifestyle, the perfect house and way of life that many people still want today. On the farm, though, a fence was important. It separated the house from the rest of the farm buildings and added security. Fences protected the house from any livestock and, I’m sure, added an aesthetic appeal.
Here, a young Kermit Miller stands patiently to get his photo taken. It looks to be a lovely spring day. I would imagine that he was between the ages of 10 and 13. Kermit was born in 1909, so that would place this photo in the early 1920s. I really like his overalls. Overalls were invented by the Levi Strauss Co. in the 1890s. Workers would wear them because they were cheap, durable, and comfortable.
There appears to be an electrical or telephone pole to the left of Kermit. While phones began appearing in stores or communities in the 1880s, it wasn’t until party lines became popular that individuals had phones. And while we like to think that electricity has always been around, it might not have made its way to the Miller farm when this photo was taken.
We know that the Miller family has had far from a white picket fence existence. Each generation has had it’s struggles, but what we have always been able to count on is each other. May we each have our own fences to help us when needed, to keep us secure and safe or just a pretty thing to look at.
What a lovely spring day we are having today. I’m hoping that you are having good weather, too! This winter has been busy and hectic for my family, leaving me little time to do what I like to do: write things for you. While I wasn’t writing, I was working on photos and how I could bring them to you more frequently. We shall see. I hope that you have a great week and hope to write more soon.
Today I have some fun photos for your viewing enjoyment. Some postcards that Jean’s Uncle Fred mailed her. Me and my brother with our grandparents, Eunice and Kermit Miller. And siblings Dick and Nancy Anderson. The new year has begun and winter has arrived. It’s very cold where I am so I hope you are tucked in somewhere warm and with these blog pages you can’t go wrong! Thanks for reading!
I didn’t use to think I was lucky. I was the only grandchild who remembered Kermit. I felt that there was a lot on my shoulders to hold the scant memories I had of him tight and not think about or talk about them. No one else had them so if I talked about them would it be bragging?
I remember him being tall, but then almost everyone is taller than I am. I wanted to be tall, but I feel I am more Eunice and Lydia then the taller, svelte women on my mothers side of the family. Being short does not make me feel lucky. But then I think about the one strong memory I have of Kermit. While it’s sad, I cling to it as hard as I can.
I was three. I lived in Lexington, Kentucky with my parents, Raymond and Joyce and my younger brother Mark. We got the call that my dad needed to return to illinois quickly if he wanted to say goodbye to his father. Kermit was sick and in the hospital. They felt he would soon die. I remember driving in the car what seemed like a LONG time. Mark and I had just learned how to sing the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and I’m sure we must have driven my mother crazy singing it as we drove to pick up my father who was in Indiana working.
I remember being at the hospital, a big thing during those days. Children were not allowed in the hospital, and they had to get special permission for us to visit. Mark and I were supposed to sing our new song for him, but it ended up being a solo when he wouldn’t sing with me. I remember Aunt Wava standing by his bed, a sheepskin lying across his bed. His hands stroked the fleece. Afterward, Eunice took us out into the hallway and peeled an orange for us to share. Sometimes I smell an orange and it takes me back to that time.
So am I lucky? I am blessed beyond measure.
Hello Family and Friends! This is my most favorite blogging day out of the whole scheduled year! The day I get to make videos showcasing all the photos I used in 2024. This year the photos and the music were so a seemless easy fit the videos almost made themselves. Or maybe after 5 years of making them, I finally know what I’m doing. The music is by RomanSenykMusic, and I belong to his Patreon group. This way, I can use his music as YouTube limits you regarding music with copyright stuff. Today I bring you all three blog videos togeter as one. Not sure why I’ve never done this before, but plan to do it a lot in the future. So, without further ado, here’s this year’s look back. I hope you enjoy it!
Well, 2024 has come and gone. Today, I’m pleased to bring you a look back at all the photos I used last year. This is one of my favorite things to do with our photos. I love picking the music and trying to match it with the spirit of the pictures. The music is by RomanSenykMusic, and I belong to his Patreon group. This way, I can use his music as YouTube limits you regarding music with copyright stuff. But without further ado, here’s this year’s look back. I hope you enjoy it!
Wow, I can’t believe that Christmas is only 10 days away. That means that we are only 17 days away from a new YEAR! Over the next two weeks, I will not be writing any family posts until the first week of 2025. On a good day, getting everything written, posted, and scheduled on social media platforms can be tough, so I usually take this time off to relax with my family and prepare for the coming year. I will continue to post photos on the Facebook and Instagram pages through the holidays. Speaking of the Holidays, they are the perfect time to thank you for reading my family pages, supporting them, and commenting on the photos. It means a lot to me, and I wish you a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. I’ll see you next year. 🙂
PS – that always makes me laugh when I say it. I always work the Christmas and New Year holidays and telling the kids and their families that I’ll see them next year always puts a smile on my face and gives me a giggle. May your New Years be FULL of smiles and giggles.
This weekend, Nathan Schneiderman married his Emily, and I’ve enjoyed seeing all the photos from picturesque Mexico. It looks like they’ve had a lovely time and many blessings on their union. When I looked to see what photo I had planned for today I discovered it was a photo I’d already done. So I got to looking through some pictures I still need to scan and came across these lovelies. And since I believe Kermit and Eunice were at the ocean, I wanted to share them.
Ok, I don’t know for sure they are at the ocean, but now tell me if I’m wrong, I do not see Eunice getting her feet wet, shoes and all, to go in any body of water that’s not an ocean! Based on the style of her hair and some other photos I have in which she looks similar, I think that these photos were taken around 1955. I love that they got as close to the ocean as possible. The first time I saw it and was able to go in, I was in jeans, and nothing was going to stop me from putting my feet in the Atlantic. In the middle photo, it looks like there might be a pier or a water break.
Now, my dad says that Kermit and Eunice would go to the Florida Keys with family friends, but to me, these don’t look like Florida. I could be wrong, but Eunice’s coat looks too hefty for the warm Florida temperatures. At first, I thought Kermit had something on his tie, but I believe that’s just the design. But Eunice is wearing a lovely corsage on her coat. I’m left wondering and wishing I knew where they’d gone and what they were doing, as it looks like they were having a lot of fun.
