Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
I was surprised to find a perfect match for this week’s
Sepia Saturday prompt featuring a man wearing his dog.
 |
| Burlington Cab Company 1956 Julia Slade and friends |
The photo was taken at my grandparents’ home and taxi cab
yard in 1956. That is my granny leaning on one of the cabs. I suspect the man
holding the dog was a driver, but I do not know for sure. Maybe they were just
friends of the family.
I like dogs. I don’t want a dog. I don’t want to walk
them. I don’t want to vacuum up their hair. I don’t want to follow along behind
them with a plastic bag and a scoop. I don’t want to have to bother with boarding
them so that I can leave town. But I do like dogs. Other people’s dogs.
 |
| Me and a dog probably 1952 |
This is one of my favorite pictures. That’s me with a
dog. I don’t know whose dog it was or where this picture was taken. I like this
picture so much that it is one of the few of me in a frame. I’m not even sure
why I like it. Maybe it’s that vintage bottle or the way I was strapped into
the seat with a towel or blanket or possibly a cloth diaper. Maybe it’s those
little fists. Oh, maybe it’s the dog!
Apparently, dogs like me.
 |
| Granddaddy Slade and George Moore's dog |
My grandparents used to laugh telling a story about me
and their neighborhood dogs. We lived in Burlington, North Carolina a short
while when Daddy was helping out with his parents’ taxi business. I would
gather all the dogs on the steps to our house to play school. Even after we
moved back to Virginia, the dogs showed up faithfully, at least for a while
until they got the hint. (Hmm, I wonder if the dog on that man's shoulders was one of my students.)
See – I really do LIKE dogs, but this is the only dog I
need.
 |
| Planter - need a plant AND a new spot in the yard |
Wendy
© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
What a fun post! I love your story about playing school with dogs.
ReplyDeleteHow cute with your dog school :) I too like your picture with the dog. These days people would be sanitizing the area thoroughly if they even allowed the dog on the table LOL.
ReplyDeletebetty
The photo of you sitting in the convertible high chair with the dog caught my eye - not because of the dog, but because of the convertible high chair. We had one just like it for my youngest sister! It might not be the same brand, but looks exactly like the one we had. I hadn't seen one like that since. Made me smile, remembering. :)
ReplyDeleteI love your doggy photo...and agree that the little concrete guy needs a plant and to be out among greenery...he is camouflaged against the stones.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on dogs. My dad used to say, "Having a dog is like having a child that never grows up." When we lived on a farm, we could just open the door and let our dog run. But when we tried that in the suburbs, our dog cornered a neighbor up the street preventing him from leaving for work. After that, we became cat people :-)
ReplyDeleteYes- your first picture is such a good match, but my favourite has to be the lovely one of you in the low chair - I can see why you like it so much too.
ReplyDeleteBravo! There can't be many more dog-on-head photos around. Thank you for your kind words on my post this week. We Sepians have shared so many family photos and histories I half expected my mom might know stories about Aunt Miriam or cousin Vera. She loved the quirky characters of family relations, and despite being a single child she knew all the branches of her and my dad's family tree. She always remembered birthdays and anniversaries, recording the dates of even the newest generations she'd never met into dozens of little notebooks. And she knew the names of every cat and dog too.
ReplyDeleteI'm exactly like you with dogs. My parents always had a dog or two and when our kids were growing up we followed suit but I'm done with it now. There's a dog we pass as we leave our little town and he just lies on the front lawn and watches the world go by. He/she never moves or chases the cars. That's my kind of dog!
ReplyDeleteSuch great stories! I laughed at the school dogs still turning up. I’m with you on the dogs...and, they don’t seem to have enduro-bladders and need to be let out during the night...what a hassle. The photo of you and the dog is just so cute and the first one a great match to the theme. From all the comments it seems we do love our pets!!!
ReplyDelete