Photographs and Memories
John’s grandmother crocheted the American Flag and passed it on along with her family album.
The Letter
John’s dad received this letter dated Dec. 25, 1912 from his uncle, who was a municipal judge.
A Whiter Shade of Pale
Another cold night. Time to bring out the keepsake blanket knitted by John’s mom.
Order
Everything stores in Santa: Teddy Bear into red present, red present into present stack, present stack into smaller round base, smaller round base into tree, tree into larger round base, larger round base into Santa.
Capture
Checkmate in two moves: White pawn f3, black pawn e5; white pawn g4, Black queen h4.
Check and Checkmate, http://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-play-chess
Guitar
This tenor guitar accompanied numerous folk songs in the 1960s. Our musical endeavors frequently sent the dog a-howling, but we had fun with lyrics that told all sorts of stories.
Handmade
This handmade crochet bedspread is a treasured reminder of John’s Grandmother. Her hands were always busy creating doilies, rugs and blankets . . . as well as baking the most luscious pull-apart buns.
Camera
John still has his first SLR camera which he bought in the 1960s. It is a Pentacon 6 medium format 120/220 roll film camera with interchangeable finders, focusing screens, lenses and various accessories. We photographed it with pentaprism finder and two Carl Zeiss lenses: 50mm f2.8 and 180mm f2.8. The telephoto has a 35mm Pentax thread adapter where it functions as approximately 360mm.
For more info and lists of accessories see http://www.pentaconsix.com/
Present
The well loved teddy bear and rag doll are both childhood presents that spend their retirement years in our guest room.
Bell
A bell’s not a bell ‘til you ring it. A song’s not a song “till you sing it. Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love ‘till you give it away! — Oscar Hammerstein
Instrument
John played this King trumpet in the 50s and 60s. It was made by the H. N. White Co. of Cleveland, Ohio and given to John by his great uncle who played it in the earlier 1900s. It now resides in an antique library case where it has taken a special shine to the mellow sounds of Winton Marsalis emanating from our nearby sound system.
Coin
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
— Carl Sandburg
China
These are two hand made Shekwan ceramic mudmen (1890 – 1919) from Lois’ collection. These original figurines disappeared from the Chinese export market after WWII and were replaced by newer less collectable figurines lacking handmade detail and expressions. We continue to search antique shops as we travel, but haven’t found another original mudman in over a decade.
For more info see http://www.edensong.com/mud_men_figures.htm
Religion
Another photo of John’s pipe which is meerschaum carved in a likeness of the ancient Roman Bacchus or Greek Dionysius, god of wine and inebriation. Although depicted both effeminately young and masculinely mature, he usually wears a headdress of grapes, as in this carving. Pagan religious Dionysia festivals evolved into what we now call theatre.
