Families in moments

Most of my family pictures are of brief moments when I got the people to stand together for that photo.  Some of them have never been published, and if these are friends of yours (or you yourself) I apologize for sharing them without your permission, because I've been out of touch for 20 or 40 years.

 

In Tallahassee FL summers, people wear as few clothes as they feel like. Here the father of my youngest son is in some really short shorts, talking with his friend, the painter, who wears his work clothes.

 My friends' baby, Lila, grabbed a bit of flesh of her mom, who tried to keep on smiling. (Taken by a swimming pool)

I moved away from Tallahassee but was there to see the impending birth of April...there's Steph about to have a home birth and I think that's her husband behind her, her midwife has the blue t-shirt on, and that's my youngest son in the arms of a friend. (NOTE, not her husband but a friend).

Friend, Grant playing with my youngest son.  The baby did get out of that stretchy cover-all sometimes!

 My parents visited Disney World (in Orlando FL area) from Houston.  They were kind of used to hot muggy weather, and running (walking) from one air conditioned place to another.

My nephew and mother at Disney World. Yes a background sometimes does make a difference in a photograph.

Over at Sepia Saturday, I see a group of - maybe family members - posed for a studio photograph, which shows the background and the studio.

Quote for today:

We live on the brink of disaster because we do not know how to let life alone. We do not respect the living and fruitful contradictions and paradoxes of which true life is full.

Thomas Merton

Crowds and parades and theme parks

When my husband, myself and our two children first moved to Tampa, Florida in Oct. 1969, within a few months, my Massachusetts resident parents had to come visit us.  So we all went to Busch Gardens.  And Dad took photos and then shared his photos later, as below.

This first one has the monorail behind us, with mother wearing her shades, Marty at 7 in a blue and red coat, and Dad actually took off his hat.  I'm wrestling with 2 year old Russ. 

And then we enjoyed some good food at the restaurants in the area...I'm not sure this was at Busch Gardens or not.  I do remember that my sister had recently moved to a farm in Tennessee and gave me all her "dressy dresses," so that's what I am wearing.  I don't think I would have bought that for myself.

My parents visited again in time to go to Walt Disney World which opened near Orlando (in 1971), about a 2 hour drive from Tampa.

I used to have all of my father's collection of the parades and shows that were at DisneyWorld. But why keep photos of people I didn't know or care about?  So I no longer have any photos of those parades, or the Bears' Jamboree. 

Here's the DisneyWorld Main Street, with Christmas Tree, and Mom's back wearing her straw hat, with me directly in front of her.  Perhaps Dad was more interested in the replica car anyway.

Marty seemed to be having a good time, looking at the camera in his upside down sideways way.

Waiting in lines, the kids sometimes got a bit impatient.

At the Space Port entrance there were some drinks available before we tried "Out of Sight" and whatever else was available.  Since this was the first year DisneyWorld opened, some of the more popular exhibits and rides were not built yet.  Epcot didn't open until 1982, for instance.

But we did enjoy the kids having fun a these two big amusement parks.  Central Florida was opening up to become a family friendly tourist attraction, rather than just the South Florida beaches.

My oldest 2 sons, who now have children of their own, have brought them to these and other attractions.

I'm entering this post in Sepia Saturday this week, with theme of crowds and parades.

...a 1917 postcard depicting a political demonstration on Nevsky Prospect in Petrograd, Russia, and as students of Russian history will know, this was right in the middle of the Russian revolution. The image comes from the Kathryn & Shelby Cullom Davis Library of the Graduate Institute of Geneva. For those in search of a theme there are, as always, plenty of options: parades, banners, and gatherings spring to mind and for those in search of a more revolutionary approach, there is always revolutions. All you need do is to post a post on or around Saturday 28th February 2015 and link it to the list below....over on Sepia Saturday!