Can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve written anything. Kind of sad since it’s a reflection of our lives right now. We need some excitement and adventure. Maybe time to call Barb and go get locked in a landfill.
It’s not like we haven’t been doing anything. Last weekend we went to Notre Dame, that hallowed land of Knute Rockne and the touchdown Jesus. We weren’t there for the terrestrial mayhem of football though; we were there to watch some aquatic mayhem. AKA water polo.
Touchdown Jesus
Molly on offense
Molly on defense
General mayhem.
Tearing her throat out. Sorry, I thought your head was the ball. No foul called.
We stayed with our friends Evie and Craig in Edwardsville, MI. about a half hour from Notre Dame. They have a lovely view of a creek right out their back window. We both got common grackle and sandhill crane for the year and I got a red-wing blackbird. That’s south of here so we will see those species around here shortly. Common species, but they are nice harbingers of better weather to come.
While we haven’t been doing much in the way of outdoor activities, I have been busy. I’ve been setting up a digital photo archive for my family. With some of the deaths in our family the past couple years, I realized my siblings and I were losing our ties to the past. I’m now the oldest person in my immediately family. Never thought that would happen. With the passing of our grandparents and parents we have no direct ties to our family history anymore.
We seem to have a trove of pictures, mostly sitting uncared for in boxes and envelopes. Some are quite old. A box from our great aunt Viola had one photo dated at July 4, 1917. That one enabled me to date a whole series of pictures. What’s bad is that a lot of these will go undocumented because there’s nobody around that knows who these people were. They could be distant relatives. They could be from Viola’s husband Henry’s people. We just don’t know. Henry had ties to the carnival world and Vaudeville so these could be old carnie people. Henry knew the Three Stooges and when he died the last surviving stooge, I believe it was Moe, sent a wreath. Apparently my grandmother and aunt Viola traveled the carnies with Henry for a time. Yes, Grannie was a carnie, traveling with one of the Cetlin and Wilson shows. As a kid I can remember our family going to the Reading Fair. My mother ran into some relative working the carnie rides. I distinctly remember him saying, “You guys ride for free. Just tell them Sonny said to let you ride.” Words every kid wants to hear.
Ed Haulman, My great-grandfather.
Unknown people I would love to identify.
At Niagara Falls I believe. Not sure who.
All I know is July 4, 1917.
Cetlin and Wilson Shows come through Lebanon.
Most of the more current pictures are poor quality, taken with Kodak Instamatics or the like at family events. Horrible compositions, bad lighting, people shoving food in their mouths, nothing flattering in the least. But they do represent a moment in time for our family. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Most importantly, there are people alive now that can identify everyone in the photos. I wanted a way to preserve and archive some of our family history, and importantly, share it with the extended family. So I started scanning pictures and putting them up on a photo sharing site called Flickr. I’ve scanned several hundred photos so far. The idea is that my family members can start documenting the photos as to who it is, where is it, when did it take place, etc.…. So a couple generations from now there won’t be someone looking at a picture of a guy cross-country skiing and say, who’s that?
Aunt Chezzy. She had a bird that could talk. It swore so bad that the Amish workers remodeling her kitchen asked her to remove it.
OK, so maybe some pictures are better left to history.
Who’s that?
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 