Simple Sunday

Nothin' like a boy and his cow.
Second of the photos that Trini gave me.

Have a wonderful day,

Duker-day...Scouting

Things are a-buzzing around here. Something is going on out back in the woods, at the lodge. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Boy Scouts. That always means lots of extra attention...and some food too! This is special though. Everyone is calling it an Eagle Ceremony. I'm not sure what it is all about, but it's a big deal. I know the scout too. He's my cousin, Caleb. My mom says that he's an Eagle Scout now and this is his ceremony. It's big new folks. She said that he's worked really hard and is earning the highest rank in Boy Scouting.

Caleb working on the woodworking merit badge.
His Uncle Jim taught it and it was a special scouting anniversary
merit badge so it was old school with the requirements of the original woodworking merit badge.
They could only use hand tools.
Facts come from my mom and she hopes she got it right.

And it's all going on here tomorrow. Here's the thing - my mom told me last night that she got us (me and Sosha) special treats for when we have to be locked in the house. HUH?? Locked in the house? What is this all about? Don't they trust us? I mean, it is true that we have sneaked off with plates that have been set down low enough for us to get to and, yes, I do like to pester people to have my ears or butt scratched. Or wait....I wonder if they're going to blow that thing called a trumpet. I think they call the noise Taps. Last year during what they called a flag retiring ceremony, some scout played Taps on the trumpet and Sosha thought it would be cool if she sang along.

How. Embarrassing.

Me, Sosha, my dad...and the American Flag.

Anyhow, I'm hoping they don't keep us locked up the whole time. I think my mom said that someone would come back to the house and let us out after the ceremony. I hope so. I mean...Sosha and I want to help celebrate this special day!

Another Eagle Ceremony held out back by the lodge (before I was born).
That's my dad (he was the Scoutmaster), our friend Branden, my brother Jon, and Caleb's brother Luke.
The Eagle Ceremony was for Branden, Jon, and Luke.

Boy Scouts hanging around out at the lodge. That ranks way up there on my list of favorite things.

Why do I collect old photos?

Well, first of all I must say a big THANK YOU to my #100 follower! I thought it would take longer than it did. I have some ideas for what my giveaway will be, but I don't have it put together yet. Give me a few days and I will start my #100 Giveaway!

Okay on to my original reason for being here today...

The following comment was on one of my posts this week. It came from Retired Knitter at My Next 20 Years of Living who, by the way, has recently written some wonderful posts about being a caregiver/loving daughter for her mother. I enjoy everything she writes, but those were very touching and real. Here's her comment:

What an interesting time. I would love to hear how you pick antique pictures to purchase. There are so many on the market. How do you pick one to buy? What is a reasonable price, how to do store/display your collection at home? Why are some pictures priced more than others? Do they have identifying information on the back? That sort of stuff. Guess you can tell, I am very interested in pictures, especially of family, but old pictures are really very interesting because they show a snap shot of some small minute in life and you can learn alot if you check them carefully. I bet you have a lot to share on that subject. 

So, I decided that I would talk about my collection of antique photos and just why I started collecting them.


I think that I mentioned, in passing, in an earlier post that when Jim accompanied me on my trip to LauraPalooza last year I gave him the whole return trip home...meaning he could choose whatever he wanted to do for the whole drive home. One thing that he chose was stopping at any antique store that we happened upon. Jim has collected antiques since he was a kid so it's always been something he enjoys. For some reason though, it wasn't something that we did together. I collected, but mostly books in the past and more recently I've been a peruser of ebay. So, antiquing together? That was a whole new thing. And we found that we really enjoyed it. I had recently decided to begin a collection of items that have been mentioned in the Little House books. This has since evolved into things that were used in (mostly) that time period. So when Jim and I stopped at our first antique store together, I had some ideas of what I would look for.

Antique photos weren't on my "list", but they did catch my eye.

I spotted a box full of photos displayed on a shelf at the very first store we stopped at and, on a whim, started looking through them. Then, I thought I might buy a few. Almost immediately I decided that I wanted to collect them. Why?

First of all and most importantly, they were someone's family, someone's great great grandmother or aunt (you get the idea) and here they are sitting in a store with a $2 or $3 price marked on them. No one knows who they are anymore, unless you come across one with a name written on the back. I wanted to take them and give them a home.

Second, they're a good thing to collect. They don't take up a whole lot of room.

Third. They're usually fairly inexpensive. The most I've paid was about $8 and that was for a tintype. I've got a couple of those. Usually I pay between $1 and $4, but would be willing to pay a little more depending on the subject matter.

I have only been collecting since July of 2010 so I'm fairly new at this. I know that there are different types of photos depending on the era and, as I mentioned, I do have a couple of tintypes. I need to study up on this now!  Here is a good explanation of the different types of antique photos.

I knew that I had to narrow down what I was looking for or else things would get out of hand :-) quickly. So, I decided that I would just collect children or families. I loved babies in long white gowns. Now, I look at what else is in the photo. I love it when there's an animal or two, maybe a pet. I'm looking for if the child in the photo is holding something. I love to look at what they're wearing. I've even begun to be a little less picky and have picked up some that are more recent (as in '40s and newer) if there's something unique about them. I love it when they have a name/age/year written on the back, but it doesn't happen very often. Quite often the photographer information is on it so at least I know where it comes from.

This is one of the first photos that I picked up.

I bought a display stand that I could set several photos in and you could just look through them. This sits on my fireplace mantle. Jim is supposed to make me something to display them with, but we haven't really come up with a good idea yet. Plus, I have now gotten just enough so that they don't all fit in the stand.

To be honest though, it all boils down to just picking up photos that I like...the ones that feel like they should belong to me!

My new goal is to find a Christmas photo. I've not seen one yet, but that's what a collection is all about. If you found everything you were looking for right away, you would lose the fun of collecting! Besides, I can always find other interesting photos along the way.

Just a thought...

My little list of followers...you know the one over there somewhere →
I notice that it's been stuck at 99 for some time now. I've been looking for an excuse to do a giveaway and I think I've found the perfect one! When I reach the magic number of 100, I will do a giveaway. I don't know exactly what yet, but I'll try to make it worth your while. So, if you're already a follower - well thank you! If you're an anonymous follower, think about changing it to public. If you don't follow at all, you could reconsider :-) maybe?

100 get it? 1 - 0 - 0
No? Yeah, it was a lame attempt at being creative.
Sorry. Won't happen again. ☺

As always, my one requirement to enter will be that you have to be a public follower, meaning not hidden (otherwise I have no idea that you're really a follower!).
Okay...I won't bug you again about following. I will, however, let you know when I'm ready to do a fun giveaway!
Over and out. Thank you for your time. ♥ you all!

Monday Musings

Another Monday....another Monday. What more can I say?

What's been going on in the past week? Hmmm...it's hard for this old brain to go back a full week and remember the details. Not a whole heck of a lot until the weekend.

I did go for my annual mammogram this week. I'm a few months behind in scheduling it and when I called and was told that there was an opening for the very next day, I decided to go for it and get it done. I always have an area that they either have to compare to my last one to make sure it hasn't changed or they call me back in for another one. I haven't heard back yet.
I ran several errands that day and felt so good about getting something accomplished. I really need to get back on track here!

Have I mentioned (and I'm sure I probably have ☺) that Jim and I are involved in our MGWA (Michigan Ground Water Association). Jim is a director and I am a member of the auxiliary. We have two meetings a year and a state convention. This past Saturday was the fall meeting. On Friday, they had to meet to take care of some business and, since we both had to be there Saturday and it was too far to bother going and coming home in one day only to go back again the next day, I went along. I had no idea how long it would take and what I would do while Jim was busy. I took a book to read and a notebook to write in and decided that I would decide once we got there.

I met with Raul (our handy dandy GPS) to see what was nearby...and there was a mall. So, before I could chicken out (we all know I DON'T like to drive, especially in unfamiliar places) I let Raul take me to that mall. And it was a pretty nice mall. The best thing? It had a nice Barnes & Noble! I'm not a big shopper so I really didn't hit too many of the stores in the mall, just browsed a little. I did spend close to two hours browsing at books though. In the end, I bought a Detroit book that was on the clearance shelf that I knew Jim would like, a writing magazine for me and (shhh!) something for Jamie. Then I splurged at the Starbucks there and got myself a Chai Frappuccino and coconut macaroon. Mmmm....something I don't do very often and a real treat for me!

The book that I bought Jim.
It was something he had wanted before,
but was too much money. It was on clearance. :-)

Then I headed back to where Jim was. I thought I'd see if he had any idea of how far along they were in their project. If it would be awhile, I thought I could find a park to enjoy my treat and read my book.
My little coconut macaroon had to wait as they were almost done already. Just in time too. We were hungry for lunch!

We spent a good deal of a beautiful autumn Saturday inside at meetings. I really enjoy the auxiliary. I love these ladies and we are there for one purpose: to support our husbands and our industry. They can't do what they do without us :-) and we are fully willing to support them. Does that sound sexist? It's not really. For many of us, the business involves family and we need to be supportive and helpful in whatever way that we can to advance our industry and our business. It's a true partnership. Our group is not just for women, but at this time we are it! And it's really refreshing to be with a group of wives who do not just sit around complaining about their husbands!

Later in the afternoon, things finally wrapped up and we headed home. But we decided to take our time and get off the expressway. We found and couple of antique stores and made a few purchases. I bought several antique photos at one because they were very reasonably priced. At another I bought a couple of blue/gray enamel ware pieces, an antique potscrubber and a double school slate which was very cool.

We decided to stop for dinner before we reached our home destination and ended up going to a place that we've been to a time or two. A good local place with good simple food - just what Jim likes - and enough of a variety so that I could have something that I would never make at home (because no one else likes it). Winning situation all around.

Since Jamie has been working (at a real live teaching job!), she has been itching to move back out on her own. Except that, with all that has gone on the past few years, she has a fear of making a financial commitment before she knows for sure that her job is secure. So, it falls to the old standby - mobile home back on our property. She'll have her own place, she'll be a close neighbor, and the rent is fair :-). It needed some sprucing up so we began that project and, of course, in the process Jim finds major problems. Isn't that the way it goes. It's an older place and it probably won't be used again after Jamie moves out, so we don't want to put a lot of time and money into it, but we want it to be safe for Jamie. Well....a little paint here and there, a little repair here and there, a big repair here and there. It'll be ready by winter and, most importantly safe and secure for her to live in for the next couple of years.


All in all it was a good week.
Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Simple Sunday

Imagine my surprise, several weeks ago (yes I am behind in posting this), when I received a package in the mail - a large envelope. My friend, Trini, had messaged me to ask for my address. I had no idea why, but was so happy and touched when I opened the envelope to find a little bunch of old photos. Now, here's the thing: they were not only old photos, but exactly the kind of old photos that I collect (children, children with animals, babies in long white gowns). And another thing? Although I've known Trini for the last few years...we've never met in person. She is another of my "Laura" (as in Laura Ingalls Wilder) friends.

I have met the most wonderful friends through our mutual love and admiration of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Some I have been able to finally meet in real life and some I haven't. But I will. Someday I will!

For the next few weeks, I will share the photos that Trini sent to me. Thank you, Trini! You don't know how much that little package meant to me!

I love this! And they're from my era.
I turned 5 in November of '65.

Duker-day...Just Me

This is me...last year. It's kind of what I feel like about now though.
My mom and dad left yesterday because they had a meeting they had to go to
and it's not close by.
I hope they're missing me as much as I'm missing them...