Saturday, December 31, 2011

King Edward VII.....


If you do an quick search about King Edward VII you will find out he was the son of Queen Victoria. He was King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India. If you heard of the Edwardian era, he is the one who it is named after as it was during his reign.  He died in 1910 the same year that my dad was born.

My dad bought a lot of these cigars and also he would buy Swisher Sweets in small boxes that I now have learned were a Swisher Product also. I don't really understand why a company would name their product after him other than the cigar smoking tradition of fine gentlemen would be projected through the photo on the box.

I brought a lot of these boxes home from my parents home and later on I discovered that the letter you see here in the box was a prized letter of my mom's.  The letter is the first one that my dad sent home to my mom after his arrival in Belgium.  It was WW II, 1944, and he was sent there to join the American troops who were already engaged in the Battle of the Bulge.

I read the letter and maybe have posted it before but my dad is amazed as to his new surroundings. He is being trained in Belgium before he is sent to the front. He is worried about his older son's sickness and his brother who was shipped to an area near today's Alaska. He signs his name Daddy as the two sons are probably 1 and 3 years old.

The rest of the things in the box are pictures and receipts from various purchases.  The pictures are of all eras as the boxes really are the junk drawers for my mom. 


Friday, December 30, 2011

Cigar boxes continue......


My father liked to smoke cigars.  He had one in his mouth most all of the day. Many times it was not lighted and by I was in high school he wasn't allowed to light them up in the house. He had smoked cigarettes when I was younger and he really developed a horrible cough from smoking them. He would get up every morning and cough his lungs out for a long period of time.  When he switched to cigars he didn't have that problem. No, I am not promoting the smoking of cigars because you don't develop a cough!

The box that they came in was well decorated and it advertised the King Edward Imperial cigars.  The British red and blue edging really added to the decoration of the yellow fake wood color of the box.  Tomorrow we will see King Edward VII on the inside.



The box that contained William Penn cigars was lacking in good design.  I really don't know where my dad would pick these up but I suspect they were purchased at a grocery store. Tomorrow we will see what I have in my cigar boxes.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

King Edward and William Penn


I found a new territory in which to photograph.  The storage room upstairs should prove to give me a variety of things for photos.  I could do a theme called "What do You Have in your Cigar Boxes?" More photos I promise will be following on this subject.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Another photo shoot.........

One of the ghosts in "Scrooge" opened his robe and shows the starving children of the world.  In the same creative theme this artist shows the manger scene under the skirt of the angel.

The original artist, Jim Shore,  carved this from wood and it is wonderful.  The reproductions appear to be cast from a plastic like resin material. The item still has to be hand painted and they have crafts people who do such a great job.  I have posted this decoration in one of the past years but I did a new photo shoot yesterday. I was pleased that I was able to pick up the carved dimensions of the work.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve.......


It is almost here and the actual Christmas day festivities begin.  I trust everyone will have safe journeys to where the are traveling tonight or tomorrow all of you will be safe and have a happy day.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Faces..........


She still has her tag on her arm.  My wife's doll collection came about from me giving her a doll every Christmas.  Before we were married she shared that she received a new doll from her mom each year.  So our first Christmas together, I found a smaller doll and put it in her stocking.  The smaller dolls were great but seven years into that the company stopped making them. I then bought the larger china head doll.  The tradition continued until a couple of years ago when the companies in China stopped creating them.  I guess the market was not profitable enough.  I did find them on ebay but I would rather go to a store and see the actual size and color before I buy.  The china head doll is not out there anymore.

I will look again this year but I don't have my hopes up in finding anything like it.  I will replace the idea with a different collectible once I can figure that out.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Another face of Christmas......


The Nutcracker Suite is a tradition in our country and I am sure that it is in many countries around the world.  I can always count on seeing some version of it done on the Public Broadcasting Station.  We were unloading a spare box of ornaments last night and I found a couple more nutcracker decorations.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Faces.......real and not so real.



Button is growing hair back on his two hind legs now and has quit pulling it from the area.  He feels better and is back to his own sweet, demanding self.  The buddy below him sings a barking Christmas song when you press his paw.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A moment in time........






A young boy takes a moment to be with his animals. This is one of our indoor sculptures that we have enjoyed a number of years.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Lost Train Found.......


I found it at the bottom of a box that had a larger train on top of it.  I really like the character and the charm of this small version of this train.  I remember getting it to sort of work last winter but it just is too small and the track needs to be fastened to a base so it won't move around while it is moving along the track.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Peace Be To You.......


Sunday's rest should be a good one for all and I hope you are all well. Take care.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

It's Christmas Time in the City......


When I was young in the fourth grade I had a jealous moment of the sixth grade class.  We were practicing for a school music show and our small class of 21 students sang our puny sounding song.  Two classes later, the sixth graders, started to sing their song.  My brother Dwight was in that class and it was a large class of 36 or more students.

They were a badly behaved class and they were shifting and giggling and not paying attention to the teacher.  The piano started up and then they all started singing "Silver Bells." It was so wonderful.  It was a wonderful song.  The large group made it sound like a real choir and I was so sad that I was stuck in a small class.  Whenever I hear that song of "Silver Bells" I think of that day and also  now of my brother who we lost three years ago.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas Joy..........


The reason for the season is beyond decorations and yet a celebration is required.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Locomotive.........


Locomotive is a strange word and I doubt the diesel engines gets to be called that. I hurriedly put out the only train I could find around my one tree last night. There were two styles of trains in the set that belonged to my Dad and apparently the old fashion engine and all the cars that fit the style with the track are in another box somewhere in the store room. So no track makes it less restrictive to display it.  If I had a lot of train parts I think a train car Christmas tree would look neat.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Wednesday's Wandering....


It is not much of a wander as I keep giving you Christmas decorations.  I will find time to go outside but not today.  Plastic has become the staple of the making of many ornaments these days. You can't avoid them entirely.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Wreath Ornament..........


I may have posted this a year ago but I took a new photo of it.  It was a specialty ornament that I bought after Christmas a few years ago.  It is amazing how it is one blown piece that has bene hand painted meticulously to make it look like it is made up of many parts.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Friday, December 9, 2011

Shiny Gold.........


A newer ornament that I purchased last year shows a decorative textured design on it and it's shape a little more usual than the traditional ones. I will get outside this weekend and shoot something else other than Christmas ornaments.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Furrry Friendly Face........


A bear from my wife's teddy bear Christmas tree.  I think he looks friendly but it could be a look of concern gazing through all that fur.  He reminds me of our one dog when he needs to have a haircut. His fur gets to be so long that he is peaking out from under the heavy load of fur over his eyes.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wednesday's Lean........




This makes me think of the Wizard of Oz as the house came swirling down and landed on the wicked witch of the west.  It is one of my favorite ornaments even though it is not a true glass blown ornament.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

One of two boxes......


My wife offered to help with the hanging of these ornaments. I seem to have an extra tree that is smaller and I think we will spread them out to the two trees.  I didn't buy any more as they didn't have them on sale or I didn't get there in time to find any last year.   I do think that I have enough ornaments.  People do give them to me at Christmas time so I could get more then.


Monday, December 5, 2011

Light and Color.....


Lots of shine and reflection but there isn't much substance to view.  I cropped this out from a bad photo to find this abstract design.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Shine and Glow


When I was young the variety of stores in the area were limited. Being a farming community the major stores were more like hardware stores.  We did have a dimestore in Osceola, but the major stores were Gambles, Western Auto, Coast to Coast and all were on main street.  They were like a farm and home store today. One could find a few Christmas ornaments in these stores even though they sold tires and appliances.  I guess they were a lot like the present day Ace Hardwares.

The indent ornaments were popular when I was  young and they seemed magical with their three dimensional design.  They broke easily as they were made of blown glass and the glass was thin.  I remember hanging plastic bells and round Shiny Brite plain balls of color with them.

This is one that I bought in a replica set  a few years back and I think they now use thicker glass to make them more sturdy. They are also sadly using blown plastic for some of them too.

One memory that just popped up was the one of dad always having to deal with the straight line electric Christmas lights.  We usually had two small strings of lights.  When we bought a third string one year I though we were rich.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Saturday's Special Effects.....


Anyone who has hung around my blog knows I sometimes go for special effects.  Actually you know that I am taking photos at low light at night and my photos are not quite in focus.  Anyway, sometime I just share them for what they are with the mood and effect. 

Friday, December 2, 2011

The 1000th "Photo a Day"........


 Bar Harbor, Maine

The 1000th photo, it really is more than that as sometimes I did post two or more photos a day. It is the 1000th posting. I can remember being hesitant of starting out and I do remember my purist ideas of just posting the best photo I could take. I also planned on writing very few words and just allow the photo to speak for itself.     Well, that didn't work. It has been fun. I am posting the very first blog that I created below. I think that I have done that before but it is a memory lane day.

If you were not around, which most of you were not, I was just writing for myself never expecting much in return. Instead I have made friendships all over the world. I have stolen friends from other's friends.  I thank you for you stops at my post. I am more than glad to see all that you have on your blogs too.

I have learned a lot about photography and I have met so many great different people. That is said in a good way. So today is 1000 and tomorrow I will trudge on to the 1001. 


March 3, 2009

This is a picture I took a few summers ago.  The coneflowers were having a great year.  The bridge was a freeby from a high school prom.  I had helped a lot in painting a wall of scenery for the prom and they gave me the bridge for my garden.  Instead of tearing it down or just throwing it away it was easier for them to dump it in my yard.  The evergreen trees are my babies that I grew from small fry to large Minnesota pines.  The tornado that went through town, snapped them both off at the base in less than seconds.

Blurry Blue Cup Day.....

 It is Monday and I am a little blurry eyed today. It is fitting then my blue cup is blurred a little because it is in low light. I was too ...