To toss, or not to toss!

In the process of sorting through a very large number of photos - that span a very large number of years - I have come across many a blurry, badly composed photo.  But upon reflection, if it represents a time and place that I don't want to forget,  it doesn't get tossed.  

The above photo is one such photo.  The back says Christmas of 1979, but I think it's 1980 - for one thing, Phoebe looks a lot older than 2 here!  It was such fun to be back in CA.  It was such fun to hang out with Leslie once more - and to have her there as "the aunt" for the girls to enjoy.

"Big" hair was coming into vogue.  And Leslie had such lovely, "big" hair.  Overalls were coming into vogue also - Bonny's were pink.  And Strawberry Shortcake came on the scene.  She would figure significantly in Phoebe's childhood experiences.  Who wants to forget that?

You can see why it's taking me so long to get all these photos sorted!

The pioneer dress rides again!!

I thought Phoebe must have worn the famous pioneer dress - and when I did a post on it, I had not found this photo.  Perhaps one will show up with Hannah in it - then the story will be complete!!  (Unless Bonny has photos of her girls wearing it?  Do you??)

This is 1982 - at the Huntington Library.

What goes around, comes around - and aren't we glad it does??

Agnes got an American Girl doll for her birthday yesterday - and she was pretty excited!

 

25+ years ago her mom got a Cabbage Patch doll for her birthday - and she was pretty excited too!!

Sometimes it's just not too hard to bring a big smile to a little girl's face!

(The funny story about Phoebe's doll - which I'm sure I've told before - is that we went to buy it and there was only one left.  I picked it up - and noticed that it was $37 - which seemed outrageous to me.  I walked around the store debating whether to get it or not - saying to Bonny and Harry F. - "Your dad will flip when he finds out what it cost!"  And then Harry F. said, "Well, you could buy it and take it outside to the parking lot and sell it for $75 - and there's a line of people following us around to see if you are going to put it down!"  Harry the Dad did indeed "flip" when he heard the price.  But when he saw the look of pure joy on Phoebe's face when she opened it up, he said, "Well, you sure called that one right Barb!")

Long, long ago!!

Margie, Sharen, Kristen

 

 

I am slogging ahead with my photo sorting - actually making progress.  In the midst of my sorting, I came across some junior high photos - and started sharing them with a group of friends I have known since kindergarten.  The above three girls - Margie, Sharene, and Kristen - were friends I met in junior high.  Kristen was also in my ward.  The way they are dressed is just the way we dressed on cold California days - the head scarves especially are my fave!!  (I had a little wardrobe of head scarves even!!)

My friends and I from kindergarten have a semi-Round Robin email letter going - and the photos I post - so far the others don't have any posted yet - elicit long-forgotten times, names, and places.  Laurie, one of the girls, said, after I had posted several school photos, "Well, if I'd passed them in Trader Joe's and they looked like that, I would have recognized them!!"  It's funny how when we know the name, and see a photo, it all comes back.  But if we just saw them now, without a name, we wouldn't necessarily know them.  Names do help, even without photos.

As we were chatting, Carol pops up with a college website in Oregon and says, "Is this our Bobby?"  And I went to the site - and Bobby had not changed much - his red hair was just white!!  So we all emailed him - and he's probably wondering about these crazy women, but wrote back that he'd send an autobiography!!

This prompted the recommendation from me that we plan a reunion - in January it will have been 50 years since we all graduated from Granada Hills High School.  27 years ago we had an informal reunion at Carol's house in Thousand Oaks - time for another one - but none of us have kept track of anyone except each other - other than the aforementioned Bobby!!

Everyone says "Oh, you can find anyone on the Internet."  But I don't think that's totally true.  And most of the sites we did find cost money to join - and they are sneaky - they have you register, but don't tell you the cost!!  You have to be pretty savvy.  We did find one for GHHS that had a "Memorial Wall" so we at least have an idea of some of those who have died - and there were at least a dozen we've found so far.  Sad because our class only had 90 kids in it!

 The aforementioned "Bobby" at the 9th grade dance.

 

Anyway, we will not be deterred - and if you have any suggestions, send them along.  The reunion 27 years ago was facilitated by a former classmate who was in the LAPD - he just tapped into the DMV files for us!!  But he's retired - and we think we've found him on a site - but to get more info - right, you got it - we have to pay - and who knows if they really have any info??

Latest read -

I'm a little behind in my church reading - but Dad's reading group has been reading this weekly in their study sessions and he was talking about it.  I got intrigued when he noted the inclusion of a name from my past - Jim Keysor Sr. of Century Records - where I worked after high school.

It's a great read - Sheri Dew is a fine writer.  I recently finished the bio of President Monson - I think I'd better get going - backwards I guess - the only other bios I've read of prophets is Spencer Kimball's and David O. McKay.  I have some reading to do!!

I guess I had forgotten that the life story of a great man makes for stimulating, uplifting reading!!

I also know that since much of what is written here involves names, places, events, and stories I've heard before, there is an inherent interest factor.  I especially found it poignant and emotional to read about his visits to Vietnam during the war.  President Hinckley had seen enough of war and the tragedy it engenders - but he wanted to be sure that these young servicemen knew of his love for them.  

If you haven't read it - put it on your list!!

Who are you?

As many of you know, I am immersed right now in sorting many years worth of photos for a scanning project.  This project has intersected with some photo sorting that has been going on at my mom's house.  When siblings come to visit, they help my mom go through boxes. And during that process, many more photos are found.

My mom can identify many of the pictures that are found.  But many are totally foreign to her.  When my Grandpa Clayton died, Grandma Connie gave boxes of photos, papers, and other documents to my folks.  I'm sure they went through them at the time, but apparently only in a cursory manner.  Then they were boxed up and put away.  And we all know what happens when you put something away!!

It's entirely possible that the above photo is of an ancestor of ours.  Or it is just as possible that it's an ancestor of Grandma Connie and it got in the box by accident.  Or it could be an old photo that somehow got in the box a long time ago and just stayed there.

Whatever it's source, it's a little bit sad to think that such a darling photo goes unclaimed.  On the other hand, it's a charming photo that can tell us a lot about a time and place that is no more.  It could be a boy - because boys wore dresses until they got into short pants.  It's probably a loved child.  And the family had some means, to have such a nicely made dress - and to even be going to a photographer!

I am quick to say there's a lesson here - and the lesson is:  label your photos.  That's almost moot though, since digital photos always have dates - and usually ask us to identify what we're putting on the computer.  But some detail would probably be helpful.

And if you print out photos, some identifying is called for.  And don't forget school pics that come home and get sent off to doting grandparents - be sure to identify them!!  (School photos, although they do show a progression, can get very confusing.)

I have not been good about identifying photos over the years.  And that is making my job harder.  On the other hand, it's also sharpening my skills of deduction as I try to figure out what year the photo happened.  And in the case of photos of babies and small children, it's a job sometimes just to figure out who it is.

Meanwhile, sweet boy or girl above, we're sorry we can't celebrate you here on the blog - at least by name!!

Pioneer Dresses - and the little girls who wear them!

I came across two photos of Eliza wearing Bonny's pioneer dress - and Phoebe had sent me one of Agnes wearing it - if any of you have any photos of any others wearing it, send them on to me.

I remember making this dress for Bonny - and I love the fact that the dress is still around.  Bonny wore it as a much older child than Eliza or Agnes did - guess Bonny was tiny - I recall that she was - and still is pretty small - but that always sort of surprises me.

I save certain things and they are really never used again - and then I think about something and wonder why I didn't save it.

Just need to remember to take photos of stuff I think is going to be meaningful - instead of all the somewhat meaningless photos I am wading through right now!!

"To market, to market to buy a fat pig, home again, home again, jiggedy jig!!"

I bought myself a wire shopping cart so that I can walk to the market and back without having to carry bags.  I have had it stuffed fairly full, and it was not so difficult to push/pull home either.  Dad and Noah kind of smiled when I showed it off to them - but I am not dissuaded. 

I feel so Continental!

More four generation shots

My photo-sorting project keeps getting derailed as I think, "Oh, here's another 4 generation shot - I will add that to my blog!"

This would be at Henry's blessing in Concord, CA in August of 2001 - that's me, Phoebe holding Henry, and my mom, Mary Clayton.

Now I will be on the prowl for more of these shots - maybe do a montage!!  (Other ideas come to me and distract me too - like, let me gather up all the baptism shots, or all the graduation shots, or all the prom shots - it just goes on and on!!)

Oh dear, need to get back to the sorting!!

Generations

A four generation shot from 1998 - Mary Clayton, Barbara Terrill, Bonny and Ara Bolander.

Another four generation shot from 1974 - Mima Stevens, Mary Clayton, Barbara and Bonny Terrill.

I'm still sorting photos - and finding my mind going in all kinds of directions as I see events I'd forgotten about, see pictures I took of people that I don't even recognize anymore, see how we've all changed - mostly by growing older of course!

This spring I had one of my classes read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.  If you haven't read it, by all means do - it's a novel for kids - it's part of the 6th grade core curriculum - and you'll have it read in a couple of hours. 

The story revolves around a family who inadvertently drank water from a spring that turns out to imbue them with eternal properties - they cannot die.  There's enough action to keep kids interested.  And enough philosophy to engage adults.  

I was impressed that most of the students seemed to think that being immortal was very cool - at first.  In fact, the ancillary materials that came with the book had the students answer a series of questions before they read the book - and then answer the same questions when they finished.  As the story progressed, they seemed to grasp how trying it might be to live forever.

It's a thought.  Actually it's several thoughts.

This is what happens when I sort photos and think!

Some people I love - and the happy memories that go with them

Jennifer M., Rachel W. me, Erin Mc, Ashley M., Tricia, Connie, Hannah, Katie, Emily, Chelsea J., Rachel's friend why can't I think of her name?, Andrea, Christina C., Mandy, Eliza

I am going to post this on Facebook, because a number of the people in this photo are on FB.  But I wanted to reflect a bit on the whole Girls' Camp experience I had for 15 years.

From the time Phoebe was almost 12 and was going to be allowed to go to camp, until Hannah's last year before college, I went along to Girls' Camp.  Once I was in charge of cooking - that was hard.  Many times I was in charge of crafts - once I got a system going, it was not a hard job.  You just had to monitor the girls and keep the brushes clean!!  (Thank you Magnusson girls for knowing this lesson so well!!)

Sometimes I was in the YW Presidency in my ward.  For 4 years I was the YW President.  A few times I was in the Stake YW Presidency.  Always I was someone's - Phoebe, Eliza, or Hannah - mom.  Often I went along as Aunt Barbara, because my nieces came along.  Always I was Sister Terrill.

We went to Cachuma Lake, we went to Catalina, we went to Big Bear.  We went to places I can't remember the names of - but one of them was near Valencia and it was awful - hot, bees, bears, conflicts with girls and women!!

Always it was a task to get ready - shopping, packing, loading up the car, driving to the location.  

Always it was a task to go home - packing, loading up the car, driving home - some years in terrible traffic that made you curse the fact that you'd ever heard of Girls' Camp!  (And why were there only traffic jams on the way home?)

I would not trade the memories and experiences of those 15 years for anything.  I really wish I'd kept a journal.  While sorting through photos, I've come across my girls' camp photos - but they don't reveal much.  (It would probably have helped if I'd labeled them immediately after getting them developed!)

Always I got to know the sisters there better - and it was a blessing.  Always I came to love the girls - even the difficult ones.  Always I enjoyed the lack of the 3 Ms - you know, make-up, mirrors and men!!  Always I wept at the testimony meeting and had hope that the spirit would linger longer for some girls.

The first year I didn't go, I was sure I'd feel a void or a lack of some kind.  But I didn't.  Camp has changed quite a bit from what I hear.  If the change had occurred incrementally while I was going, I probably would have handled it just fine.  Now I just say,  upon hearing what they don't do anymore, "Oh, that's too bad.  That was the best part of camp."

So if you have a YW age daughter, and they ask you to go to camp, be sure to say yes.  You'll be glad you did.

And if you read this, and want to share a camp memory, please do so - we need to keep the love alive!!

Summertime

This is St. George in 1998 - probably not the 4th of July - but it could have been - we spent some 4th of July holidays there.

But it is somewhere in Zion National Park. 

Holidays tend to make me sentimental - probably because they happen over and over again and you can mark time against them.

I think this was the summer we met up with David and Phoebe in St. George - to get ready for the wedding.

Doesn't seem that long ago when you look at the photo - I still recognize those kiddos anyway!

Latest read

Harry was reading this and said, "You'd love this Barb."  So I went to the library and got it.

He was right - I sat up til 1:30 a.m. reading it!!

How did I miss this as a kid?

And I want to see the most current movie again - it's from the 90s I think.

There is something new under the sun.

And it was a nice break from Dickens - I am trying to get through Bleak House!!

Someone encourage me about it please!!