In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.
At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
OPD and Logic
I've been looking through the photo album I got from the Weebles. I'm excited about the photos because I want to use them to create an altered cookbook to trace the family history through the family recipes.
Came across this photo and didn't recognize any of the men. Showed it to Himself and said, "Doesn't this look like the Godfather's button men?" I started humming the theme to The Godfather.
Flipping through other pictures I found the man in the foreground not wearing a hat is my mother's father. (The only grandparent I knew growing up was my mother's mother, ) Called Dad to ask him if he remembered this picture. I don't recall hearing stories of my maternal grandfather having siblings. Dad didn't really remember the picture, but said he thought his father might be in the photograph. He described his father, tall, glasses and always well dressed. (He was a tailor.) The tall man in the back must be my father's father.
"You know, Dad, none of these photographs are labeled. There's nothing written on them to say who the people in these pictures are."
"Don't worry, about that, honey. We (Ma and Dad) know who the people are.
"That's great, Dad, but what happens when you're dead?
So much history goes unrecorded and it's sad.
ReplyDeleteIndeed
DeleteThat is so true about so many photos people have. My grandmother spent a lot of time teaching me who people were when I was a kid, because let's face it, she knew that most people don't think about these relatives until they're older, and if, like you mentioned, people are dead, how do you figure out who they are. However, the only flaw in her system is now I only know my mom's side of the family. Hope you don't get a lot of snow today.
ReplyDeleteNot a lot of snow, but now it's sleet
DeleteYour father was right! They had a great time....just because we don't know the details doesn't take away from their experiences. (Our kids aren't going to know a lot of the people in our pics either, but I still remember them!)
ReplyDeleteAnd even if we go through the trouble of labelling things, they will only get thrown out
DeleteThat cookbook sounds like a great idea!!!
ReplyDeleteLike you I only knew my Mom´s Mom. She helped raising us.
Sad the pictures aren´t labeled. My Dad did a very precise job on this! But from his parents I have but 2 pics from his Dad. From maternal side nothing as they fled in WWII.
The cookbook-idea really.. but, heck. I remember only few classical recipes - not enough for a mini-book ;-)
I still haven't done much with the cookbook idea 😺
DeleteOh yes, I know the problem with the unlabeled photos - my grandparents and later my parents left me many, many. Luckily, as a child and teenager, I learned many stories about them - but unfortunately I don't remember them all (especially not all of the names of my grandfather's siblings - I think there were 11. Or were there 11 children in total? Only one was a girl and her name was Maria...) I've decided to create a photo book for my descendants in which the most important photos of our ancestors can be seen. It's going to be a lot of work...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I can well understand that you were stressed with all your tasks related to your parents and your own life! I think it's exciting that you took on another task, namely blogging, to cope with the stress!
All the best from Austria, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2025/01/4-tage-in-wien-ruckblick-2024-teil-3.htm
Blogging helped me find the funny in the situations so I wouldn't go too crazy.
DeleteIt's great to have old photographs, and I have tried to label some of the ones I have but there are still some passed down where the people/family cannot be identified.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I have a lot of unnamed people in photos, too
Delete