Wordless Wednesday (Almost): Baby Needs a Name

Wordless Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is a photograph or image.

Inspired by Jacqi Stevens at A Family Tapestry who was inspired by Far Side of Fifty at Forgotten Old Photos, I plan to devote several Wordless Wednesdays to some of my photos of unidentified people.  Several “new” cousins have found my blog; maybe more are out there with that same picture in their possession. 

I will start with some babies because seeing orphan photos of babies in thrift shops and antique stores always makes me sad.  While my photos are not really “orphans” since no one in my family threw them out and I do still have them, they might as well be “orphans” because I have absolutely no idea who the people were or who they became.  I’m guessing the pictures are from relatives who shared their new joy with either my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis OR Sudie Rucker.  But it is also possible the photos are from the “out-laws” – you know them, the people who married into the family lines you are interested in but whose genealogy has so far failed to engage your time and energy.  

This first one is such a charmer with those ears and that quizzical expression.  Boy?  Girl?  Year?

Maybe someone will stumble upon the photo and provide some words to complete the picture so it will be wordless no more. 

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Happy New Year!

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt featuring Scottish troops celebrating the New Year at their billet hut in France during World War I makes me realize how calm my own New Year celebrations have always been.  As the poster child for “Morning People,” I’ve always struggled to stay awake watching television to see the ball drop in Times Square. 

When my sister and I were kids, we looked forward to December 31 for one reason:  sparklers.  Our grandparents bought them and lit them for us.  Holding one sparkler in each hand, we watched them sizzle and pop.  We’d draw designs against the night sky with the little “jet stream” emitted by moving the sparkler really fast.  Before the fire went out, we’d throw the sparklers in the air.  Often they got lost in the grass until the next day or until spring when the lawn mower would find them.

By Krzysztof Maria Różański, (Upior polnocy) (Own work)
[CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

For several years, New Year’s Eve always meant my sister Mary Jollette would have her friend Gail over for the night.  It became a tradition for awhile.   They enjoyed the sparklers too.  Sometimes they played games.

It looks like I was off to a good start buying up
properties around the Monopoly board.
For some reason, I liked the railroads and utilities. 

What is Gail pouring into that beer stein? 

One year they went into the attic and found some of my old clothes.  They had a grand time trying them on. 

I actually remember that polka dot dress Gail is modeling,
but I have no idea what that plaid sailor number is
that Mary Jollette found.  That salute!  Good grief!

Do we know how to bring in the New Year right or what?  I wish you all the happiest of new years!

Please visit Sepia Saturday to see how others are bringing in the New Year.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas 1969

Wordless Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is a photograph or image.

Wendy and Mary Jollette
Christmas 1969

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Squeezebox Christmas

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt is intended to inspire the “Homo Sepians” (Thank-you, TICKLEBEAR, for that brilliant new word!) to blog about Christmas.  But along with Santa in that photo is a happy chap playing the accordion.  I can do Christmas anytime, but when will I ever get another chance to feature the much-maligned “squeezebox”?

When my dad was a teen, he was responsible for getting his sister, my Aunt Betty, to her accordion lessons.  I always found that to be funny.  Betty?  Playing the accordion??  I just couldn’t picture it.  After all, as long as I’ve known her she has never owned an accordion.  She doesn’t even seem especially interested in music except for playing CDs on her Bose Wave. 

But play the accordion, she did. 

Aunt Betty with accordion

Now, I must confess that I am not a fan of accordion music.  Intellectually I know that playing requires coordination and skill, but emotionally the sound of the accordion coupled with visions of Lawrence Welk and polka dancers makes it difficult for me to appreciate whatever artistry the accordion can produce.

That might explain why this is my favorite cartoon:

Tired of the abuse, accordionists found someone else to kick around:

There is no denying the popularity of the accordion, however, especially in the 1940s when Aunt Betty was a student.  I join Betty’s accordion teacher in wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Please visit Sepia Saturday to see if other bloggers were able to combine the accordion and Christmas so seamlessly.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Advent Calendar: Christmas Music

Geneabloggers is once again hosting the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories encouraging family historians to write about their holiday traditions.

Nan Tucker Ringers 2012
Raised row left to right:  Bryan, Brenda, Jim, Perry, Ron
Going around the tables left to right:  Gail, Karen, Valerie,
Kim, Dee, Linda, Connie, our director Sue,
ME, Kathy, Anne
(photo courtesy of Mike McCoy)

Nothing says “Christmas” like the sound of English handbells.  The handbell choir at my church plays throughout the year, but the bulk of our repertoire is Christmas music.  When December rolls around, we are quite busy playing for nursing homes, a local garden center’s Poinsettia Tour and Holiday Gala, and the Community Christmas Celebration.

We are a 5-octave choir.  My main bells are D and E 5; if you can picture piano keys, that’s the D and E above middle C.  It’s a hot-spot musically, meaning I play all the time unlike the very high bells and very low bells that add so much color to a piece. That doesn't mean I'm better than they are.  In fact, it's easier to play a lot. When you play only now and then, it's easy to lose count and miss a measure.  If you play at the wrong time, it's almost always very obvious in a not-so-good way.

If you would like to hear the Nan Tucker Ringers of Aldersgate United Methodist Church, click on the church name and then scroll to one of these dates:

• 12/19/2010 – a 30-minute Christmas program from 2010
• 11/22/2009 – 2 pieces for Thanksgiving.  Select one of these if you don’t want to sit through 30-minutes of bell music.

I’m not sure why there is nothing more recent.  

Merry Christmas!

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Wordless Wednesday: Peace!

Wordless Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is a photograph or image.

Momma, Mary Jollette, Me
Could we be any more relevant in 1970, giving the Peace sign?
Don't ask me why we're on our knees.

See the pink wig stand?  I got a wig for Christmas in preparation for the next semester at Madison College (now James Madison University).  I was signed up for swimming and needed to be able to get from the pool to my next class looking presentable in the days before blow-dryers.   

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Advent Calendar: Christmas Stockings

Geneabloggers is once again hosting the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories encouraging family historians to write about their holiday traditions.

This post is a revision of two Advent entries from 2011.

Our family Christmas stockings are more decorative than functional.  Only a couple stocking stuffers actually ever fit. 

My stocking was made by my mother from a pattern that she drew herself.  The fabric is a heavy cotton, maybe a good quality of muslin, certainly not as heavy as canvas.  She cut out a tree and star from felt and sewed them on by hand.  She attached some plastic berries, pinecones encased in yarn, and a jingle bell for the toe.  There is no loop for hanging, so the stocking simply lay on the hearth.  On Christmas morning the stocking was placed among the Santa gifts to distinguish my gifts from my sister’s gifts. 

Momma’s sewing and crafting skills obviously improved greatly over the years.  When the grandkids came along, she made them some fancy shmancy stockings.  She smocked my girls’ names on the top part of the stocking made from red and white polka dotted fabric.  White eyelet lace and a jingle bell completed the look.

When my sister and I became adults and were on our own, believe it or not, Santa continued to bring a stocking.  However, our stocking was no longer a stocking.

It was a shopping bag.  A big one.

See the shopping bag stockings!

The bag could be filled with any variety of goodies from hand lotion to earrings to slippers to kitchen gadgets to underwear to frying pans.  Many years we got underwear AND a frying pan.  Shopping bag gifts are not necessarily small nor necessarily cheap.

After our parents passed away, my sister and I decided to continue the Shopping Bag tradition because that was truly our most anticipated gift to open on Christmas morning.  What would be in that bag?  Some flavored coffee?  New gardening gloves?  A piece of our china?  Vintage pillow cases?  A bell jar?  Maybe underwear and a frying pan.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.